With Barack Obama anxious to take office, the public eager for fresh leadership, and the economy demanding urgent attention, the Senate is likely to defer to the president-elect and swiftly approve his Cabinet nominees, congressional aides and political analysts say.

But there will be one prominent exception: The confirmation hearing for Eric Holder, Obama's pick for attorney general, promises to be bruising, with Republicans determined to explore Holder's role in controversial pardons under President Clinton, his views on gun rights, and his involvement in the case of Elian Gonzalez, the 6-year-old Cuban boy returned to his homeland by Clinton's Justice Department.

"You're probably only going to have one truly horrendous confirmation; that's always the case," said Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institution, who served on the White House staffs of presidents Eisenhower and Nixon. "In this case, it is clearly the attorney general-designate, Eric Holder."

There isn't enough Viagra in the world that could cure the Republicans impotence. Yet, despite this, they still steadfastly wave what ever flaccid tool they have left in their once mighty arsenal in a pitiful attempt to remain relevant and influential in the the life of our nation. If George Romero were to make a movie about them, it would be called "The Party of the Living Dead".

They have decided to re-brand their laissez-faire, feckless, and sometimes corrupt ideology as "the loyal opposition". They want us to believe that, while they are true-blue Americans and will "support" the legally elected government, they stand ready to defend us from the "liberal" economic excesses and foreign policy naivete of Obama and his new administration. They will be the bulwark of sanity and stability for the nation. What...a...load...of...crap.

The Republicans in 2008 made so many "Hail Mary" passes from the nomination of Sarah Palin to the bald-faced racism of some their operatives in order to stay in power that they have enough to make a complete rosary. But in the end they were done in by their own creation...George W. Bush. What Karl Rove and his band of merry men saw as the opportunity to establish Republican hegemony for decades to come has fallen apart in less than eight years. (Kinda like the "1000 year Reich.) The mistake they made was to delude themselves into believing that Americans were a nation of sheep; dumbly compliant and easily led, even to slaughter.

Ah, but Greed poked it's slimy head into the plan. If we are recreating America in our own image and likeness, they reasoned, they why not make a buck or two out of it as well. So they slowly stripped away all of those querulous restrictions and anti-capitalist rules that had held back the big corporations and financial institutions. It was for the good of the American people, dontcha know. The billions of dollars just waiting to be made would trickle down to the all the people. Unless of course they decided to eliminate almost all the taxes these money machines would have to pay.

And then there was that pesky little conflict in Iraq which one economist now believes will ultimately wind up costing three trillion dollars. Never mind all those dead and wounded young men and women. And, oh yeah, there were some civilian casualties too.

Despite all of what they have allowed to transpire during the reign of George the Idiot, they still think they can continue on with business as usual. Only this time they will be obstructing the plays instead of calling them. As far as I'm concerned, let them.

They're already dead. They're just too stupid to lie down.