WASILLA IS AN OUTLIER

(h/t Matt Yglesias)

Despite all the conservative prattle about Small Town America, the reality is that our country is primarily a group of metropolitan areas, according to this Brookings Institution report:

And increasingly, these metros are what propel the American economy. Chicagoland and the other 100 largest metros in America, in this respect, represent just 12 percent of the nation’s land area but generate two-thirds of U.S. jobs and three-quarters of the nation’s output. Almost two-thirds of the population lives in the 100 largest metros, including 85 percent of the nation’s immigrants and 77 percent of its minority residents.

For many people, it's fine to live in small towns but it's not fine to represent them as being the core of America.

WOW! GAFFNEY IS ALMOST PSYCHOTIC

(h/t David Corn)

Frank Gaffney, Mr. Sharia Citibank, appeared on Hardball (3/12/09) and provided more evidence that neo-conservatives have a slender grasp of reality:

MATTHEWS: Well, let‘s just quote the 9/11 commission. “We have no credible evidence that Iraq and al Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States.” Frank, do you at this moment in time, in March of 2009, do you challenge that?

GAFFNEY: I do. I believe that there is evidence that they were collaborating on all kinds of things. Whether we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt or to the satisfaction of that partisan—or bipartisan, as you wish—commission, I believe is an open question.

WHY I CALL LIMBAUGH "FATS"

You might recall that the wingnuts frequently called Michael Moore fat to discredit him so I decided to use their own tactic against one of their own.

Recently, Megan McCain wrote that Ann Coulter sucks. To be precise, she wrote:

To make matters worse, certain individuals continue to perpetuate negative stereotypes about Republicans. Especially Republican women. Who do I feel is the biggest culprit? Ann Coulter. I straight up don’t understand this woman or her popularity. I find her offensive, radical, insulting, and confusing all at the same time.

In a childish attempt to defend Coulter, War Whore Laura Ingrham attacked Megan:

INGRAHAM (mocking): Ok, I was really hoping that I was going to get that role in the Real World, but then I realized that, well, they don’t like plus-sized models. They only like the women who look a certain way.

So, "fat" is still in the wingnut armory.

HANNITY & HERITAGE

Ads for the Heritage Foundation are run regularly on Hannity's radio show and he also does on-air promos urging people to join. It seems that this campaign may have been successful:

Conservative Think Tank Adjusts to Tough Times
By David Weigel 3/13/09 6:00 AM
The Washington Independent

Carsten Walter, the director of membership for the Heritage Foundation, said the aggressive marketing and direct mail campaign of that think tank had made up for expected damage from skittish large donors and foundations. Since 2006, Heritage’s network of donors has expanded from 275,000 to roughly 415,000. Small-money donors who are angry at the new Democratic administration can show their might by supporting a conservative think tank.

THE NOONAN VS. REALITY

Peggy Noonan is someone who gets paid very well to write nonsense, but that's OK because she is a conservative writing for the WSJ. Her latest piece is brimming with anecdotes that reveal not how America is feeling now but how small Peggy's world is and how ignorant she is. She writes:

They are taking cash out of the bank in preparation for a long-haul bad time. A friend in Florida told me the local bank was out of hundred-dollar bills on Wednesday because a man had come in the day before and withdrawn $90,000.

Here's the reality, courtesy of the Bureau of Economic Analysis:

Personal saving -- DPI less personal outlays -- was $545.5 billion in January, compared with $416.8 billion in December. Personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income was 5.0 percent in January, compared with 3.9 percent in December.

This increase isn't just a one time event: people save more during recessions. From Reuters:

The slump in wealth has coincided with an increase in the personal savings rate, which suggests households that had counted on rising real estate and stock market gains to replace traditional savings were now rebuilding rainy-day funds.

In the second quarter of 2007, when household wealth peaked, the savings rate was a low 0.3 percent. In the fourth quarter of 2008, it reached 3.2 percent. Many economists expect the percentage to at least double in the next couple of years.

A LITTLE TRUTH AND THEY START PANICKING

Jon Stewart's remarks about Jim Cramer have led others to look a little more closely at the 3-card Monte game that is a large part of Wall Street and this has devotees of the Free Market Fairy worried:

Why Jon Stewart Really Attacked Jim Cramer
March 13, 2009 10:58 AM ET | James Pethokoukis
Capitol Commerce
US News & World Report

...Stewart really doesn't believe in the idea of a stock market where individuals can go to invest their money and build wealth over the long term.

