Cranks and Crazies

I do sort of respect Wayne Swan, and I love his comments about the loonies in the far right of the Republican Party

"Let's be blunt, the biggest threat to the world's biggest economy are the cranks and crazies that have taken over parts of the Republican Party," he said.
"Despite (US president Barack) Obama's goodwill ... the national interest was held hostage by the rise of the extreme right Tea-Party wing of the Republicans.
"There can be few things more alarming in public policy than a political group which was genuinely prepared to see the government of the United States default on its obligations in order to score a political point."

Some of the comments on the ABC page are worth a read, too.