Last night in the “debate,” crazy-eyed teahadist fembot Michelle Bachman stated the following:

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), the newly minted White House contender, used Monday night’s GOP debate to call for clipping the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) wings. Bachmann called for limiting government’s scope by passing the “mother of all repeal bills” to target “job-killing regulations.” “And I would begin with the EPA, because there is no other agency like the EPA. It should really be renamed the job-killing organization of America,” she said, according to a CNN transcript of the debate.

As chance would have it, today in my post office box (another government service that I absolutely cherish) there was a piece of mail from the local public service department, where I get my water. It was an annual EPA required report, detailing in clear English, where my water comes from. Half of it is treated surface water from the Ohio River, the rest is from deep wells along the banks of the river. The report outlined backup plans should the Ohio become contaminated (more and more likely as Pennsylvania allows drillers to simply dump whatever the fuck they want in the water), and then went on and provided the annual data on the level of contaminants in my drinking water.

I like this. I think it is valuable for a number of reasons, beyond simply keeping me informed. It also verifies that the folks who provide me my water are keeping an eye on things, and providing a safe, clean product that I and my neighbors can consume. It’s the very model of good government. This is why we band together to form government- to do things that would be impossible to do otherwise.

To Republicans, though, this is an evil thing. And this is why I get so livid at the assholes in the media who cover the Republicans and give us the he said/she said version of things. If Republicans had their way, you and your kids would likely be drinking contaminated water and no one would be around to tell you about it. That’s the facts in the case, not “Bachmann claims the EPA kills jobs, while Democrats disagree.” This is why our media is failing us. When Republicans want to end the EPA, it’s not some esoteric debate about big government Democrats and small government conservatives. It’s not he said/she said. It’s “they don’t want you to know about all the shit GE dumped in the Hudson, and furthermore, they don’t want GE to clean it up, either, and as a matter of fact, GE should not be regulated in any way shape or form and should be free to dump shit in your water” versus “we need some sensible regulations to limit the harm corporations do to the environment so we can protect the population and make sure we have clean drinking water.”

That’s a big difference, and it is something our cowardly press is afraid to say out loud. I honestly don’t get it. Don’t they have kids? Don’t they have relatives? Don’t they care about this country? There are insane people trying to do awful things to the nation, and the watchdogs are sitting around licking each others balls and promoting themselves and their pals on twitter. Mark Knoller’s busy doing his Rain Man act counting how many times Obama golfed or how many times Jay Carney winced during a press conference or some other stupid bullshit. All of them today are focusing on who “won” the debate, instead of dissecting the truly disgusting, evil, and awful things these lunatics proposed last night. It’s crazy.

How about we compromise? Republicans leave the EPA alone, and instead go after this Nixon era disaster?