Despite everything that's going on, congressional Republican leaders are trying to bully Ben Bernanke to not interfere in the economy. Or else. Bernanke is going to announce a plan today, I think, that will lower consumer interest rates even further.
David Frum wrote a scathing takedown of the Republican sabotage here. Ezra Klein's take is here.
Meanwhile, it's increasingly likely there will be a Republican president elected in 2012. According to the new CNN poll, independents are seriously leaning Republican with 53 percent support for Random Republican X and only 28 percent support for the president.
The sabotage is working. Sadly. It's truly astonishing how the Republicans are getting away with this. By rights, they should be summarily removed from office by throngs of screaming (unemployed, bankrupt) voters. The Republicans have successfully pulled off one of the biggest marketing coups of all time: deliberately sabotage the economy and make voters think it's the other side's fault.