Sanity! Oh, Sanity! I've missed you so.

Sounds to me like those two have had serious Come-to-Jesus meetings with some pretty powerful rule makers.

I'm a bit more optimistic that these kinds of comments are a harbinger of something positive. Not being best buddies with Joe and Lindsey but the possibility that there may be an increasingly visible and vocal group within the Republican party that 1) wants to distance themselves from the rabid hatred and sheer stupidity of the fringe and 2) are prepared to be civil, cooperative and even work together with the administration on selected issues in order to retain some meaningful power.

One reason the Reps are SO lock-step and resist-no-matter-what-you-have-to-say is that is has been *working,* from the Clinton years on. If it stops working, then there are going to be Reps who will break out of the lock-step. I grew up when sometimes you had to double-check to see who was Rep and who was Dem because you honestly couldn't tell by how they were voting or who their allies were on different issues. (Dirksen, Baker, Jackson, Scott, Percy).

It's a long way back to times like that, but IF Obama can convince the Reps that staying in rigid lock-step is going to leave them simply "out of the picture" rather than "in power," then I'm confident we will start seeing the more moderate side of some of the Republicans ... and that's what Obama needs more than anything. If you can break up that *&^%$ strict party-line vote on everything, then bills will have to be looked at for their merits -- and Obama is smart enough to see that there are good, workable bills.

So, even momentary blips of reasonableness -- like the ones described above or Bill O's comments about the public option -- might be tiny cracks in the wall that has kept the more sensible Republicans from being working partners in this government. In fact, if one stands way back and looks at what Obama has been doing, you might be able to see a strategy aimed at loosening up the troops a bit, interfering here and there with the lock-step response on the other side. "If you play nice, you can come to the White House and I'll let you help shape things; if you don't I will, sadly, let you sit over in the corner and have your tantrums."

I think some of them may be getting a feeling that if they want to be in the game, they are going to have to step away from the extremists and start being (and sounding) more reasonable. At least, I can't recall a week in recent memory where three separate hard-liners said things that actually made sense, on three totally different subjects. One time is chance; two could be a coincidence; but when you get up to 3 or more, it's possible it could be the beginning of a trend.

I gave credit to Graham for the Sotomayor vote as well. Sometimes he can be surprising.

13 months until the mid-term elections. The GOP is now realizing the crazies cannot get it done. They cannot stop HCR, in some anoifestation. It will happen. Whether it will be good or not, remains to be seen. They are seeking the shroud of sanity to hide their efforts to return to power and continue the destructive practices they had committed while we were under the rule of Dubya and Dick. I'm eager to see how long they can hide their true selves as revealed during Dubya and Dick, and just how long is the memory of the American people. For me, they are the Party of Dubya and I hope the door hits them in the ass on heir way out.