Now they want drug tests for child support

The Republicans really are trying to lose the election, aren't they?

Right-wing Iowa State Sen. Mark Chelgren has introduced a bill to require parents who receive child support to take a drug test - if the parent who pays the child support demands it.

Who's keeping track of how many people the GOP has demonized with this meme? They've demonized workers, high school students, welfare recipients, the unemployed, and now parents (the mother in the majority of cases). Is there anybody remaining except wealthy executives?

This time, however, Chelgren's bill only drove home the point that not all attention is good attention. When he introduced the measure, fellow legislators burst into laughter.

Chelgren clearly doesn't even understand what child support is for. It's not a reward for being a custodial parent. It's for the child to enjoy the right to be supported by both parents. Plus, child support isn't paid for from taxpayer-funded coffers, but from a parent.

If you want somebody to take a drug test, we should start with CEO's who get free bailout money. Wall Street has been proven to exhibit more destructive behavior than the rest of the country put together.

It strains suspension of disbelief to think the Republicans can win votes by drug-testing the 99% while leaving the 1% alone - or that they can claim to be for smaller government while backing bills like Chelgren's. This is why I think they're trying to lose the election and make martyrs of themselves. But some have suggested that their strategy is to put out increasingly bizarre ideas just so they get some play and pull the center of debate back to the right - helping these ideas become reality eventually. It worked with their 1996 Telecommunications Act, so why not?