Modern Conservativism
Here's the last two weeks in a nutshell:
Conservative response to a guy setting his underwear on fire on an airplane: It's Obama's fault! We should declare war on Yemen! We should stop allowing Muslims on our airplanes! We need to connect the dots! We're all going to die!
Conservative response to providing healthcare to 30 million Americans: It's socialism! It's going to bankrupt America! It's Chicago thug politics! It's going to kill grandma! It's going to turn our healthcare system into an abattoir!
Conservative response to regulating the financial industry that almost destroyed America's banking system: It's Marxism! It's going to cause hyperinflation! It's Uncle Sam's jackboot on the commerce of the country! It's the end of innovation! Buy gold!
Conservative response to catastrophic climate change: It's a hoax from the liberal media. Pay no attention to it.
Feel free to add your own observations in comments.
Comments
are these your words?
Is there a missing link to these 4 points, Kevin?
Anyway, these are GREAT words of explanation! Do you suppose that they were once 4 bullet points sent in email sent to important republicans. (oxymoron!) If they weren't permanently wired into the MSM, no one would pay them any attention at all.
Nope
I have nothing to add; that was about as accurate as required.
True Believers
I look forward to the day when modern conservatives start setting their underwear on fire.
Is this supposed to be funny?
Is this supposed to be funny? Who said Muslims shouldn't be allowed on planes? Who said our health care system would be turned into an abattoir? Who said any of this stuff? Except for maybe the socialism bit (which liberals happen to agree with and like), this seems entirely made up in your head. I think you're getting kind of senile, not to mention really lame and juvenile, in your old age Drum.
Hyperbole
It's understandable that a winger wouldn't get hyperbole. All that shrieking and hair-pulling on the right tends to desensitize.
Maoist Christmas
Maoist Christmas ornaments!
Holiday (not Christmas) Cards/Trees!
Acorn, A-Corn, ACORN!
Al Franken hurt my feelings!
The constant theme in conservative dialogue is a sense of outrage and entitlement, whether it is their comical response to real issues or the elevation of irrelevant nonsense to center stage.
Conservative response to the appointment of Sandra Sotomeyer
Conservative response to the appointment of a Latina Woman to the United States Supreme Court: She's a racist! White men are an oppressed minority!
Conservadem response to
Conservadem response to selling out health care reform: It's our one chance this generation! 30 million more insured! Have to appease Lieberman so he'll help on climate change! Insurance industry will totally straighten up and fly right once we give them 80 billion a year! Not passing a bad bill will DOOM dems!
Sorry if at the moment republican detachment from reality seems a little less funny than usual.
Conservative support of Big
Conservative support of Big Government that: 1) Dramatically increases the federal deficit (through stupid tax policy and corporate welfare) 2) Invades other countries 3) Tortures people 4) Imprisons pot heads 5) Tells you who to fuck
Conservative opposition to Big Government that: 1) Provides any kind of social insurance (unlike #3 above, this would be tyranny) 2) Provides infrastructure (this might increase the deficit) 3) Provides public education 4) Responds to apocalyptic environmental threats
The connecting thread is pure cynicism.
It is really funny seeing a
It is really funny seeing a liberal call conservatives alarmist.
Can you say, "projection"? Thought you could.
Oh, wait, I see your point.
Oh, wait, I see your point. Sorry, I typed a response before reading the last item.
Your argument is not that conservatives are alarmist, but that conservatives make big deals of non-issues and don't get excited about AGW.
Let's analyze your post.
1. Emotional responses to a real event . Reason for anger - political correctness keeps us from having reasonable controls like requiring extra security checks on a Muslim who paid for his one way ticket in cash.
2. Let's talk about the real issue. Conservatives were not objecting to covering of 30 million people. They were objecting to a poor bill that no one has read.
3. Sorry, have not really seen this discussed much so I can't comment.
4. Rational response of conservatives to a non-event backed up by poor science which appears to be more ideologically driven than scientifically driven.
Conservative response to
Conservative response to providing healthcare to 30 million Americans:
We really want reform! Just not any reforming reform!
Conservative response to anything at all:
We have to cut all taxes for any reason whatsoever! That's Economics 101!
"Conservative response to
"Conservative response to providing healthcare to 30 million Americans:
We really want reform! Just not any reforming reform!"
Sad thing is this is ALSO the Democrats response to health care reform.
new ban for travelers
"Conservative response to a guy setting his underwear on fire on an airplane: It's Obama's fault! We should declare war on Yemen! We should stop allowing Muslims on our airplanes! We need to connect the dots! We're all going to die!"
