SHORTER HANNITY: WAH WAH WAH

On his radio show, Hannity repeated an extremely self-centered and delusional refrain about the energy crisis. I caught 2 comments:

"We don't have to sacrifice. We can mainstain our standard of living."

"You don't have to change your lifestyle."

This echoes comments by Newt Gingrich about American culture and is one of the few times I can see a clear connection between conservative philosophy and what conservatives say. Now it's clear that they are opposed to change on principle, just as William F. Buckley declared in the first issue of the National Review.

One caller said we needed a Manhattan Project for the energy crisis and Hannity replied that the free market would take care of it, not to worry. Conservatives pull out the Free Market Fairy all the time despite that massive amount of evidence that the self-centeredness of the market often works against our national interests.

Here's just one current example (h/t Atrios):

SEC Ratings Probe Reveals Conflicts in Grading Debt (Update2)

By Jesse Westbrook

July 8 (Bloomberg) -- A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into credit-rating companies found the firms improperly managed conflicts of interest and violated internal procedures in granting top rankings to mortgage bonds.

A 10-month review of Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings found analysts contributed to fee discussions and weighed losing clients over certain ratings, the Washington-based SEC said in a report released today. Employees also cast doubt on the quality of some ratings, the SEC said, declining to link firms to specific findings.

``We uncovered serious shortcomings at these firms,'' SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said today at a news conference. ``When there were not enough staff to do the job right, the firms sometimes cut corners.''

The SEC report describes an e-mail in which an analyst refers to the market for collateralized debt obligations as a ``monster.''

``Let's hope we are all wealthy and retired by the time this house of cards falters,'' said the e-mail, which was sent Dec. 15, 2006, to another analyst at the same firm.

In another internal communication, two analysts at a rating company discussed whether they should grade an offering.

``One analyst expressed concern that her firm's model did not capture `half' of the deal's risk, but that `it could be structured by cows and we would rate it,''' the SEC said.