It's a fine how-do-you-do. Fifty years after Democrats struggled to prove that their candidate for President "just happened to be a Catholic," now they face the prospect of painting a Republican challenger as a dangerous follower of Rome's socially extreme dogma.

The ascension of former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum to maybe-viable contender for his party's nomination and even a Pennsylvania Avenue address promises a number of rather unique possibilities. (Get ready for the "surprise" when he takes North Carolina.)

Most immediately, and a source of far more spiritual indigestion, a Santorum nomination would mean the most bloody dust-up over abortion and faith modern America has ever experienced. That's [...]

The attacks were "a despicable act directed at everyone in Norway," said Siv Jensen, the leader of the Norwegian Progress Party. While her assessment of the 76 dead and nearly 100 injured may be philosophically true, it's technically false. The bombing and mass shooting late last week was in fact directed at a very specific group of Norwegians. These "summer camp" teens weren't shot for taking canoe lessons; they were shot for being political activists, or children of such. (This was something made very clear by Tea Party leader Glenn Beck, when he functionally ended his corporate career days later by comparing the dead to Hitler Youth).

After years [...]

The Times does a bang-up job on answering the question of who makes up the "Tea Party." There's a ton of information to parse, but your short answer is wealthy older conservatives who hate the idea that poor people might ever enjoy any of the benefits of the state. Also, they are not fans of Barack Obama. Let us first get this out of the way. It is the opinion of a 67-year-old retiree.

.bbpBox{background:url(http://a2.twimg.com/profile_background_images/191823221/red.jpg) #f2f5f7;padding:20px;}

My office was invaded by the Occupy Protesters today & all I saw were $1000 laptops & vomit on the carpet. Thank God for #febrezeWed Dec 07 03:49:02 via TweetDeckRep. Joe WalshRepJoeWalsh

I'll just leave this here. Oh, okay, how about a review of Joe Walsh's work activity this year, his first in Congress? Well, it's pretty amazing actually.

The simple rhetoric of the Wisconsin budget battle is that the Democrats are just "thug" unions—and that Republicans are carrying water for wealthy corporate sleaze. It's more complicated than that. For one, several teachers' unions endorsed Wisconsin Republicans last year—unions are hardly the unthinking automatons of the left they're now depicted to be. Why would they do that? Quite simply, those Republicans looked into the face of their constituents… and lied.

As the marquee battle over unions and Walker's bill is happening in Madison, the true fight over changes to the state is happening elsewhere. The ransacking of Wisconsin cannot be done from Madison alone. Governor Scott [...]

A movement that's rewriting the rules for politics is also rewriting new rules for fashion.

Clothing is an extension of your values, a sartorial statement of who you are as an American. And while you're shouldering the rebirth of a nation's glory, why not shoulder a smart-looking blazer in the process?

While Tea Partiers respect, more than anything, the freedom to wear what they like, there are some new essentials for the man looking to "restore honor" to America… and his wardrobe. Below, a selection of the Fall essentials for the Tea Partier dressing for the profession, the polls or the protest.

Oh, look! I breezed past the boilerplate section while reading Ben McGrath's Tea Party profile yesterday, and I so shouldn't have. Media Matters? "According to the New Yorker, the 'mainstream media' declined to acknowledge that 1.8 million people showed up at the Tea Party rally? Might that be because 1.8 million people didn't show up and that number was pure fantasy, whipped up by the likes of Michelle Malkin and Glenn Beck. Or, to put it another way, the press didn't report the 1.8 million number because it was off the mark by 1.7 million."

#embedly_twitter_9311080{background:url(http://a3.twimg.com/profile_background_images/202464516/ZZ10F7C43D.jpg) #000000; padding:20px;} #embedly_twitter_9311080 p{background:#fff;padding:10px 12px 0px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:#000;font-size:18px;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px} #embedly_twitter_9311080 .embedly_tweet_content{background:#fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:#000;font-size:18px !important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px} #embedly_twitter_9311080 p span.metadata{display:block;width:100%;clear:both;margin-top:0px;height:40px; padding-bottom: 12px;} #embedly_twitter_9311080 p span.metadata span.author{line-height:15px;color:#999;font-size:14px} #embedly_twitter_9311080 p span.metadata span.author a{line-height:15px;font-size:20px;vertical-align:middle} #embedly_twitter_9311080 p span.metadata span.author img{float:left;margin:0 10px 0 0px;width:48px;height:48px} #embedly_twitter_9311080 p a {color: #143799; text-decoration:none;} #embedly_twitter_9311080 p a:hover{text-decoration:underline} #embedly_twitter_9311080 .embedly_timestamp{font-size:13px;display:inline-block;margin-top: 5px;} #embedly_twitter_9311080 .components-above span.embedly_timestamp{font-size:10px;margin-top: 1px;line-height:12px} #embedly_twitter_9311080 a {color: #143799; text-decoration:none;} #embedly_twitter_9311080 a:hover{text-decoration:underline} #embedly_twitter_9311080 .tweet-screen-name {font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold;} #embedly_twitter_9311080 .tweet-full-name {padding-left: 4px; color: #999; font-size: 12px;} #embedly_twitter_9311080 .tweet-actions{margin-left: 10px;font-size:13px;display:inline-block;width:250px} #embedly_twitter_9311080 .components-above span.tweet-actions{font-size:10px} #embedly_twitter_9311080 .controls{line-height:12px!important} #embedly_twitter_9311080 .tweet-actions a {margin-left:5px} #embedly_twitter_9311080 .tweet-actions a b{font-weight:normal} #embedly_twitter_9311080 .components-above span.tweet-actions a b{vertical-align:baseline;line-height:12px} #embedly_twitter_9311080 .components-above .tweet-text{font-size:13px;vertical-align:baseline} #embedly_twitter_9311080 .tweet-image {float: left; width: 40px;} #embedly_twitter_9311080 .tweet-user-block-image {float: left; width: 48px; [...]

"Local tea party groups are less organized and politically active than previously thought—and… much of the grassroots organization that swayed primaries was coordinated and financed by large national groups led by Republican insiders." —You don't say.

I know it's plucking at low-hanging fruit to pull anything out of the rubber room that is National Review's The Corner, and it's particularly low-hanging fruit to call out a reader anecdote sent into that site's Jay Nordlinger, but there was something about this one that just struck me as so telling. Can you guess what it is?