No sanity clause

Could Paul Krugman have produced Christmas's best pun, not only for its pertinence to our politics but also to Christmas itself? In his opinion piece, "Tidings of Comfort," in today's New York Times, he's explaining why so many people are complaining about "the legislation that passed the Senate on Thursday and will probably, in a slightly modified version, soon become law [and] make America a much better country":

There are three main groups of critics.
    First, there’s the crazy right, the tea party and death panel people — a lunatic fringe that is no longer a fringe but has moved into the heart of the Republican Party. In the past, there was a general understanding, a sort of implicit clause in the rules of American politics, that major parties would at least pretend to distance themselves from irrational extremists. But those rules are no longer operative. No, Virginia, at this point there is no sanity clause.

"But," Krugman continues, "given the way the Senate rules work, it takes 60 votes to do almost anything. And that fact, combined with total Republican opposition, has placed sharp limits on what can be enacted.
    "If progressives want more, they’ll have to make changing those Senate rules a priority...."
    Krugman's opinion piece on Monday ("A Dangerous Dysfunction") focused on the need for that change. May it happen.