Republicans are suffering right now from the appearance (justified in some cases) of being willing to do whatever is politically expedient, even at the cost of ethics. They're also correctly seen as being wasteful big-spenders.

So when I read about how Roy Blunt apparently deceptively stacked the deck in a conference call with bloggers, and behaved like an unaccountable jerk who will do anything to get his grubby hands on the reigns of power, I am, of course, a bit concerned. Add this to his innovative techniques ("earmarking") for wasting even more dollars on pork spending, and we've got a sure-fire winner for seeing Congress return to Democratic control.

I mean, what's the point in voting for Republicans if they're going to behave exactly like Democrats, or worse? Is this some idiotic "team sport" where we just line up abitrarily behind one of two letters, "R" or "D" and support them no matter what? Or wasn't there supposed to be, if I can recall this correctly, some difference which set Republicans apart from Democrats? Something like fiscal conservativism, if I recall? And that other thing about social conservativism -- you know, JudeoChristian values, including truth and transparency, instead of dirty underhanded manipulation?

There are good Republicans out there. But they have to decide what's more important, power or the very values they claimed they wanted to use that power to promote. If you live in the US, and this concerns you, and your rep is a Republican, please give them a call and tell them to support Shadegg.