My profound apology in behalf of the State of Utah for inflicting the mistake and embarrassment that is Mike Lee onto the nation.
Senator Mike Lee of Utah is one of the "Stone Age Eight" who voted against the eleventh hour Senate bill to do something about the fiscal cliff. (Actually, it was a fourteenth hour bill - it passed two hours after midnight. Congress has always had trouble with simple arithmetic.)
In voting against the bill, Mike Lee was saying to the nation, "Go ahead and dissolve in chaos. I only care about rich people." In the tradition of The Party of NO, Lee continued to try to hold the nation hostage to the narrow interests of his rich clients. Utah - the state I live in - should be ashamed of sending a throwback to pre-civilization like Lee to Congress.
It's instructive to review how someone as backward as Lee came to be in Congress in the first place. Utah has the partial excuse that it happened in 2010 at the height of Tea Party influence in the Utah state Republican convention. It was a shock that made headlines even in a time where insane politics were almost normal. Barbarians looking to tear down the binding forces of civilization tossed aside the establishment candidate Wallace Bennett (who basically inherited the seat from his father, also named Wallace Bennett). It was a stark demonstration of how The Party of NO, unable to win on a national level, has become the party of primary elections. gerrymandered districts and backward corners of society like Utah and Kentucky (Rand Paul, another of the Stone Age Eight, and Mitch McConnell). They will continue to hold society hostage and throw sand in the gears of progress.
While we're on the subject of the Fiscal Cliff, my previous article, "How Will Republicans Try To Spin It When They Lose? (Poll)" is worth reading again. The final choice in the poll ...
Under the Bus: "Speaker Boehner has resigned to allow him to direct more of his energy toward personal commitments to his family."
... came in last with only six percent of the votes, but it's looking better all the time. Boehner may yet learn that when you try to lead a bunch of cavemen around, you have a serious risk of being clubbed from behind.