An essay just posted in Time magazine takes Minnesota's own Michele Bachmann, mixes the recently prominent liberal flamethrower from Florida, Rep. Alan Grayson, and uses them to symbolize the death of political civility and the new formula that enables junior members of Congress to become national celebrities: Call the other side names.

Grayson, a freshman, if you haven't tapped into him yet, got suddenly famous a few weeks ago for saying, on the floor of the House, that the Republican health care plan was based on two messages, To the well: "Don't get sick;" To the sick: "Die quickly." He has declined several gazillion demands that he apologize.

In the case of Bachmann, Time relied heavily on a couple of her recent statements, about the health care plan providing sex/abortion cliinics via high schools, about Obama's "gangster" government. Minnesotan's are aware that she's been saying what, in Minnesotaspeak are called "interesting" things for quite a while.

A couple of excerpts:

"For Grayson and Bachmann, the objective is both to rally their loyalists and to rile the other side. Cable news embraces this sort of stuff...

Grayson and Bachmann have found ways to use the controversies surrounding their outbursts to raise money and broaden their reach. Their devoted followers respond to appeals. Grayson posted his CNN caveman quip on a website he created... (Almost 10,000 individuals gave Grayson more than $250,000 immediately after the 'die quickly' speech.) Bachmann, meanwhile, took her fundraising appeal to social media and talk radio, asking her supporters to send a message to 'Big Sister Pelosi and Big Brother Reid' and the 'gangster government.' It worked. 'The left can't ignore $118,000!!!' she announced on Twitter, boasting of a three-day online fundraising haul.

'The interesting dynamic here is that you used to be penalized by the public for not being civil,' says Republican strategist John Feehery, who worked for former House Speaker Dennis Hastert. 'Now it's almost glorified.'

'It's all theater,' says South Carolina's James Clyburn, the House Democratic whip. 'People have learned to speak in sound bites and look to generate headlines.' That insight is key. The headlines are what matter most, not the substance. And in Congress today, the loudest carnival barker gets the crowds."