You know things are getting weird when Bill O'Reilly makes sense

If you watch one political video this year:

I love this clip, because it's a perfect embodiment of the Republican coalition imploding.

O'Reilly, in his clumsy right-wing way, is trying to tap into the overwhelming public anger at big business and a government that lets it run amok (he does so by blaming a "lack of leadership," which is not quite right, but it's a start). That's what O'Reilly does; he's a rabble-rouser. And watch as Cavuto, who is ostensibly on the same team, gets not just upset but righteously indignant at the suggestion that oil companies aren't playing nice -- and, amazingly, inveighs against the New Deal in the process. Hilarity results. Clearly, both of these people are crazy, but it's two different kinds of crazy that can't stay on the same planet for much longer. (Watch for the glorious moment where O'Reilly calls Cavuto a "pinhead" and Cavuto responds by saying "I'm not going to buy your next book." I'm amazed these people can communicate at all.)

For almost 30 years, Republicans have constituted themselves around the Reagan coalition: a shotgun marriage between wealthy urban/suburban capitalists and religious/alienated lower-income whites. It was never a good fit, and lately they've had more and more interal flareups (see: the immigration issue, which clove them neatly in half), but right now there's a potential death blow lurking. This economic crisis is tearing the GOP's two driving impulses -- millionaire free-market-ism and popular xenophobia -- apart from each other. And if the crisis gets more serious, and base Republicans begin to see the financial elite not as their allies but as their enemies (which, by the way, is exactly what they are), watch for some serious carnage.

And the Obama campaign has the perfect opportunity to maximize it, scoop up as many disaffected struggling Republicans as possible, and potentially redefine the partisan coalitions for decades to come. God, I love election season!

(Both videos via Al Giordano.)