Tch, tch tch, we don't need to declare war on Yemen, we just need to ban underwear! But I don't think the moral right is going to like going without their tighty whities.
Shorter John Hansen: "Let me
Shorter John Hansen:
"Let me illustrate your point."
He got WHAT kind of mustard
He got WHAT kind of mustard on his hamburger? He's not a real American! He's gay! You think this guy can be trusted as Commander in Chief? We're all gonna die!
Nice
Nicely captured, Kevin.
You gave me a nice chuckle. If only there were no reason to chuckle.
Surgical cure for high blood
Surgical cure for high blood pressure,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6788476/Revolutionary-opera...
travel restrictions
With regards to the airplane bombing thing, conservatives have some legitimate criticisms here. This guy was stopped by a faulty detonator and other passengers, which means the current security procedures didn't work. We need to come up with procedures that do work. Possible solutions include:
Search everybody's underwear (I really hope they don't go with this).
X-ray everybody (couldn't do it on pe0ple that can't get X rays).
Racial profiling (not a solution, there are terrorists of all stripes and creeds).
Character testimony of individuals. The guy's father claimed he was a threat, and he paid in cash for his ticket, so it seems like that should have raised a flag, but maybe I'm wrong here.
In summary, conservatives and liberals, can we have a conversation about this instead of setting sniping at each other? I'm talking to both of you. Yes, you too.
Modern Conservatism?
Correction. This is modern American conservatism. In Europe, Japan, Australia, Canada... the OECD.. there is no popular political party advocating the views of American conservatives. Conservatives elsewhere would be conservative Democrats in this country.
"Correction. This is modern
"Correction. This is modern American conservatism. In Europe, Japan, Australia, Canada... the OECD.. there is no popular political party advocating the views of American conservatives. Conservatives elsewhere would be conservative Democrats in this country."
Correction to the correction: This is modern American tribal Republicanism. It has absolutely nothing to do with the conservative-liberal continuum, other than the content-free use by Republicans of "liberal" as a pejorative meaning, "Someone not of our tribe."
Today's Republican party is strictly a tribal structure -- it has nothing to do with ideology nor governance, it has everything to do with whether ideas come from within the tribe or not. A hypothetical President McCain, introducing word-for-word measures and judicial appointments, would be praised to the skies by Republicans.
Conservatives **in the US** are conservative Democrats in this country. They were chased out of the GOP circa 2002 for failing to pay obeisance to the Dear Leader.
Conservative ideas destroy!
So, what was the guy trying to set himself on fire with? Was it matches or a lighter? Are either actually still allowed on flights? How did he get on with that?
What's a watch list if you don't remove someone perceived to be a danger?
If it doesn't stop perceived dangerous people to come into the country, or on a flight bound for a civilized country, then why have a useless watch list of 500K people who would rather not be watched without their 4th amendment rights being protected by a court order?
I would say good rules for
I would say good rules for capitalism require that producers gain profits thru peaceful, voluntary offerings of products & services to buyers who have a choice of what to buy. If profit only comes thru special political laws, both buyers and producers suffer (tho politicians get more power and cash). Rand saw it happen in Russia. Anti-socialist Obama protesters see it happening in the US. There will be a greedy elite in any society — one bailout purpose is for the gov’t to have the power of choosing, rather than the buyers of products.
Poor Rand. Always insisting
Poor Rand. Always insisting she needed no one; always fuming that the masses didn't bow down before her manifest superiority. Always proclaiming the power of selfish individualism; always insisting everyone around her conformed rigidly to her world-view and subsumed their individuality to her.
Saying Rand saw something political is not unlike saying VanGogh saw something about color -- it may be true, but do you really want to give up your ear, your sanity, and your life?
And now I see I'm objecting to Rand on purely selfish grounds. Aw, poor Rand. Putting the "object" in "objectivism"...
Fear! Fear! Fear!
I think the underlying psychology of the American conservative, at least the rank and file, is fear. And misplaced fear at that. Conservative politicians & pundits cynically play to the fear, and throw gas on the fire.
You can see this very clearly in the gun & knife culture, regular Joes gearing up as though entering a combination of Cabrini Green & Fallujah, just for a trip to Walmart.
But when it comes to real, serious threats to their livelihood, children's future, and the planet, well, that's just a bunch of nonsense, despite what science and observation says.
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