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From the White House photostream on Flickr, a picture of the heart of American democracy.

Following up on our post about Redstate blogger Erick Erickson and his “prayerful consideration” of a primary challenge to newly christened RINO Saxby Chambliss, this is one of those rare occasions in which God actually told a right winger he shouldn’t run for office because it would be a terrible strain on his family.

And also, Erickson would make a lot less money. God, in this case, is acting as Mr. Erickson’s business manager.

“Were I to run for the Senate, it would be a terribly nasty campaign,” Erickson wrote at Red State. “It’d actually be really awesome, but it’d be really nasty. I have a seven year old, a soon to be four year old, and a wife who does not like being anywhere near a stage. I’m not putting my family through that when the best outcome would mean a sizable cut in pay and being away from my kids and wife all the time huddled in a pit of vipers often surrounded by too many who viewed me as a useful instrument to their own advancement.”

Senators make $174,000 a year, but Erickson, in addition to his website and radio show, is a paid TV commentator for CNN.

Related:
Erick Erickson Is in ‘Prayerful Consideration’ About Far Right Challenge to Chambliss

(If you can’t see the MP4 video above, here’s the Flash version.)

For the last 6 years, the head of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology has been Rep. Ralph Hall, a right wing religious fundamentalist who denies the science of climate change. Now it’s time for Hall to step down, and to replace this anti-science nutjob, the Republican Party has picked … another anti-science nutjob.

On Tuesday afternoon, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced that the Republican Steering Committee had recommended Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) as the new chairman. The full House GOP caucus will vote on all chairmanships Wednesday and is expected to ratify the steering panel’s choices.

Smith, like many of his Republican colleagues, has expressed doubt that global warming is caused by human behavior. In 2009, he criticized the media for not airing enough “dissenting opinions” about climate change.

“The [ABC, NBC and CBS television] networks have shown a steady pattern of bias on climate change,” Smith said in a statement at the time. “During a six-month period, four out of five network news reports failed to acknowledge any dissenting opinions about global warming, according to a Business and Media Institute study. The networks should tell Americans the truth, rather than hide the facts.”

He also referred to environmentalists and others who warn about the seriousness of the issue as “global warming alarmists.”

I haven’t found any statements from Lamar Smith on the subject of evolution, but chances are very good that he’s a young earth creationist as well. Because that’s just how the GOP rolls.

Also see:
Which Anti-Science Rep. Will Chair the Science Committee?

President Obama has made an opening bid on the fiscal cliff, and Republicans are freaking out, of course, whining furiously and leaking the proposal to the media. Ezra Klein’s take seems right to me: Obama to GOP: I’m Done Negotiating With Myself.

Perhaps the key lesson the White House took from the last couple of years is this: Don’t negotiate with yourself. If Republicans want to cut Medicare, let them propose the cuts. If they want to raise revenue through tax reform, let them identify the deductions. If they want deeper cuts in discretionary spending, let them settle on a number. And, above all, if they don’t like the White House’s preferred policies, let them propose their own. That way, if the White House eventually does give in and agree to some of their demands, Republicans will feel like they got one over on the president. A compromise isn’t measured by what you offer, it’s measured by what the other side feels they made you concede.

The GOP is right: This isn’t a serious proposal. But it’s not evidence that Obama isn’t serious. He’s very serious about not negotiating with himself, and his opening bid proves it. Now that they’ve leaked his initial offer, the next question is obvious: What’s their offer?