'Height of hypocrisy'

The Daily Beast's John Avlon:

Republicans ... playing the Medi-Scare card is the height of hypocrisy.

Would someone please wake me when we finally reach the top? Republicans keeping elevating the damn thing.

Seriously. Just today, for instance, I heard some Swift-boating "Opsec" worm on MSNBC sputtering that even if President Obama never authorized any national security leaks, he as commander in chief is responsible for them; minutes later I heard an American Crossroads rodent exclaim that Rep. Ryan's stimulus requests were likely only the work of "staff level," so we should excuse the congressman.

So the summit rose some more.

Every day, though, we read that Republicans are at hypocrisy's "height," which, according to Webster's, means the highest point, or "zenith." But there is no zenith, because while every new high looks down on yesterday's height, Republicans are already rendering the new high obsolete.

We're left with the problem of infinity: a journalist trying to measure the height of Republican hypocrisy is like a mathematician trying to fathom the largest number in the universe, which is always whatever he thinks it is, plus one.

All of which is my way of asking, Could we please retire the phrase, "height of hypocrisy"? For though it's a dandy metaphysical concept, it is, for Republicans, also an inexhaustible one.

Comments

[japa21]

Just as there is no peak wingnuttery, there is no peak Republican hypocrisy.

[Robert Lipscomb]

My sense is that these tactics are simply not working this time, and I am not sure why.

Maybe, it's because Obama and his team keep them engaged in a street fight, causing them to sound weak.

Maybe, Americans have heard these songs one time too many.

Maybe everyone finally realize that these are lies.

I'm not sure of the why of it, but I am really liking it.

[mdblanche]

It seemed like their old bag of tricks wasn't working four years ago either. Two years ago on the other hand...

[Peter G]

I had intended to post this yesterday but the fierce rush of life intervened. I would like to draw your attention to the noble work of Georg Cantor on the subject of infinity. It has some profound philosophical as well as mathematical implications. I believe, or rather hope, that a better mathematical model for Republican hypocrisy would be an asymptotic approximation. One would be assuming that there exists an upper limit that is ever being approached without being reached. Sort of like the speed of light.

[janicket]

A neat thought, Peter, especially in light (ha!) of the ever increasing perceptual distortion created as the moving object gets closer and closer to the speed of light. Those hurtling onward see themselves as a static reality, while the universe they see around them is warped out of all recognition.