Cultish Republicans in the Virginia House of Delegates, those fevered believers in the gospels of George Allen and Jim Gilmore (there is a free lunch, you can borrow yourself out of debt) last Tuesday plunged Virginia into legislative meltdown that was total, complete, unprecedented, vast in scope -- and unacceptable.

To the bitter, desk-slamming, embarrassing end, they remained blind to realities and oblivious to consequences. But they did have enough political sense about them to bring in professional spin help.

(Everyone who thinks Ray Allen’s visit to the Republican House Caucus and the subsequent, sustained attack on Gov. Warner that followed on the floor of the House during the waning minutes of the doomed session were unrelated events, please raise your hand.)

Of all the split spleens and teary eyes Warner’s rebuke and recall to session evoked, perhaps the most telling, saddest, and pathetic came from House Speaker Bill Howell:

“It really did unify my caucus like I haven’t seen in a long time, so I feel good.”

Good, Bill? You feel good about that? What is it, exactly, that you do there? "Good" must be a real relative concept to you.

And one other point here, Mr. Speaker: this thing about consensus where your caucus is concerned. Just because you get them, finally, on the sixty-third day of a sixty-day session, on the same track -- a quantum level of stupid behavior -- might not be something you want to brag about, no matter how ‘good’ it makes you feel. (Hey. Just a thought.)

Yes, it is this lack of leadership in the House of Delegates that got us to where we are. Make no mistake about that. There has been no articulation of anything remotely resembling a vision by the House leadership. Nothing. None. Zip. Nada.

There has been no direction, no signal, no indication of where we as a state and as a people ought to go. Where will you lead our education efforts? Transportation? Mental health? Law enforcement? Where will you lead us?

There has been no better idea, no better proposal, no better thinking. There has been none whatsoever from the House leadership. None.

There has only been, “No,” “No,” “No.”

The problem is, “No” is not an idea. Not a vision. Not a program. “No” is not an articulation of anything, except, perhaps, some primal signal, a pleading of inability and confusion.

(For some reason here, a favorite Churchill quote passes through my mind: "An empty cab pulled up to 10 Downing Street and Neville Chamberlain stepped out.")

Will there be fallout, a day of reckoning to this embodiment of Republican dysfunction? There will be.

In just a short time the tally sheet is a long and sordid one. Vance Wilkins resigned in disgrace. His aide pleaded guilty. The Republican chairman resigned. The executive director of the Republican Party was convicted and he resigned. This fiasco is just the latest affront to decency in our government.

And you feel good about all of this, Mr. Speaker? In a warped sort of way, I see your point. Nobody has gone to jail on this one yet. Good for you that incompetence is not an incarcerating offense.

It took 150 years for Virginians to trust leadership of their state government to Republicans. It hasn’t taken 150 days for them to regret it.

What the governor should have done is beat you all black and blue for your abysmal failure -- and then taken a wire brush to your backsides. Collectively, you deserve nothing less than that.

Be glad it wasn’t me. I would have given you something to squall about.

My guess is that Virginia voters will come election time. You’ve got it coming.