Keller @ Large: 'The Most Clueless Incompetents Ever'

BOSTON (CBS) - The fantasy world of the campaign – where truth is what your candidate says it is and the only outcome that matters to anyone is who wins – is over. It was over a month ago, by my rough calculations.

Listen to Jon's commentary:

And our political leaders should, if they are even minimally responsible, be returning to the real world of actual policymaking and its real-life consequences.

But they aren't.

Instead, we are treated to the sight of Gov. Deval Patrick Tuesday, revealing that the state budget is hemorrhaging red ink and we have to start cutting local aid and borrowing from the rainy-day fund again.

What happened?

It's Washington's fault, says the governor. Their failure to solve the national budget crisis is, he claims, "the direct cause of our budget challenges."

Uh, no, not exactly.

Corporate and business tax receipts may be impacted in part by the uncertainty in Washington, but I doubt that can explain an 86-percent dropoff over last November.

Try the ongoing fiscal crisis in Europe, our main trading partner, and underlying softness in our regional economy that has been papered over for too long by pols like the governor.

And when sales tax receipts are running way below forecasts, that is the voice of ordinary consumers saying to both Beacon Hill and Washington, we don't trust you to organize a two-car funeral.

But the governor is right about one thing, the mess in Washington is disastrous. What he won't tell you is it's a bi-partisan fiasco.

Yes, the Republican leadership has squandered whatever credibility they had with poor judgments dating back to the overspending of the Bush years.

But my DC sources tell me the Democrats, emboldened by the election, are so eager to see GOP blood spilled that they will happily let us go over the cliff, even if it might destroy our bond rating and trigger recession.

Polls show the public will blame the Republicans by a two-to-one margin, don't you see?

What a disgrace.

Unless they grow up fast, history will remember this generation of pols as the most clueless incompetents ever.

Which will come as a shock, because they think they're the smartest bunch that ever lived.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.