"He shredded the truth, so I shredded his speech." This was Nancy Pelosi's response to scolding criticism of her unceremoniously ripping up a copy of the President's State of the Union address.  On the surface, this petty and childish reaction can be seen as a moment of weakness — a sore loser abandoning emotional restraint in the heat of defeat.  But to ignore the surrounding context might mean to miss a larger trend of ill fated activity that has engulfed the near and long term fate of the Democratic Party as we know it.  In just the last few days, the attempt to remove the president from office failed in embarrassing fashion, stressing the public's already fatigued tolerance and attention span.  An avowed socialist and Democratic outsider with a Trump-esque fan base pulled ahead in primary polling, eliciting fear and backroom conspiring (again) among party insiders, furthering the growing intra-party...(Read Full Post)