"To the cornfield with John Boehner!"

Jon Bershad has one of the best analogies for the relationship between the Republican Party and the Tea Baggers that I've seen.

The Tea Party has become to Conservatives like the character Anthony in the “It’s a Good Life” episode of The Twilight Zone.

If you don’t recall, the episode, based on a short story by Jerome Bixby, tells of little Anthony Fremont, a six-year-old boy who has the ability to do terrible things with his mind. He can create amazing things but he can also kill at will, forcing the adults around him to constantly think and say nice things about him because, at any moment, he can destroy them, sending them off “to the cornfield.” It’s not that he’s evil per se. He just has this incredible power and doesn’t really know the implications of what he’s doing...

Conservatives know how powerful the Tea Party is and they seem terrified to say anything the slightest bit bad about them. They’re treating the party just like an infinitely powerful child, walking on eggshells at all times... The thinking seems to be that any critique, no matter how benign, could send the Tea Party into a rage, quickly leading to death. The 2012 presidential election version of death that is.

And can they be blamed? Just look at how many news stories there are about some Tea Party leader announcing plans to vote a Republican out of office for daring to compromise in any way. To the cornfield with John Boehner! Who cares that he’s supposed to be our Speaker of the House!

And so the debt debate rages on, thanks in part to the Tea Party (Heh, no, just kidding! It’s all Obama’s fault! He’s a bad man! You did a good thing! A very good thing!).