Welcome to a parallel universe. A casual onlooker might mistake it for our own. The same people run their Congress and their Democratic National Committee. The same election results toss out half the Republicans in 2006 and the rest in 2008. But in our universe, those events were recorded as the triumphs of smart folks like Rahm Emanuel and David Plouffe, winning despite the ruinous work of the DNC. In Herding Donkeys, Ari Berman reports from a place where Howard Dean deserves the credit.

The Republican presidential primary has had a seriously negative impact on both the GOP brand and that of front runner Mitt Romney. The contest has given many more Americans an unfavorable opinion of the Republican Party, while Romney’s unfavorability rating has been steadily increasing despite his spending millions to define himself.

The one silver lining for Democrats is that this Republican Presidential primary hasn’t made regular Republicans all that excited about this upcoming election either. Republican enthusiasm is on par with what it was at this time in the 2004 and 2000 election.

It seems the right wing nuts that populate today’s GOP are terrified of the Girl Scouts.GOP Rep. Bob Morris of the Indiana legislatures just sent his colleagues a letter urging them not to honor the Girl Scouts on their 100th anniversary because, he claims, the Scouts are part of the agenda of Planned Parenthood or something to subvert our children. Cookies, anyone?

It is the Catholic Bishops and the GOP politicians exploiting this who are pressing to have government violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment. And that’s the real Constitutional violation at stake here.

A roundup of US and world news that happened before Rick Santorum’s anti-women’s, anti-universal health care, anti-safety net but I’m still moral crusade kept the GOP primary going. In the real world, there’s unemployment, a bank settlement, housing policies, Afghanistan, a stuck transportation bill, Germany vs Greece, Feingold vs SuperPacs and much more.

The Nevada Republican party has finally certified the results from the Nevada caucus that took place on Saturday. Mitt Romney was able to win the caucus with 50 percent of the vote. But GOP voter turnout was much lower than in 2008.

I was struck by Newt’s explanation of what would keep his campaign going despite the upcoming losses. “People power,” he said. It will be “people power over money power.” I don’t think so.

The world is wacky and zany in GOP politics: Rush Windbag has ordered a fatwa on Newter Gingrich.

A building and loan association, like the Bailey Brothers’ in It’s a Wonderful Life, uses the savings of its members to provide mortgages to the depositors. Members essentially pool their money to give each other the opportunity to buy cars and homes. But Mr. Potter scoffs at such “charity.” The GOP does the same with Social Security, Medicare and other programs that pool the nation’s wealth to help the middle class.