In a series of fine posts today, Benen takes the CPACer mindset apart. In the face of one repuglican after another rushing forward to lick Limbaugh's feet and agree they hope Obama fails, Steve dredged up the Duke himself: About a half-century ago, actor John Wayne, who was very conservative, was asked for his thoughts after JFK defeated Richard Nixon in 1960. "I didn't vote for him," Wayne said, "but he's my president, and I hope he does a good job."
Here are a series of post titles from Benen today. Brief excerpts from each, but you really should read them in their entirety.
THE ROOT-FOR-FAILURE CAUCUS....
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It's possible that my memory is off, but I can't recall ever hearing so many prominent political figures hoping for American leaders' failure like this, especially not in the midst of a crisis.
That it's coming from ideologues who believe they have the edge on "patriotism" -- and insist that Bush's liberal critics were guilty of "treason" -- just makes this all the more bizarre.
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MAYBE IT'S NOT SO 'WASTEFUL' AFTER ALL....
That Jindal speech is just the gift that keeps on giving.
BOEHNER RESENTS THE REPUBLICANS' 'TOUGH JOB'....
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Quite right. Isn't the notion of a "free lunch" the underlying message of the Republican Party for the last generation? The federal government can, we've been told, recklessly cut taxes, spend whatever it wants, rack up huge debts ("deficits don't matter"), put wars on the national charge card, and encourage policies that contribute to global warming. No consequences, no accountability, no questions asked.
This is especially true on the issue of taxes, since a few too many Republican policymakers strongly believe in the Tax Fairy -- the more the government cuts taxes, the more revenue the government collects. That's insane, of course, but it's also a rather obvious example of ... wait for it ... a "free lunch."
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MADNESS ISN'T ENOUGH....
On Thursday, Mike Huckabee offered the CPAC faithful the kind of rhetoric they want to hear."The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics may be dead," said Huckabee, "but a Union of American Socialist Republics is being born." Democrats, according to Huckabee, were packing 40 years of pet projects like "health care rationing" into spending bills. "Lenin and Stalin would love this stuff."
The estimable Mark Kleiman, noting the bizarre remarks, said Huckabee may be "self-destructing" as a credible national figure.
Yes, yes, the CPAC crowd is the extreme of the extreme. But in the YouTube era you can't go around mouthing this stuff and be taken seriously as a candidate for President.
I'd really love to believe that, but I don't.
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KEEP ON TALKING, RUSH....
... Democrats and Limbaugh, oddly enough, have the same goal: convince the general public that he's the ostensible head of the Republican Party. ...
I still don't understand how it is that CPAC gets mainstream coverage without much pushback on all of the venom and invective thrown around there. Doesn't matter what kinds of crazy stuff people say there, Republicans looking to get elected or reelected still come pandering every single year. But in some respects I think it will help us in the years to come because as long as they keep gathering there together and they have that echo chamber then they will never have much reason to change their tune. Aside of course from then getting creamed in every election.
ReplyDeleteWell, we know IOKIYAR rules. And it's the extreme liberal fringe that is shrill and rude.
ReplyDeleteSeveral years ago there was a report on NPR where the reporter looked at extreme behavior on both ends of the political spectrum, and found similar examples on both sides. Almost as an after thought, the NPR interviewer asked how hard was it to find on each side, and then out popped the utterly relevant fact that it was extremely easy to find on the right and difficult to find on the left. The fact that gave the story real meaning, and it had to be pried out.
I doubt today's NPR would even ask that question.