Of course, Stewart neither stated nor implied anything of the sort but Pethokoukis wants to support the wingnut meme that liberals want to destroy capitalism. That's why he was invited to spout this BS on Michael Savage's radio show.

BEFORE GELLER, THERE WAS GAFFNEY

This afternoon I was listening to Hugh Hewitt's show and his guest Frank Gaffney said that Citibank was a Sharia-compliant bank and we should all be very afraid. I guess this is what that lunatic Pam Geller had in mind. Gaffney wrote about this last Fall:

GAFFNEY: Treasury submits to Shariah
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
The Washington Times

The U.S. Treasury Department is submitting to Shariah - the seditious religio-political-legal code authoritative Islam seeks to impose worldwide under a global theocracy.

As reported in this space last week, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Robert Kimmitt set the stage with his recent visit to Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich Persian Gulf states. His stated purpose was to promote the recycling of petrodollars in the form of foreign investment here.

Evidently, the price demanded by his hosts is that the U.S. government get with the Islamist financial program. ... Shariah-Compliant Finance serves as a leading edge of the spear for those seeking to insinuate Shariah into Western societies.

THE PARTY OF BLUNDERS

The GOP is turning into great fodder for comedians. Just in the last few days, 2 important figures in the party have blundered badly. First was announcement that Bristol Palin would be single mother, then the chairman of the RNC says abortion should be a personal choice.

It's hard to imagine 2 greater rebuffs to the Fundies who make up a very important part of the GOP's base.

"COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATISM" IN ACTION

We all know that phrase is a nasty joke and here's just another example proving why.

Perry rejects $555 million in federal stimulus money
By ALAN BERNSTEIN
Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
March 12, 2009, 3:21PM

Gov. Rick Perry today told the federal government that Texas doesn’t want $555 million to expand benefits for the unemployed in exchange for widening the program to include part-time workers.

Gov. Perry isn't the only reactionary:

S.C. governor spurns stimulus

By John O'Connor and James Rosen
McClatchy Newspapers
Originally published March 12, 2009 at 12:00 AM | Page modified March 12, 2009 at 1:13 AM

Sanford turned down the federal money despite new data showing that his state's unemployment rate had risen to 10.4 percent, the second-highest in the country.

"We don't think it's a good idea to spend money that you don't have," Sanford said in Columbia.

Claiming the stimulus money would destabilize South Carolina's economy, Sanford said, "We need to look longer term and much more holistically at the notion of economic stimulus."

Asked how he could reject federal money when his state's unemployment rate was cresting 10 percent, he responded: "There will be no immediate answer. ... Reforming state government: That can lead to job growth in the state."

Charlie Black, a prominent Republican consultant who was a senior adviser to Sen. John McCain's losing White House campaign last year, said Sanford's TV appearances and chairmanship of the Republican Governors Association have heightened his visibility.

"His brand of conservatism emphasizing fiscal conservatism is very popular with our grass roots," Black said.

YEAH, THEY ARE CROOKS, LIARS AND THIEVES

You may suspect that I'm pretty down on Wall Street Masters of the Universe and you'd be correct but I hope you don't attribute that to "class envy" or ignorance. I think that way because they seem to run the financial gain primarily for their own benefit. Do you remember all the lies told by stock analysts during the Dot Com boom? Well, that's been going on for a long time, though not necessarily quite as dishonest. Merrill Lynch has now made a rule that its analysts MUST have at least 20% of their ratings as “underperform.”

It turns out that our little buddy Jim Cramer has been gaming the system for years. John Amato found that Cramer liked playing Pied Piper:

I came on this show and did something you're never supposed to do if you have a stock show. I said people should sell everything.

He may have even engaged in criminal activity when he was also running a hedge fund (h/t Julie Satow at HuffPo):

-On manipulating the market:

"A lot of times when I was short at my hedge fund, and I was positioned short, meaning I needed it down, I would create a level of activity before hand that could drive the futures,"

-On falsely creating the impression a stock is down (what he calls "fomenting"):

"You can't foment. That's a violation... But you do it anyway because the SEC doesn't understand it." He adds, "When you have six days and your company may be in doubt because you are down, I think it is really important to foment."

