Jason Chaffetz is letting me down. He really must come up with a better campaign slogan than the one he offered this morning: "I'm not sure if I'm the right person" for the speakership.
There is no "right person," Jason. That's the whole point of chaos. Jesus!
Shockingly, even the habitually addled Dana Rohrabacher made more sense this morning than did Chaffetz, telling reporters that "We just need to get through the next election and then determine what our goals are. We need someone just to lead our party" — virtually anyone — and "get the basics done, while the American people decide."
This chaos should help the American people in that decision — as long as Democrats stay the hell out of the GOP's civil war and don't feed Republicans yet another lifeline. No deals, no aiding and abetting, no comforting the enemy; Democrats have got to hold tight.
Let Republicans slash at each other in their leadership battle and then haul the country to the brink of default, which is an even more tantalizing prospect than seemingly endless civil war. The default threshold will never be crossed; President Obama won't allow it. He has his 14th Amendment power — "The validity of the public debt of the United States … shall not be questioned" — and it is virtually incontestable that he would use it. He'd have no choice.
Meanwhile, the American people so despised beloved by Dana Rohrabacher & Friends can witness, once again, what a buffoonish gang of stumblebums, malcontents and poisonous misfits are in charge of the U.S. House. Someday, "once again" will convert to "had enough."