ODDS 'N ENDS

Atrios pointed out a very good book discussion thread at FireDogLake. As usual, I got there too late but the commenters bring up several good points. David Neiwert made this point:

The most disturbing aspect of this is what happens as the conservative appeal starts to falter and its power is threatened, as it is presently. This where what I call the right’s “soft white underbelly” — its underlying, and root extremism, illuminated so well by Before the Storm — really comes into play.

Because in order to hold onto power, the right — having rejected the left as acceptable partners in power — is forced increasingly to appeal to, and become beholden to, the extremist right.

So the result is a conservative movement that’s being forced to embrace its extremist roots. I’m not sure that the outcome is going to be a good one, considering how large the conservative movement has become.

I don't think (and I certainly hope it isn't) that the conservative movement is as large as Neiwert thinks it is, so I see this as another LOSE-LOSE for the GOP. Of course, the GOP will get even nastier as the elections approach.

Drudge is still pushing the fear meme about illegal immigrants: there will be "riots in the streets" and a "racial war" if we do tightly seal the border. In response to the release of An Inconvenient Truth, he did some of the standard wingnut Al Gore/environmental wackos bashing. Drudge seems to think that a single cold spell anywhere in the world is sufficient to refute global warming.

I didn't listen to the first 70 minutes or so of Drudge but during the remainder of the show, he didn't make too much of the opening weekend of The Da Vinci Code and limited himself to noting that it didn't do much better than Austin Powers In Goldmember and that certainly wasn't a movie for the ages.