Three months into the Obama presidency, and some Republicans are talking about succession.

Oh, of course, they phrase it in such a way that there is “plausible deniability” there, so they can so, “Oh, I didn’t mean it that way.” Sure…. How can you possibly put a spin on this, from Rick Perry, the governor of Texas?

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), who's been talking up the idea all week, tried to add some caveats yesterday to his secession talk:

"This is interesting that this has really kind of bubbled up, to uh... I refer people back to my statement, and I gotta a charge out of it. I was kinda thinking that, maybe the same people who hadn't been reading the Constitution right were reading that article and they got the wrong impression about what I said.

"Clearly, I stated that we have a great union. And Texas is part of a great union. I see no reason for that to change. I think that may not be the exact quote, but that is, in essence what I said."

Well, "essence" aside, what Perry actually said was that he saw "no reason" to "dissolve" the "union." He added, "But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, who knows what may come of that."

Forget "wrong impressions." What the elected chief executive of one of the nation's largest states is supposed to say is secession is ridiculous. That Perry has left it on the table only helps reinforce how completely batty some Republican officials have become. If the GOP wants to rejoin the American mainstream, the party needs to reject these absurdities out of hand. It's radical, fringe politics.

When George Bush was president, any sort of talk from anyone that openly disagreed with the President was labeled treasonous. But note that Democrats and liberals who were upset with the way we were stampeded into the Iraq war usually threatened to move to Canada or maybe New Zealand (my favorite choice). I do not remember anyone, ever, talking about certain states seceding from the United States. And keep in mind that this kind of crap is happening all the time. There is also this from Rep. Mark Kirk, an Illinois Republican, who just happens to be thinking of running for governor:

Congressman Mark Kirk is standing by his earlier comments that Illinois residents "are ready to shoot anyone who is going to raise taxes" as much as Gov. Pat Quinn is proposing.

Kirk says the many people facing unemployment don't need a tax increase. Quinn has proposed a graduated income tax increase to help fill an $11.5 billion deficit.

And we all realize that Obama has already passed major tax CUTS for the middle class. I can maybe expect crazy talk from Rush Limbaugh dittoheads, but these quotes are from actual Republican elected officials. (Yeah, I have posted about Michelle Bachmann already.)

I just do not know what is in store for this country. Three months in and Republicans and their supporters are already frothing at the mouth about anything and everything. They don’t really even need to have a substantive reason (i.e., yesterday’s “tea parties” to protest tax increases that haven’t happened yet). They are just spitting mad that Democrats are in power, and want to “take back our country” or else take it one step further and secede from it.

It’s amazing how little Republicans and conservatives really believe in democracy now that they are no longer in power.