Guests on Sunday morning talk shows are supposed to follow a few unwritten rules. They're supposed to be party supporters, and put a positive spin on anything which could be damaging to their party, or their party's chances in the next election. They're not supposed to be brutally honest. Which is why, when it happens -- especially when it comes from a Republican -- it's worth noting.

Bob Schieffer on CBS News' Face The Nation this week had Florida Governor Charles Crist and Republican consultant Ed Rollins on the show, to talk about the state of the Republican Party heading into the 2008 election season. Ed Rollins has an absolutely sterling pedigree in Republican politics, since he worked for Ronald Reagan, and ran Reagan's re-election campaign in 1984. When he talks, in other words, Republicans listen.

Rollins is not very upbeat about Republicans in general, George Bush, Republicans' chances in 2008, or indeed the whole future of the Republican Party. He says the party "has kind of lost its way." He bemoans the fact that young people are flocking to the Democratic Party as a "death knell for the long term." George Bush has to realize "he's no longer on the ballot." As for the Bush administration, "the quicker this page is turned by many Americans, including a lot of Republicans, the better." He later returns to this point, and makes it even more forcefully: "This administration is pretty tired right now and I think even the most die-hard Republicans are ready to move on."

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Borah Peak, at 12,662 feet high, is the highest point in Idaho.

[That may sound like a strange place to begin this column, but please bear with me.]

It was named for Senator William Borah, known as "the Lion from Idaho." He had an impressive political career, even running for president at age 71, the first Idahoan ever to do so (of any age). Borah was a progressive, and clashed with his party over his often left-wing stances. He was even friendly toward Russian communists, while he was the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was also a Republican.

But we speak of Borah today not for his lofty namesake peak, but because he also set the mark for senatorial shame from Idaho. Not even Larry Craig, the sitting (with a wide stance, no doubt) senator from Idaho is a bigger black eye for the state, in one respect. William Borah actually fathered a child with Teddy Roosevelt's daughter -- while they were both married to other people. Top that, Senator Craig!

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It's time to get some laws passed.

The time is now.

I don't know how else to say it. Democrats in Congress have been served up with the goldenest of opportunities to actually get some good bills passed, from now until election day. To their credit, they've had a mighty productive week, doing just that. But they need to redouble their efforts and hammer Republican legislators with vote after vote on issues popular with the American public. Because, while it's always a good campaign tactic in an election year, this year is different because there is an excellent chance of actually passing -- even over Bush's veto -- some good laws.

Because Republican congressional incumbents are scared. They are quite literally quaking in their boots. The Republican Party's complete and utter breakdown -- showing their absolute lack of even having any pretense of new ideas for America -- is happening right out in the open, for all to see. They're so depressed, they actually stole their new slogan "The Change you Deserve" from an anti-depressant drug. I wrote about this fear yesterday, but since then more and more Republicans keep giving quotes to the press about how dismal their chances are this year. Here is just a sampling of what Republicans are saying, selecting quotes only from people named "Tom":

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[Those of you who prefer "all cynicism all the time" should just skip this column, since I'm about to get blisteringly optimistic here. You have been warned.]

Maybe this will be Karl Rove's legacy. One can only hope.

There have been three astounding elections recently which are absolutely terrifying the Republican Party. Because they can see which way the pendulum of American politics is swinging, and it is decidedly not in their direction.

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And so all eyes in the American political world turn to West Virginia -- a state none of the pundits and pontificators know (or care) much about. They certainly never expected to be in a hotel room in Wheeling or Charleston in the middle of May this year. Because the conventional wisdom set in stone -- before anybody actually cast a primary vote -- was that "Super Duper Tsunami Tuesday" (as it was called back then, mercifully shortened now to just "Super Tuesday") was going to be the whole Magilla. On the not-as-super-Wednesday that followed, we would have a Democratic nominee, and could then focus on beating Rudy Giuliani in November.

