In this winter of our discontent ...

In early 1993, in the first days of the Clinton administration, the president proposed an economic plan to deal with the recession and the deficit.

Bill Clinton's plan included a tax increase, and it passed the House of Representatives without a single Republican vote. In fact, such notables as Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey (two of the great names, remember them?) said the plan would be an economic disaster and Republicans wanted Democrats to own it completely.

Of course Clinton was happy to own it. His plan helped bring on seven years of prosperity.

When I remember that, it always fascinates me that the Republican Party's symbol is the elephant, which reportedly never forgets. You see, these Republicans forget everything.

These Republicans are pretty close to being blithering idiots.

They did it again. President Obama's stimulus plan passed the House with zero Republican votes, and it got through the Senate with only three votes from Northeastern GOP senators.

They want Obama to own his plan, which they say will be a disaster for the U.S. economy.

Well, if these helmetheads were more than half-bright, they would all have voted for the plan on final passage after negotiating the best deal they could get. That way, if it succeeded they could claim part of the credit and if it failed, they could shrug their shoulders and say it would have passed anyway.


Instead, we have Fat Man and Little Boy -- Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity -- both blathering three hours a day to their radio audiences that they want the plan to fail.

Forgive me if this sounds a little harsh, but think about it. That makes them traitors to the American people.

Editor's note: Mike, you can't call them traitors. It's a political disagreement.

Actually, it's not. The politics are over and the stimulus plan is policy now. When FM and LB say they want it to fail, it's so the voting public will reject Obama in 2012 and elect Caribou Barbie or some other Republican.

Meanwhile, of course, an economy that has been collapsing for six months will have to collapse for another four years, bringing massive pain to millions of American families.


So when Hannity and Limbaugh root for it to fail, they're rooting for the economy to get even worse. Imagine how much smarter they would have been if either of them had said this:

"I hate what the stimulus plan includes, and I honestly don't believe it is good for America or that it will work. But I would be happy to be proved wrong, because these are desperate times for many families."

Of course for that to happen, they would have to be more than total partisans. They don't care who suffers as long as the Democrats don't succeed.

I think it's time to flush Rush and tell Sean begone.