The Czar is reminded of the time a hippie challenged the Mandarin to three rounds of full-contact, no gloves boxing. Within seconds, the hippie was clinging to the ropes, and the Mandarin just kept landing punch after punch after punch. And then, when the hippie said he had quite enough, the Mandarin punched him repeatedly again and again. And then he punched him some more.

What the hell is the Czar talking about? He’s talking about a pair of Wall Street Journal articles, one stunning and the other quite brilliant, about the disasters facing the Democratic Party. One thing can be said for President Obama—he seems to be skilled in pissing people off. Obviously, the right wingers disliked him within days of his Inauguration. Within months, the far Left hated him for his sudden inability to make us gay Maoists. Now, mainstream Democrats are viewing him like a bent, rusted hypodermic needle in the hands of a square-eyed-drunk doctor.

One article covers the results of a recent joint WSJ/NBC poll which found, among many other things, that most Americans believe (a) the United States is fading fast as the world’s greatest nation, (b) China is kicking our ever-loving ass, and (c) the Democrats, Mr. Obama in particular, are totally to blame for this.

Additionally, polls show that Ms. Pelosi is abhorrent. In fact, if you are a Democrat facing re-election in 2010, you had best alienate Madame Speaker as fast as possible: she is widely perceived as a witch’s kiss on your chances of keeping your job. 52% of voters will vote against anyone who is simply seen as being associated with her. Actually, it’s worse than that: make that “anyone who is perceived to support her positions even coincidentally.”

Mr. Obama is sinking fast in the polls. His bizarre focus on Copenhagen, which most Americans right resent, coupled with his obsession on healthcare reform (more on that in a bit), is having a corrosive effect on his popularity. Most Americans, again rightly, believe he has done little to help on the economy except, disastrously, help some Wall Street tycoons get a lot richer.The Czar disagrees with that generalization, but this makes no difference: America believes it.

Sadly, the only place where the President seems to be succeeding popularity-wise with Americans is Afghanistan—once he adopted the Republican policy of sending more troops there to win the war. That…well, that really has to hurt.

At the same stroke, Kimberley A. Strassel has an impressively researched piece on healthcare reform…and how this one aspect is virtually destroying the Democrats. At this point, more than two-thirds of Americans think that any aspect of healthcare reform is a bad idea. She mentions that, quite possibly, no piece of legislation in American history is so widely despised as this when supported by a full majority party. All poll results confirm that supporting healthcare legislation is very likely going to cost you your political future.

But Ms. Strassel asks the one question that has been buzzing around the Castle here: if so many Americans hate healthcare reform to the point of voting its supporters out post-haste, why are the Democrats so ardently pushing for it? Why the kamikaze insistence on going forward? The answer is chilling and yet obvious.

Push the bill through, even though you know it will dramatically increase costs and put us in severe debt. Indeed, the only way to pay for it will be to rewrite the tax codes to create a European-style VAT. Once you go VAT, you can’t undo it. Why? Because the Democrats are desperate to the point of suicide in preventing a Second Ronald Reagan. The Czar understands exactly what that means: Reagan was perhaps the single greatest disaster to befall the Democrats; popular opinion is so against them now that anyone with a tenth of his vision could well set them back another 20 years. Hobble that nightmare now by putting barriers that will prove impossible to take apart. Sort of a last-chance-gasp by the Democrats, who now realize they screwed this up to epic standards.

Indeed, Ms. Strassel goes deep and down the line in looking at various Democrats and their dissipating futures. Consider Senator Byron Dorgan—a legend in North Dakota politics. Polls show that his long-lived career is teetering on the edge of collapse because he continues to support the healthcare bill. Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln is almost unelectable at this point, due to association with the bill. Harry Reid…well, he’s so far in the hole that he almost needs a winch to feed himself.

The polls show that these Democratic disasters are not limited to swing state: they live in locations where they were popularly elected by Democrats. Yes, you guessed right: it’s the Democratic voters who want these people out, and out now. Even Democrats, who are not always the savviest customers politically, want this bill dead. Polls show that three-quarters of Americans believe their taxes will go up because of this bill. There alone, you can expect nothing short of travesty. America has spoken: as much as they like Hope and Change, they love a representational republic more.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.