Shouldn't There Be A Telethon Or Something?

This just goes to show that Bush Derangement Syndrome can strike anyone, even someone I thought was fairly sane by Democratic standards:

Young liberals this week flocked to the nation's capital to hear, among other things, liberal television pundit and Democrat political strategist Paul Begala accuse Republicans of wanting to kill him and his children to preserve tax cuts for the rich.

Begala was featured at the first-ever Campus Progress National Student Conference, which was designed to provide campus liberals with the tools necessary to fight the conservative movement. The event also drew former President Bill Clinton, for whom Begala once worked as an advisor.

. . .

Begala's presence on the panel created a stir when he declared that Republicans had "done a p***-poor job of defending" the U.S.

Republicans, he said, "want to kill us.

"I was driving past the Pentagon when that plane hit" on Sept. 11, 2001. "I had friends on that plane; this is deadly serious to me," Begala said.

"They want to kill me and my children if they can. But if they just kill me and not my children, they want my children to be comforted -- that while they didn't protect me because they cut my taxes, my children won't have to pay any money on the money they inherit," Begala said. "That is bulls*** national defense, and we should say that."

OK, let me try to follow this: Begala saw the plane hit the Pentagon (but I thought the evil neocons blew up the Pentagon! Guess Begala didn't get the moonbat talking points memo). Because he saw it, Republicans now want to kill him and his family? Or maybe just him, and then take care of his family? And this is a national defense problem how?

Wow. But it gets weirder:

The Clinton administration's national security efforts involved the right blend of "experience" and "strength," Begala said, an assertion with which the 9/11 Commission apparently disagreed.

Here, I can see his point, for sufficiently broad definitions of 'experience' and 'strength:' "turn our military into the Peace Corps" and "flip a couple of cruise missiles at an aspirin factory and an empty training camp," respectively.

Maybe the infection vector for BDS is verbal:

"Okay, they are utterly and completely brain-dead," echoing comments earlier this year by Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, who accused Republicans of being "brain dead."

Frank [Thomas Frank, author of "What's the Matter with Kansas"] insisted that Republicans are not quite as tough on national security as many Americans think.

"Franklin Roosevelt got us in World War II. They dragged the Republicans kicking and screaming. They didn't want to get in that war. They didn't have any problem with Hitler. I won't go so far as to say they thought Hitler rocked. But there were people in America who did, and they didn't want us to get in that war."

The insinuation here is that because some Americans supported Hitler, and the Republicans (allegedly) had to be dragged "kicking and screaming" into fighting in WWII, that Republicans are Nazis.

"Democrats have always been just as tough as Republicans once they're in office," Frank said.

See the definitions of 'experience' and 'strength' above.