On CNN's Reliable Sources this weekend Joe Klein called the GOP "an extremist shard of a party that is essentially a regional southern party in the country and doesn't have broad appeal to the mass of Americans."

This comment - made in the wake of Republicans picking up two governorships last weekend on the back of overwhelming support among Independents - is rightly being ridiculed for its silliness.

But moments later in the program Klein went on to say something important, even if it did undermine his argument:

And I think Michael Medved is right that there is a real antsyness out in the country right now in large part because of the recession, and in large part because the public doesn't like what the government has done in response to the recession even though it seems to have worked at -- it has prevented something far worse, a depression from happening. But still, there's a great deal of anger at big anything -- big government, big business, et cetera.

There is indeed a "great deal of anger" in the country aimed at "big anything" - including "big government. But which party is more identified with big government?

And as unemployment sits above ten percent for the first time in more than a quarter century, Democrats are busy pushing the largest government expansion of health care in more than two generations. That will be followed by proposing an unprecedented expansion of government control and regulation of the U.S. energy economy.

More to the point, the anger and disaffection noted by Klein is not confined to the right - though that's where it finds its greatest expression, which leads Klein and others (like Paul Krugman and Frank Rich) to the erroneous conclusion that the GOP has been utterly consumed by an angry, paranoid mob.

That was the lesson delivered by Independents on Tuesday. It's also evident in the most recent poll data which now shows President Obama with less than majority support for his handling of almost every significant issue facing the country - including health care.

It would be logical to conclude that if Democrats don't heed this lesson and the mood of the country remains as sour as it is now, they should expect to be punished rather harshly next November.

Yet all indications are that the White House and Democratic leaders in Congress - based on the urging of members of the left wing intelligentsia like Klein himself - are drawing precisely the opposite conclusion and are gearing up to push these initiatives through Congress using any and all means at their disposal.