The donors were, of course, the same kind of folks that a tuxedoed George W. Bush described at a fancy dinner a dozen years ago as: "The haves and the have-mores," adding congenially: "Some people call you the elite. I call you my base."

One wonders if any of the Tea Partiers who've run on a platform to "return to Constitutional principles" actually bothered to read the Constitution, or whether they just purchased worn, dog-eared copies to convey that impression.

The newly-Republican House of Representatives is going to start off their tenure reading the entire Constitution on the floor of the House. There's one problem with this: Who gets to read the uncomfortable bits?