Suddenly, all the condescending ‘tea-bagger’ jokes must not be quite so funny in liberal circles. Serves them right.

Losing the seat formerly held by the champion of socialized medicine – in the bluest of states – apparently hasn’t phased the radical left. SEIU president Andy Stern put the blame on the fact that Democrats in Washington, DC, who the union spent tens of millions of dollars electing, haven’t done enough to pass the progressive agenda. From a SEIU statement:

“The reason Ted Kennedy’s seat is no longer controlled by a Democrat is clear: Washington’s inability to deliver the change voters demanded in November 2008. Make no mistake, political paralysis resulted in electoral failure,” Stern said.

“During the past year, Republicans refused to do anything but stand in the way of change and Democratic Senators took too long to do too little. And tonight, the Senate bears the consequences for its failure to act decisively but the American people are the ones left paying the price…

“The Senate may have squandered the trust the American people gave to Washington in 2008. But now, every member of Congress and the Administration must act with a renewed sense of purpose to show working families whose side they are on and deliver meaningful change to every American. This is not the time for timidity. It starts by passing health insurance reform and giving Pat [DeJong] and millions of people like her the security and peace of mind they deserve.”

Massachusetts voters stood at the borders of their state – and the polling places – with virtual pitch forks telling politicians, to paraphrase Johnny Paycheck, “take this agenda and shove it.”

But yet, the field marshals of the liberal army (I know, I know, “liberal” and “army” don’t really go together) are actually saying that those in Washington, DC haven’t done enough.

News to Andy: the Democrats may follow your lead and plow ahead with an agenda that Americans clearly don’t want, but instead of a Second Tea Party limited to Massachusetts, radicals will experience a full-blown national Tea Party come November.

So the paradox facing the left is this: do they allow Field Marshal Andy Stern to order them off the cliff, or do they tell Andy that his investment in spending tens of millions electing Democrats to implement a Marxist agenda was little more than buying fool’s gold. Either way, radical liberals face one ugly year ahead.