Former Rep. Alan Grayson wrote a blog post for the Daily Kos today. If that sentence isn't sad enough, here's the title: "I Told Newt He Looks Fat." Apparently Grayson once met Newt Gingrich on the floor of the House, and totally zing'ed him, and it was awesome.

Wisconsin Rep. Tammy Baldwin has announced she'll run for Senate, and "she will very likely be considered the front-runner for the Democratic nomination." She would be the first openly gay senator in history.

"Undermining Americans' belief in their own institutions of self-government remains a prime GOP electoral strategy." — Mike Lofgren, a Republican congressional staffer for 28 years, retired in June. He does not think much of the current incarnation of his party.

There is much glee on the ethereal plane high above the Bethesda clouds from which New York Times columnist Tom Friedman writes his column today. We're treated to his latest venture into despondent centrist wet-dream fanfic, in which the Mustache of Understanding imagines a world where political parties don't have bases, but still manage to dig deep, treat each other politely, and deal with false problems in bad ways through their own sheer purity of will.

Leaders of the House of Representatives will finally end the chamber's 200-year-old child slavery practice, also known as the page program, due to "advances in technology" that have reduced the chamber's need for young child sex slaves.

Every year 2,100 American men are diagnosed with breast cancer, which obviously means that breast cancer is not a "woman's disease." Yet the federal government still treats it as such, as Raymond Johnson—an official Man With Breast Cancer—can tell you.

This particular class of legislators is, we can all agree, an exceptionally stupid group of people. But they are more than just stupid! They are also widely hated: A new poll has congress' disapproval rating at 82 percent—the lowest since the poll was first taken in 1977.

On tonight's Daily Show, Jon Stewart briefly celebrated the fact that, despite the fight it took to get there, Congress finally reached a deal to raise the nation's debt ceiling. But then Stewart noted just how little the deal will actually reduce the deficit, at which point he gave the "spoiled children" in Congress a piece of his mind.

The Senate has passed the debt ceiling deal, 74-26, sending it to President Obama's desk. Crisis averted! Now, thanks to the deal's structure, we can look forward to a prolonged 18-month budget battle and massive lobbying campaign.

Who and what should liberal Democrats be happy about with this debt ceiling deal that may or may not pass, say, today?

House Republicans proved that they hate Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D - Nev.) sufficiently by calling a vote and rejecting his debt ceiling proposal before the Senate even got a chance to vote on it. [NYT]

You know who's terrible? Congressman Andy Harris, of Maryland, is terrible. Here's why!

At some point, maybe Speaker John Boehner will become good at his job and round up enough House Republicans to pass his go-nowhere debt ceiling bill. Maybe. Because Congress has other, much more important business to attend to this afternoon, like signing up for a football game.

On Tuesday night, congressional Republicans were moved by a scene in the bank robber movie The Town to unite behind a single plan to solve the nation's debt ceiling crisis before next week's deadline. So long as they're turning to pop culture for inspiration, allow us to suggest that up next they consider some of the anti-big government statements of Parks & Recreation character Ron Swanson. A clip of Swanson's greatest bits of political wisdom is above.

On Tuesday, federal officials concluded that there wasn't enough evidence to link cases of cancer in 9/11 first responders to the duties they performed at Ground Zero. Consequently, the bill providing health care to the responders will not include coverage for cancer treatments. On tonight's Daily Show, Jon Stewart, who has long advocated for the bill's passage, made no secret of his anger over the news. Video of Stewart's segment is above.

The world is quickly tumbling further into hell, thanks entirely to a crisis of Washington's own making, but Capitol Hill is celebrating its favorite holiday of the year today: the release day of The Hill's annual "50 Most Beautiful" list!

One day after lambasting Congress for letting partisan interests get in the way of solving the debate over raising the nation's debt ceiling, Jon Stewart opened tonight's Daily Show with an equally critical take on President Obama's address to the nation yesterday. Video of the segment, during which Stewart took particular issue with Obama's suggestion that the American people take matters into their own hands to solve the crisis, is above.

Oregon Rep. David Wu, a tigersuit-clad furry sex monster, apparently won't sit out the rest of his House term before resigning. He's issued a statement announcing his imminent resignation — just as soon as the debt ceiling debacle draws to a close, which it never will.

At the end of last night's fluffy-duffy speech to the public about the debt ceiling, President Obama urged everyone to call their representatives to request his "balanced" approach to deficit reduction, which apparently means $3 trillion dollars in spending cuts along with zero dollars in new tax revenue. What the hell was he talking about? Who cares! Because people too his cue, and are now breaking the phone system.

It must have been a long weekend for Missouri Rep. Billy Long, as he stared at the wall for hours at a time trying to to link the death of Amy Winehouse with our current debt ceiling debacle in 140 characters or less.