Good:

The Tea Party swept into the 112th Congress with promises of cutting government spending. But according to a report out today, at least five lawmakers with Tea Party connections have been longtime recipients of federal agricultural subsidies.

Better:

The biggest recipient was Rep. Stephen Fincher, a Republican from Frog Jump, Tenn.

Best:

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“It’s not like I used slang,” said [Florida state rep Scott] Randolph, who actually got the line from his wife. He said Republicans voiced concern about young pages hearing the word uterus.

Florida pages must be at least 12 years old.

[St. Petersburg Times]

Meanwhile, back in Indiana, a state representative has introduced a bill that “would put some of the tightest abortion restrictions in the nation into Indiana law” — making abortions illegal after twenty weeks, instead of twenty-four.

So another state representative proposes an amendment that would exempt “women who became pregnant due to rape or incest”, plus the other usual exceptions offered by civilized nations.

Of course, the first representative will have none of that:

I just want you to think about this, in my view, giant loophole that could be created where someone who could — now I want to be careful, I don’t want to disparage in any way someone who has gone through the experience of a rape or incest — but someone who is desirous of an abortion could simply say that they’ve been raped or there’s incest.

Yes, “someone” could say that — although a man seeking an abortion because he was raped would be news for other reasons.

But to the point, someone did say that — the quote, not the claim. Can you guess the gender of the speaker?

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[via Weigel]

Update: Bonus Backstab!

Ron Carey, a former Minnesota party chair who quit as her chief of staff last summer, says he will not support Bachmann despite their long friendship. “I agree with Michele Bachmann 99% of the time on policy issues,” he says. “But just like Dorothy, I’ve been to Oz and I’ve looked behind the curtain.”

The Minnesota Clipper [Time, via Political Wire]

You may recall the squirmish a few years ago around Sally Kern, an Oklahoma state representative who wasn’t afraid to stand up for straight thinking:

Studies show that no society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted more than, you know, a few decades. So it’s the death knell of this country.

The response was, well, fierce — if by “fierce” we mean that a rally against her remarks drew all of 300 souls, while fingers tapped furiously nationwide:

Thousands have sent e-mails criticizing state Rep. Sally Kern for comments that were posted on the Internet in which she calls homosexuality “the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam,” the legislator said today.

And then America moved on to the next circus. This was March 2008, after all — that year’s fun was just getting started.

Jump cut three years. Sally Kern is still an Oklahoma state representative, having been handily reelected by what must be her equally bigoted constituency in 2008 and 2010. She’s doing just fine — and hey, she even has a new book out in July!

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We’ve been ignoring Congress lately, because, well, zzzzzz. Let’s see if Eric Cantor can whip up some coffee:

“What this bill says is it reiterates again the deadline, and that the Senate should act before the deadline, and that’s what the American people are expecting,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said Wednesday morning at a news conference with other House Republican leaders. “The bill then says if the Senate does not act, then H.R. 1 [the House-passed bill that cuts $61 billion] will be the law of the land.”

So, if federal funding doesn’t happen by April 8, a House bill — not passed by the Senate, and not signed by the President — becomes law. Must be one of those pages that stuck together back in January when they read the Constitution for everyone’s edification.

House Republicans plan symbolic bill to pressure Senate on shutdown [WaPo, via Political Wire]

“Nearly half of all Americans have an unfavorable view of the tea party movement, putting it in the same company as the Democratic and Republican parties, according to a new national poll… The 32 percent favorable rating is down five points from December.” [CNN]