That this never came to pass is an indictment of following the chattering classes inside the Beltway, and their so-called conventional "wisdom." Because here we sit, months after Super Tuesday, and we're still paying attention to primaries in states that never get mentioned on the national news otherwise (barring spectacular video footage of some natural disaster there). Which begs the question for the next election cycle -- what will the primary calendar look like in 2012?

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With sincere apologies to Bill Maher for stealing his schtick, I have a new rule.

My new rule is for uncommitted Democratic superdelegates. The rule is: you are not allowed to publicly bemoan how "divided" the party currently is, or tut-tut that "the nomination process has gone on too long," or even wish that "it resolve itself soon." In other words, if you're part of the problem, you're not allowed to get all vaporous over the fact that the problem exists. Period.

The remaining 250 (or so) superdelegates who have not "put up" their endorsement publicly need to "shut up." Because these mugwumps can end the race any time they want -- by coming out en masse for one candidate or the other. So they no longer have the right to complain that the race is going on too long.

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Now that that's all over with, can we please focus on beating John McCain?

Virtually everyone (with the possible exception of Hillary Clinton -- I guess nobody told her) now knows that the Democratic candidate for president is going to be Barack Obama. But while the end of this long and winding road is now in sight, Democrats should not just be heaving an enormous sigh of relief -- they should be turning all their energy towards beating John McCain in November.

Because we've already seen what happens when the candidate lets their guard down between becoming presumptive nominee and the convention (can you say "Swift Boat"?). And we definitely don't want that to happen again.

We also want to help Barack Obama with his down-ticket coattails. A stunning thing happened in Louisiana last week, but very few people noticed. There was a special election for a House seat in a district held by Republicans for 33 years, which voted overwhelmingly for Bush last time around. And guess what? The Democratic candidate won. Importantly, he won even after he was smeared by an anti-Obama and anti-Wright ad campaign by his Republican opponent.

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Throughout the 2008 presidential campaign season, I have tried to remain scrupulously neutral among the Democratic candidates. I spotlighted the so-called "minor" and even "fringe" candidates, because I don't like the media declaring who is and who is not a viable candidate -- I feel that power should be reserved for the voters. Last Thanksgiving, I printed the full text of a speech from every single Democratic candidate because I thought it was the right thing to do -- give voters a side-by-side comparison of what the candidates were actually saying on the stump. I think it is pathetic that the news media -- print included -- do not routinely do this throughout the course of every election. And throughout the bruising battle since early February between the two candidates left standing, I have tried to bend over backwards to point out the good and the bad from both campaigns.

But there comes a time when any sane analyst looks at the math and says "it's over." And even though nobody apparently told Hillary Clinton, it is indeed over now. Barack Obama is going to be the Democratic nominee, unless he is struck by lightning tomorrow.

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[Update: This article has been updated. I have received permission to credit the person who pointed out this coincidence, in a comment he made to another Huffington Post article, so it has been changed to add Brian Laws' name. I never cite commenters within the text of my articles, as a policy, unless I have their permission to do so.]

August 28th will be the final day of the 2008 Democratic National Convention. The keynote speaker will be the Democratic nominee for president. Unless Hillary Clinton soon acquires the ability to perform miracles, that nominee giving the acceptance speech is going to be Barack Obama.

And he will give a historic speech. He will be the first black man in this country's entire history to give such a speech. And if he's half the orator he's cracked up to be, he will use the following line at some point during the speech:

"Exactly two score and five years ago..."

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It has been suggested that I have been a bit too hard on the media recently, and I've been invited to point out some good journalism when I see it. While it is true that I have been media-bashing for the past few weeks, I would tend to frame it as their drivel being too hard on my ears... but that wouldn't solve the problem, only make it worse. Ahem.

So, while we all anxiously await the close of the polls in Indiana and North Carolina tonight (I thought about liveblogging them, but I have a scheduling conflict tonight, so this won't be possible), I thought I would shine the light on one example of (local) media speaking truth to power -- and by "power," I mean "the national mainstream media."

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