-On the truth:

"What's important when you are in that hedge fund mode is to not be doing anything that is remotely truthful, because the truth is so against your view - it is important to create a new truth to develop a fiction," Cramer advises. "You can't take any chances."

Why don't the MOTU understand thast we don't trust them?

FATS' NEGATIVES

(h/t Allahpundit at Hot Air)

In addition to the McClatchy-Ipsos poll, Gallup also did a recent poll that had a few questions about Fats Limbaugh and he really isn't very popular with most Americans.

Limbaugh Well-Liked by Many, but Not All, Republicans
Strong majority of Democrats have negative opinions of the conservative talk-show host
February 5, 2009

Although a clear majority of 60% of Republicans have a favorable opinion of Limbaugh, a not-insignificant 23% have an unfavorable opinion. Seventeen percent of Republicans say they have no opinion of Limbaugh either way (either because they haven't heard of him or don't know enough about him to say).

Almost a third of Democrats say they have no opinion of Limbaugh, but negative views of him among Democrats outweigh positive opinions by more than a 10-to-1 ratio. Among independents, negatives outweigh positives by a 45% to 25% margin.

These results are close what Gallup found almost 6 years ago:


A poll by Democracy Corps puts the matter a little more directly:

...voters view Limbaugh negatively by a two-to-one ratio (53 to 26 percent), with nearly half the country, 45 percent, viewing him very, very negatively. Among independents, the ratio rises to three-to-one. More important are the values that Limbaugh espouses. By a nearly two-to-one ratio (57 to 32 percent) a majority of voters – and independents – say Limbaugh does not “share their values,” but Republicans are in a different world where, by two-to-one, they believe he shares them.

So, who's still afraid of the Big Bad Fats?

THE WSJ AGREES WITH ATRIOS

Atrios points out that MOTU Jamie Dimon is a whiner and David Gaffen at the WSJ agrees:

But even at this point, with major market averages down more than 50% and Wall Street bankers about as loved as the guy in charge of shooting stray dogs, he still managed to throw out this bit of self-pity: “When I hear the constant vilification of corporate America, I personally don’t understand it.” Maybe you could try, Mr. Dimon.

MORE ECONOMIC BS FROM THE GOP

Just as they did about the estate tax, the GOP and its minions are lying about the effect of taxes, this time on small businesses. Below I produced part of IRS Form 1120S for small businesses and you can get the instructions for filling it out here. Note that ALL business expenses, including investments, are deductible, so this fellow is LYING:

Small manufacturers cry uncle
By VICTORIA MCGRANE 3/11/09 10:06 AM EDT
The POLITICO

Stew McMillan, president of Task Force Tips, a 200-employee manufacturer of fire hose nozzles based in Valparaiso, Ind., said there’s a grim new joke going around.

“How many more things can the people who make over $250,000 pay for?”

“It may say on my tax return that I made $3 million, but the fact is that all of it went back into reinvestment in the company,” McMillan said, explaining that his personal income was below the $250,000 benchmark. That’s different from a basketball player making $23 million a year or a Wall Street banker, he argued.

For a small-business owner, “that profitability is what grows that business, and it’s definitely a detriment,” he said.

FATS CAN'T STOP LYING

Today, Pigboy was crowing his approval numbers in a McClatchy-Ipsos poll:

But they have done a poll, they have done a national poll, and they have found that about a third of the American people have a highly favorable opinion of me. Ladies and gentlemen, that makes me one of the most popular Americans in the country. Yeah, they're the ones that found me. McClatchy is the one, you'd have to say, that gave me my big break. But if I have an approval rating above a third, that makes me higher than Congress, that makes me higher than lawyers, that puts me with a higher approval rate than Hollywood, and also, my approval number of 33% is higher than Obama's numbers are going to be when his presidency is over in 2012.

Sounds pretty good for a gasbag, doesn't it? Well, as Paul Harvey used to say, here's the rest of the story:

Obama v. Limbaugh: Poll finds it's no contest
By Steven Thomma McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Wednesday, March 11, 2009

The poll found 30 percent of Americans with favorable opinions of Limbaugh, and 46 percent with unfavorable opinions. A solid 33 percent of all Americans have "very unfavorable" opinions of the talk show host.

