I DIDN’T WATCH THIS WEEK TODAY (why bother when there’s PunditWatch to give me the scoop within an hour or two anyway?) but Michigander Joe User doesn’t think David Bonior acquitted himself very well. I’ll be interested in the PunditWatch take on the same appearance.

I did see Mark Shields describe the United States as a Christian nation on CNN’s Novak, Hunt & Shields (which I was watching from the treadmill at the gym). I don’t agree with Shields that the United States is a Christian nation, and I’ll thank him and Pat Robertson to keep those opinions to themselves. . . . .

UPDATE: A.C. Douglas is unhappy as hell with Bonior & McDermott too. Excerpt:

In what they had to say, they couldn’t have been more damaging to the United States, or acted more like Iraqi sycophants, had they been paid agents of Saddam Hussein himself. I mean, surely they can’t seriously believe all they said concerning taking Iraq at its word in its promise to give free access to weapons inspectors under old UN rules, and that the U.S. ought not to even consider going to war against Iraq until it’s proven Iraq’s not to be trusted, and in such a case then the United States should still not go to war against Iraq, but talk more about what should be done.

If these congressmen really do believe all they said, then they ought both to be tried on charges of manifest imbecility (if not outright treason), and relieved of their House seats posthaste.

A reader emails along the same lines:

Not sure if you saw This Week w/Stephanopoulos but if you didn’t you MUST get a transcript. Jim McDermott and David Bonior are in Baghdad and made the most outrageous and appalling comments about Bush I’ve ever heard any member of Congress make. As George Will commented, not since Jane Fonda has anyone done more to undermine this country or to challenge the veracity of a president.

In effect, McDermott and Bonior are more trusting of the honesty of Saddam than they are of Bush.

Astonishing performance that’s going to be the buzz of the country for the next week.

And scrolling down my email, here’s another reader:

I’m still recovering from the literal shock of seeing, on This Week, David Bonior and Jim McDermott get to the left of China with regard to Iraq and announce that Saddam Hussein is more trustworthy than George Bush. Glenn, this is jaw-dropping. Shameful. Despicable. Almost treasonous. I really have never in my life seen a display like the one that took place this morning on ABC. Get thee a tape if you haven’t seen this yet.

Just looked for a transcript, but there’s not one online for either show yet, but these accounts suggest that the Democrats’ hopes for the midterm elections just took a fatal blow — from Democrats.