With millions - millions - facing an employment situation that will remain anemic for years, according to testimony given by Fed Chief Bernanke this week and with American soldiers dying daily in Afghanistan's "surge", it was a horror to watch Republicans stage a smug show that there was some urgency associated with reading the Constitution on the floor of the House.
But, today, is worse.
Just a day after declining to say whether the President of the United States is a legitimate official because the new Speaker of the House didn't want to dictate what people believe, he releases a statement about violence in America.