Epic Jail

It's tough to imagine how the GOP establishment could get any more ridiculous these days, but its reaction to President Obama's plan to close Guantanamo pretty much steers the crazy ship into uncharted territory. If you believe the Republicans' line of thinking, they're taking a Horatius-like stand to prevent the criminal masterminds currently at Gitmo -- who they just know have been plotting and scheming to destroy America, even while behind bars -- from ever setting foot on U.S. soil and being able to hatch their nefarious plans. The Republicans claim that bringing terrorist suspects into the country -- into (gasp!) your neighborhood -- would put all of our lives in jeopardy. Never mind that the Supermax facility these people would likely be transferred to already holds the country's most dangerous murderers, rapists and thieves (and one previously convicted terrorist).

It's of course a fantasy of the most outlandish kind, more than likely borne from watching too many "conservative-themed movies," to imagine that the Guantanamo detainees are arch-villains who will be busted out of a heavily-armed prison convoy in spectacular fashion by Magneto and Pyro as soon as they're brought to the mainland. But that's not stopping the Republicans from cultivating this nonsense into a series of obstructionist talking points. And what's worse, it's not stopping spineless frump Harry Reid -- the almost literal definition of "my own worst enemy" -- from buying into it and needlessly capitulating to a Republican party that's disorganized, marginalized and, quite possibly, insane.

Cesca takes on the topic, and it's worth reading.