What is it with Democrats and their grotesque slurs upon the intelligence of their political rivals?  Last week it was Charles Rangel calling Sarah Palin "disabled."  Tonight on CNN, Paul Begala called President Bush "a high-functioning moron."

Begala was on an Anderson Cooper-led panel with Republican Ed Rollins and CNN's Gloria Borger to discuss the state of the possible federal financial bailout.  Cooper took the first shot at the president, analogizing his performance in this crisis to that during Hurricane Katrina.

ANDERSON COOPER: Watching the president last night give that speech, it was like watching him in Jackson Square in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. I mean, he did not seem to be there.

ED ROLLINS: No, he wasn't there.

GLORIA BORGER: He's not comfortable --

COOPER: He was physically there but,

PAUL BEGALA:  I'm going to get in trouble: he's a high-functioning moron, and that's what Congress treats him as. Both parties.

Borger can be seen cringing in reaction, but neither she nor the others uttered a peep of protest at Begala's base insult.