State of the Union?

"There's a 55-45% chance right now that disintegration will occur," [Igor Panarin] says. "One could rejoice in that process," he adds, poker-faced. "But if we're talking reasonably, it's not the best scenario -- for Russia." Though Russia would become more powerful on the global stage, he says, its economy would suffer because it currently depends heavily on the dollar and on trade with the U.S... Interest in his forecast revived this fall when he published an article in Izvestia, one of Russia's biggest national dailies. In it, he reiterated his theory, call[ing] U.S. foreign debt "a pyramid scheme"...
The article prompted a question about the White House's reaction to Prof. Panarin's forecast at a December news conference. "I'll have to decline to comment," spokeswoman Dana Perino said amid much laughter.  For Prof. Panarin, Ms. Perino's response was significant. "The way the answer was phrased was an indication that my views are being listened to very carefully," he says.

The Wall Street Journal, December 29, 2008

Then eight days ago...

...and thirteen days ago he spoke at a Tea Party meeting in Houston.   Sure there's low-hanging fruit here, but I'll wait for Glenn Beck to inadvertently bake it in a pie and leave it on my windowsill to cool.  If there's one thing tea-baggers aren't, its traitors to the flag, and the schadenfreude of seeing Obama become the anti-Lincoln wouldn't outweigh the torture of being told by their Mexican opposite numbers (coca-cola-in-a-plastic-baggers?) to "APPRENDE ESPANOL O ADIOS" (Desultory Eclecticism assumes that Mexican conservatives' command of Spanish grammar is comparable to American conservatives' command of English grammar).