This is the Pigboy question from the poll and you can see that only 11% are "very favorable" about Fats.

AMITY SHLAES IS AN AEI MOLE

In an opinion piece about health care reform published by Bloomberg News, she relies on one of the hacks at AEI:

“The administration wants to curtail itemized deductions and raise marginal rates. These are the kinds of changes that hammer employers, especially unincorporated businesses,” Thomas Miller of the American Enterprise Institute told me. So in the future, the health insurance may be there, but the employers won’t.

SOME BAD NEWS, SOME GOOD NEWS

The neo-cons and Likudniks forced Charles Freeman to decline an intelligence position because he was not sufficiently keen on promoting Israel, so score one for them. The rest of us can take some solace in the fact that our other intelligence officials aren't backing down.

Officials: Iran does not have key nuclear material
Mar 10 12:47 PM US/Eastern
By PAMELA HESS
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Iran does not yet have any highly enriched uranium, the fuel needed to make a nuclear warhead, two top U.S. intelligence officials told Congress Tuesday, disputing a claim by an Israeli official.

U.S. National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Michael Maples said Tuesday that Iran has only low-enriched uranium—which would need to be refined into highly enriched uranium before it can fuel a warhead. Neither officials said there were indications that refining has occurred.

Their comments disputed a claim made last weekend by Israel's top intelligence military official, who said Iran has crossed a technical threshold and is now capable of producing atomic weapons.

The claim made by Israeli Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin runs counter to estimates by U.S. intelligence that the earliest Iran could produce a weapon is 2010, with some analysts saying it is more likely that it is 2015.

Maples said the United States and Israel are interpreting the same facts, but arriving at different conclusions.

"The Israelis are far more concerned about it," Maples told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

I HOPE BERNANKE IS CORRECT

In a news briefing after a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations, Fed Chairman Bernanke had some encouraging words:

Bernanke said if government efforts to stabilize banks are successful then "there is a good chance the recession will end later this year, and that 2010 will be a period of growth."

On the other hand, there is still reason to be worried (via Atrios):

A Gloomy Outlook for Home Sales’ Big Season
By VIKAS BAJAJ
Published: March 6, 2009
NY Times

Across the nation, 19 million houses and apartments — nearly one out of every seven — are vacant, the highest percentage since the 1960s. But only about six million of those homes are for sale or for rent. That means millions more could still flood onto the market, depressing prices further.

LORD SALETAN IS A MORON

Atrios has been critical of this clown before but I didn't pay much attention. I am paying attention now, though, because he seems to be really ignorant:

Embryos are the beginnings of people. They're not parts of people. They're the whole thing, in very early form.

They are not the "whole thing." As I've argued before, an acorn is not an oak tree.

WHO DOES LISTEN TO WINGNUT TALK RADIO?

I can't answer this question but I am curious, especially about the audience for daytime shows. Most people who work can't listen to radio during the day. How many of the people driving around are listening? I have no idea. How many of the people who are at home during the day are listening? Again, I have no idea.

WHAT THEY ARE UP TO

Today Fats Limbaugh said one of the goals of conservatives was to lower Obama's approval ratings and Greg Sargent found that the GOP Congress will try to do the same to Pelosi and Reid.

Expect a swarm of lies and smears.

OUR LOCALS ARE STUPID

KNST is one of the 2 major wingnut radio stations and it runs online polls of dubious value. Even if we leave aside the self-selection problem, this particular is unusually stupid because it gives the impression that Obama cut off funding.

THIS IS PURE WASTE

(h/t Susie Madrak at Crooks & Liars)

Building and deploying this ship puts our sailors in danger and simply can't be justified.

Pentagon's Unwanted Projects in Earmarks
Democrats Press Backyard Spending

By R. Jeffrey Smith and Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, March 8, 2009; Page A01

And last July, when the Navy's top brass decided to end production of their newest class of destroyers -- in response to 15 classified intelligence reports highlighting their vulnerability to a range of foreign missiles -- seven Democratic senators quickly joined four Republicans to demand a reversal. They threatened to cut all funding for surface combat ships in 2009.

