[Update: Ollie Ox discovered Wyeth connection]

Republicans are having a tough time. Period. Anchored by a very unpopular President, further weighted down by blind support for a disastrous occupation, as corrupt as they are inept, unable to compete with Democrats in fundraising and now they've lost a third special election in a Republican district.

But they've got an antidote. They've formed a rapid-response advisory panel. It will be a magical cure for all their woes. Especially as they face another landslide this November. To further enhance the magical qualities of this panel, they've invented a magical catch-phrase to empower themselves:

The change you deserve

There's so many problems with this phrase on so many levels, but I'll begin with this:

In today’s New York Times’ Caucus blog, Carl Hulse reports that House Republicans have got themselves a brand-new slogan:

It looks like Republicans will counter the Democratic push for change from the years of the Bush administration with their own pledge to deliver, drum roll please, “the change you deserve.” […]

What the GOP doesn’t seem to realize, because they are idiots, is that “the change you deserve” is the registered advertising slogan of Effexor XR. … also known as Venlafaxine, is approved for the treatment “of depression, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and panic disorder in adults.”
(Huffington Post)

But that's not all folks, it keeps getting better ...

And if that wasn’t funny enough for you, as Jason points out, the FDA took issue with the company over the Effexor ad “saying that the company made “unsubstantiated superiority claims.”“
(Huffington Post)

The Republicans are all about unsubstantiated claims. From those 16 words removed then reinserted into His Shrubness's SOTU speech, to Mitch McConnell's warning of imminent terrorist attack if the FISA bill wasn't ram-rodded through Congress on August 2, 2007 before the August recess, to Republicans across the board threatening grave, unspecified dangers if the telecoms weren't given retroactive immunity to ... meh ... I think you catch my drift.

Haven't we already had enough of the change we deserve under His Shrubness? Economy in recession, unending occupation of Iraq, Osama bin Laden (the man who actually orchestrated the 9/11 attacks) forgotten, the world-wide unity of 9/12/2001 squandered, New Orleans destroyed and still suffering after all these many years since Hurricane Katrina, Republican corruption of every level of the federal government, etc., etc. etc...

For those of us who never voted for the draft-dodging, ignoramus in 2000 and 2004, why do we deserve more of this?

That's the point, the Republicans just want to give it to America harder and nastier than under Bush. Voting Republican this fall is voting for more of the same disastrous policies and, in effect, you deserve it for supporting the Republicans.

Maybe its just to get we Democrats laughing so hard at the Republicans stupidity that we overlook the rift amongst the Republican leadership who will have to carry the party forward after Teh End of the Error.

“The conference was shaken by the two losses,” one House GOP leadership aide told Real Clear Politics. “We just couldn’t get it done.” The fallout has encouraged a brewing feud between House Majority Leader John Boehner and National Republican Congressional Committee chairman Tom Cole, two top Republicans who have spent much of the past year fighting. And while other Capitol Hill Republicans are almost unanimous in agreeing the trouble is not all Cole’s fault, someone has to take the hit. “The two offices are positioning themselves to avoid blame or to lay blame,” the aide said.

In an open letter published by Human Events, a conservative news service, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich became the most prominent Republican to speak publicly on his party’s troubles. Calling the two losses a “sharp wake up call,” Gingrich called for an emergency meeting of House Republicans to come up with a new action plan by the Memorial Day recess. “Without change we could face a catastrophic election this fall,” Gingrich warned. “Without change the Republican Party in the House could revert to the permanent minority status it had from 1930 to 1994.”

In hopes of avoiding another special election loss, which would almost certainly be seen as a harbinger of a disastrous November to come, the national party has spent heavily on bolstering Republican candidate Greg Davis, the mayor of Southaven, Mississippi, prior to Tuesday’s election. The national party has spent more than $1 million on the seat, which includes about 150,000 pieces of mail and two television ads that are still on the air. Freedom’s Watch, an independent organization that will aid Republican cnadidates this Fall, has also waded in with more than $500,000 in television advertising, mailings, phone calls and other activity. Local GOP officials, including Wicker, Governor Haley Barbour and Senator Thad Cochran, have been stumping with and for Davis in recent weeks.
(Opinion News Review)

This is the whole point of creating the magical rapid-response advisory panel. Republicans are desperate to find a way for Boner and "Coleslaw" to come together for a common goal. They are desperate to find a way to avoid a "harbinger of a disastrous November." Unfortunately for them, Democrat Travis Childers defeated Republican Greg Davis 54% to 46% in MS-01's special election. That's three straight special election victories in heavily Republican districts.

Why is this important?

First because MN-02, MN-03 and MN-06 are nowhere near as heavily Republican as MS-01.

Secondly because further down the Opinion News Review article it mentions that John Kline "heads the management committee." No kidding? So he's playing a leading role in the inability of the Republican Party to raise any money or protect any seats? So how is Kline going to be able to help himself? There may not be enough money to go around. Also everyone may be to busy trying to save themselves, pass the blame or avoid the blame.

Steve Sarvi and Ashwin Madia are really strong candidates and even Elwyn Tinklenberg has a chance against bat-**** crazy Michele Bachmann if Democrats can win in Mississippi. As I have mentioned many, many times, MN-02 and MN-03 are trending blue.

When you add this all together ... boy-o do I feel hopeful about November.

Update

The first blog to notice that The Change You Deserve was not original was, in fact, MN's own Blue Stem Prairie. HuffPo writer Jason Linkins never credits BSP, though many other do. It's too bad that Linkins doesn't correct the problem.

Just click on the pic to see the original. Awesome job, Ollie Ox ...