Here's some fun from Roll Call:

Now we know where Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas) thinks the weapons of mass destruction are buried: in Syria, which he said he’d like to nuke to smithereens.

Speaking at a veterans’ celebration at Suncreek United Methodist Church in Allen, Texas, on Feb. 19, Johnson told the crowd that he explained his theory to President Bush and Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) on the porch of the White House one night.

Johnson said he told the president that night, “Syria is the problem. Syria is where those weapons of mass destruction are, in my view. You know, I can fly an F-15, put two nukes on ‘em and I’ll make one pass. We won’t have to worry about Syria anymore.”

Atrios adds:

The population of Syria is about 17 million. And, for those who are on board with any "only good Muslim is a dead Muslim" religious war policy, about 10 percent are Christian.

If the parties were reversed, every radio talker, Fox News pundit, and MSNBC prime-time host would be devoting several hours today to this headline:

Congressman urges murder of 1.7 million Christians

Except, of course, it'd be "Democrat Congressman," complete with the deliberate refusal to use the correct word "Democratic." As long as the GOP is willing to run with stuff like this and the Democrats are not, the GOP will keep getting all the news cycles. It's really that simple.

Go ahead, see how much mainstream coverage you see of "Republican Congressman urges murder of 1.7 million Christians." You can probably count it on the fingers of one elbow.