STUPID THINGS I'VE READ TODAY

1) Jennifer Rubin at the neo-conservative Commentary magazine writes this about an Obama administration appointee:

You would think it would be hard to ignore the growing tidal wave of protest and controversy.

It seems impossible that some people think the neo-cons have any credbility left but I guess Rubin is still on the short yellow bus.

2) Kenneth Lewis writes this absurdity at the Wall Street Journal:

The announcement of nationalization would undermine confidence in the financial system and send shudders through the investment community.

WHAT CONFIDENCE???

MORE BS FROM HERITAGE

In a feeble attempt to justify tax cuts, the blog at the Heritage Foundation writes:

In fact, as I pointed out in detail in a paper last year, the Clinton tax hikes (which Obama would reinstate and build on) reduced the economy to anemia through the first Clinton term.

The growth of the economy was pretty much constant throughout the Clinton years and here's a chart of the GDP in constant chained 2000 dollars from the BEA:

A LITTLE TOO LATE

A Standard & Poor's economist sees the truth years too late to do any good:

Financial reports show 5 biggest banks face huge loss risk
By Greg Gordon and Kevin G. Hall
McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Monday, March 9, 2009

The biggest concerns are the banks' holdings of contracts known as credit-default swaps, which can provide insurance against defaults on loans such as subprime mortgages or guarantee actual payments for borrowers who walk away from their debts.

Trading in credit-default contracts has sparked investor fears because they are bought and sold in a murky, private market that is largely out of the reach of federal regulators. No one, except those holding the instruments, knows who owes what to whom. Not even banks and insurers can accurately calculate their risks.

"I don't trust any numbers on them," said David Wyss, the chief economist for the New York credit-rating agency Standard & Poor's.

I KNOW THERE ARE SOME GOOD ARGUMENTS FOR RELIGION

But here are 2 against fundamentalist versions:

Saudis order 40 lashes for elderly woman for mingling
updated 9:31 a.m. EDT, Mon March 9, 2009
By Mohammed Jamjoom and Saad Abedine

(CNN) -- A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced a 75-year-old Syrian woman to 40 lashes, four months imprisonment and deportation from the kingdom for having two unrelated men in her house, according to local media reports.

Brazil: 9-Year-Old Has Abortion Despite Church’s Objections
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: March 5, 2009

ABORTION

A 9-year-old girl who was carrying twins, and whose stepfather is suspected of raping her, underwent an abortion on Wednesday despite complaints from Brazil’s Roman Catholic Church. The stepfather has been jailed since last week, the police said. Abortion is illegal in Brazil, the country with the most Roman Catholics, but judges can make exceptions if the mother’s life is in danger or the fetus has no chance of survival. Fatima Maia, director of the public university hospital where the abortion was performed, said the pregnancy, which was in its 15th week, posed a serious risk to the girl, who weighs 80 pounds. But Marcio Miranda, a lawyer for the Archdiocese of Olinda and Recife in northeastern Brazil, said the girl should have carried the twins to term and had a Caesarean section. “It’s the law of God: Do not kill,” he said in comments reported by the newspaper O Globo.

WHY IS NEWT RELEVANT?

Newt Gingrich has been out of office for years so why is he a "go to guy" for the media? He doesn't hold an official position in the GOP - he doesn't even have his own radio show!

THE FIX
WaPo Politics Blog
March 9, 2009; 6:05 AM ET

White House Cheat Sheet: The Politics of Stem Cells

Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), a former Speaker of the House, told the Fix late Sunday that Obama's move on stem cells was an "ideological sideshow" that took focus away from the continued decline of the economy. "It is dangerous for the Obama administration to pick a wide series of fights," said Gingrich. "Each of these fights simply drains energy away and increases the coalition which decides it has a collective interest in stopping everything."

MARK LEVIN WOULD BE PROUD OF MR. WOLF

This is the kind of intolerance Levin spews on his radio show.

Liberals told to leave
An instructor for a hunter safety course orders Obama voters to get out of his class.

By RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writer
Published: 3/7/2009 2:23 AM
Last Modified: 3/7/2009 3:06 AM

According to Reddy and others in the room, Wolf called Obama "the next thing to the Antichrist" and ordered Reddy and Dunkley from the room. When Reddy refused, Wolf said he would not teach "liberals" and would cancel the course if Reddy didn't leave.

