GOP to go postal in challenge for Chris Dodd's Senate seat?

[Steven Reynolds]

Hey, the Republicans are getting a bit whacked out lately, led by their teabaggers to a stunning loss in the New York 23rd, and also to embarrassment in protests at the Capitol, though it could be successfully argued that Republicans have no shame (but that's another article). What's new on the Republican whackjob front? They're going postal.

It's a small aside so far in an article about a Tim Pawlenty fundraiser, but the story here is that John Ratzenberger, who played Cliff Clavin on TV in Cheers, is planning on running for the Senate in Connecticut.

The revelers included some folks brought in not for their wallets but for their low-level Hollywood wattage. Actor John Ratzenberger, who played Cliff Clavin on "Cheers," flew in to attend because he supports the "Judeo-Christian work ethic that built this country" and wants to support Pawlenty's efforts.

Ratzenberger, who is considering a run for the U.S. Senate in 2012 in Connecticut, said he would support Pawlenty if he ran for president.

Actor Jon Voight, who also attended, wasn't ready to endorse the governor's potential presidential run but still said of him, "it's very admirable what he's doing, and I think it's what we need."

Voight, who learned of the event from a staffer working for U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., will be in Washington today to join in Bachmann's effort to protest efforts by Democrats to overhaul health insurance.

That last line shows just how much this is serious whackjobbery, if it weren't whackjobbery enough to try and recruit an annoying has been actor to run for Senate. Jon Voight gets his information from Michelle Bachman, and admits to that to reporters?

I'm here to tell you, if this is the best the Republicans can offer to challenge Christopher Dodd, then they have failed already.