American conservatives have some serious anger management issues. We can no longer pretend that this is politics as usual.

The latest wrinkle in this ongoing circus of inappropriate behavior is a Facebook application hosting a poll on whether Obama should be assassinated. Or not.

I can easily see a college student making such a page, maybe just to test how crazy the crazies are. It's the logical extension of the screaming at McCain rallies, of "You lie!", of posters giving Obama a Hitler mustache, and any daily rant by Glen Beck, Sarah Palin or Michelle Bachmann.

Threats against our first black President's life are up by 800% over threats to the previous leader of the free world. Anyone who might reasonably argue that both sides have their wing nuts, or that this is a return to the more vigorous political theater of pre-WW II America, as Garrison Keillor recently argued, might want to contemplate that figure for a while.

While a certain amount of this righteous craziness is simply a cynical play for media attention, it goes beyond posing.

It is dysfunctional to engage in more and more extreme socially unacceptable behavior in order to get attention.

There is a lot of talk about race. I'm not convinced, however, that it'd be much different if it was Hillary or Gore or Kerry that had been elected, or any other Democrat in Barack's shoes.

Conservatives are in a dysfunctional endgame for a couple of reasons.

First of all, it's worked for them. What I've come to call "pit bull" politics are a pillar of the right's stategy; the smear campaigns, the willful ignorance, name-calling, a disdain for any kind of factual accuracy.

Psychological research undoubtedly underpins this. If you can successfully 'taint' a subject, people respond with a visceral rejection of that subject, an emotional reaction that isn't subject to logic or reason. That's what conservatives have come to depend on in the culture wars.

Second is the entertainment value. "Bad" behavior has always had a certain cachet. The wackier these people act, the more media attention they seem to draw these days.

With no more Fairness Doctrine, news outlets no long even have to pretend to be objective. We have whole channels devoted to disinformation rather than news. The Left is catching up to the right, in that regard, but I notice that, on our local cable, you got two channels of FOX free with your base rate, but have to pay a premium to get MSNBC.

Responsible media outlets have contributed by the 'scoop' pack mentality, but also by a desire to "balance" their stories. If you have 10,000 people at a Obama healthcare rally, as recently happened in Minneapolis, the reporter invariably does a story on the twenty people who are carrying anti-government signs.

The underlying game here is all about the American pocketbook. Anger, that the right depends on, is manipulated fear that a liberal government will make you pay more taxes, whether it's true or not. The right always campaigns on fiscal responsibility, and then borrows recklessly, leaving a bill which the Democrats are stuck having to pay. That what happened after Reagan, and now after Bush. This sabotages the usual cycle of reform, by bankrupting the reform party's ability to govern successfully.

So liberals and progressives end up as the responsible ones in a dysfunctional relationship, the family members who have to swallow the lies, and pick up the pieces, who are always reacting to some outrage, and feeling resentful. Even with a President in the White House and a majority in congress, we are on the defensive, rather than firmly grasping the ball and steering the conversation.

Smear campaigns, and sheer denial of the facts may work. Liberals reluctantly wonder if they should follow suit. I don't believe so. You can't argue with these people, but you can mock them. You can ask, as Katie Couric did, for the facts. Like Anderson Cooper, or Barney Frank, you can be engagingly incredulous.

Outrageous behavior is meant to be intimidating, but we cannot allow ourselves to be intimidated. Moderates appalled by this behavior, especially on the right, need to speak up. I believe, at some point, the pit bull will bite the hand that feeds it. Polls have shown that, even as Obama's popularity dips, when asked if they "trust" Republicans to govern, by large majorities, Americans say no. Obama's recent forceful but reasoned statements are on the right track, getting positive responses from the press and encouraging many.

Americans will eventually figure out who the adults in the room are. These rabid right wingers who want Obama to fail, risk that America, itself, will fail.

That's us. All of us.