Two Facts

1. In case you haven't heard, the Republicans are trying to hold the economy hostage again, in order to get what they want, which is to further ruin the ailing economy with their resoundingly discredited fiscal policies. Steve Benen is spot-on here: "The hostage strategy itself—Republicans will crash the economy on purpose unless Democrats give them what they want—is so offensive, it deserves to be a genuine national scandal. Indeed, it's often hard to believe policymakers who claim to be patriots are deliberately putting us all at risk this way."

2. The Republicans have run so wildly off the rails that even David Brooks is concerned. Noting the Democrats have capitulated on nearly everything the Republican Party wants, he writes:

If the Republican Party were a normal party, it would take advantage of this amazing moment. It is being offered the deal of the century: trillions of dollars in spending cuts in exchange for a few hundred million dollars of revenue increases.

...But we can have no confidence that the Republicans will seize this opportunity. That's because the Republican Party may no longer be a normal party. Over the past few years, it has been infected by a faction that is more of a psychological protest than a practical, governing alternative.

He goes on to observe that, among their other failings, the "members of this movement have no sense of moral decency." Of course they don't, but David Brooks didn't notice or care until their void of ethics stands to affect his pocketbook. Which is why he's still the worst, even though he's right that the Republican Party stinks.