You Know The Republicans Have Lost It When...

... when the most conservative newspaper in the country, The Wall Street Journal, has to come out and say the Republicans are idiots. And it's not even gentle or qualifying, like you would expect: The subtitle of the piece is "How did Republicans manage to lose the tax issue to Obama?" (And it gets more scathing from there.)

GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell famously said a year ago that his main task in the 112th Congress was to make sure that President Obama would not be re-elected. Given how he and House Speaker John Boehner have handled the payroll tax debate, we wonder if they might end up re-electing the President before the 2012 campaign even begins in earnest.

The GOP leaders have somehow managed the remarkable feat of being blamed for opposing a one-year extension of a tax holiday that they are surely going to pass. This is no easy double play.

... But now Republicans are drowning out that victory in the sounds of their circular firing squad. Already four GOP Senators have rejected the House position, and the political rout will only get worse.

After a year of the tea party House, Mr. Obama and Senate Democrats have had to make no major policy concessions beyond extending the Bush tax rates for two years. Mr. Obama is in a stronger re-election position today than he was a year ago, and the chances of Mr. McConnell becoming Majority Leader in 2013 are declining.

See? That's harsh coming from The Wall Street Journal.

It's true though. The other day, I said that the candidates in the Republican Presidential primary were giving Obama everything he needed to win without his lifting a finger to help or hinder. I suppose it is fair to mention that the rest of the Republican party is doing their part as well.