So Reddy and Dunkley left, as did a few others.

NEWT VS. FATS

The conservative food fight continues! On Meet the Press (3/8/2009), Newt Gingrich had this to say about Fats Limbaugh:

REP. GINGRICH: Rush, Rush Limbaugh is, in the long run, an interesting radio personality who is--it's like saying, you know...

MS. BURNETT: You're being diplomatic.

REP. GINGRICH: No, it's like saying does Chris Matthews help or hurt the Democratic Party? The fact is he has a large audience, he--the audience believes him, the audience calls their members, the audience has an effect. He's not the leader of the Republican party. And Michael Steele's one of the leaders. Bobby Jindal, who you had on recently, is one of the leaders. Sarah Palin's one of the leaders. Eric Cantor's a rising new leader. Paul Ryan's a--I mean, there are tons of leaders in the Republican Party. It is a deliberate strategy by the White House. And Politico did a good job this week of laying out how, how cynically the White House pursued this.

Today, Fats shot back at Newt by describing him as a typical politician who will say whatever is convenient at the moment. He also accused Newt of being jealous of his success.

ANOTHER CRAMER FAIL

JIM CRAMER, 11/4/2007:

The Bank of America is now the cheapest and the best and I have to admit as much as I like Wachovia, I think Bank of America is going to 60 in a heartbeat.

REALITY:

INSANNITY STICKS BY FATS LIMBAUGH

(from David Edwards and Rachel Oswald at Raw Story)

Right-wing gasbag lying whores stick together:

Sean Hannity complimented Limbaugh on his March 3 Hannity program by saying, "Rush is by far the most articulate, defining voice of conservatism in America today, the most articulate voice of raging conservatism in the country. Rush is a powerful voice. I would argue that Rush is the leader of the conservative movement in the country."

The News Hounds have a little more on Sean's stomach-turning hypocrisy.

THE TALIBAN AND THE WINGNUTS

Obama says we should try to deal with the more moderate sections of the Taliban and the wingnuts go apopoleptic:

Gateway Pundit:

In a shocking move Barack Obama announced today that he was open to appeasing the anti-American Taliban fundamentalists.

Astute Blogger:

ABOARD AIRFORCE ONE, OBAMA TELLS NYTIMES HE MAY APPEASE TALIBAN

Atlas Shrugs:

PRESIDENT SCARY WILL SURRENDER TO TALIBAN US CAPITULATES TO ISLAMIC DOMINATION

And what does the President of Afghanistan think?

Afghan leader Karzai backs Obama's call on Taliban
Sun Mar 8, 2009 5:33am EDT

KABUL, March 8 (Reuters) - With violence in Afghanistan at its highest since the Taliban was ousted, Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday welcomed U.S. counterpart Barack Obama's openness to adapting tactics used to deal with moderate elements in Iraq.

"Yesterday, Mr. Obama accepted and approved the path of peace and talks with those Afghan Taliban who he called moderates," Karzai said during a function in Kabul to mark International Women's Day.

"This is a good news ... this is approval of our previous stance and we accept and praise it," he said.

A GOOD RECAP OF THE FATSCAPADE

Tobin Harshaw in the NYT's blog "Weekend Opinionator" has provided a good summary with quotes about the Fats Limbaugh Escapade and I thought that this remark from the Editor of the National Review was astounding:

“I find the attacks on Rush from the right mostly stupid, cringe-inducing, and wrong… Rush is a huge benefit to the Right, and if we didn’t have him, we’d have to try to invent him (and probably fail, because so much of his success is a product of his natural, can’t-be-reproduced talent.)”

I'm pretty sure the highlighted words are a reference to what Voltaire said about God:

If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.

Can there really be any doubt that Limbaugh is the de facto leader of the GOP and conservatism in general?

DAVID FRUM ISN'T BACKING DOWN

Unlike Rep. Gingrey and RNC Chairman Michael Steele, Frum isn't going to bow down to Rush Limbaugh. His newest piece is titled "Why Rush is Wrong" and I think it can be summarized in one sentence:

Our party seems to be running to govern a country that no longer exists.

The movement conservatives blather about "take America back" but what they really mean is "we want to live in the imaginary past."