THE CULTURE WAR GETS SOME MORE SUPPORTERS

I was a little surprised that after the election, Bill "Slots" Bennett called for re-starting the bogus Culture War but as I looked around the Web, I noticed that other conservative wackos were calling for this long before November, including Jeffery T. Kuhner, Henry Olsen and Justen Charters.

FOOD FIGHT BETWEEN 2 CONSERVATIVE WACKOS?

I never heard of Jen Kuznicki before I went to The Right Scoop and read her post attacking Ann Coulter for implicitly being critical of Mark Levin and the Baggers.  I hope that this boils up into a full-fledged war between these two miserable people.

SO FAR, JUDSON PHILLIPS, AKA "MR. CONSTITUTION"...

has not gotten much grief for his constitutionally ignorant claims about the Electoral College and that's a shame because we really do need to expose the Baggers as clowns.  So far, Google News has only 2 entries that point out how frigging moronic Phillips is:

The Electoral College has Yet to Elect a President

The Portland Mercury (blog)-Nov 19, 2012

This guy named Judson Phillips says that Barry Obama has not yet been re-elected president. Because the Electoral College votes on the ...

The Starting Line – San Diego Sheriff Stonewalls Freedom Of ...

San Diego Free Press-Nov 21, 2012

... Nation founder Judson Phillips was touting a plan to overturn the result. ... According to the 12th Amendment, for the Electoral College to be ...

YUVAL LEVIN AND VIRTUE

Corey Robin has an expose of one of the people David Brooks thinks will restore conservatism in America, Yuval Levin.  Robin discusses this article by Levin and I was struck by Levin's warped concept of virtue:

In the ancient view of politics, as expounded by Aristotle, political communities were necessary for the fulfillment of man’s nature, to seek justice through reason and speech. Man’s ultimate purpose was the virtuous life, and politics was necessary for the pursuit of that end.

Levin does not mention that for Aristotle the virtuous life included slaves & slavery:

From POLITICS, Book 1, [1255a]:
It is manifest therefore that there are cases of people of whom some are freemen and the others slaves by nature, and for these slavery is an institution both expedient and just. 

Aristotle was also not much of a careful observer:

Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by examining his wives' mouths. He said also that children will be healthier if conceived when the wind is in the north. One gathers that the two Mrs. Aristotles both had to run out and look at the weathercock every evening before going to bed.
- Bertrand Russell, The Impact of Science on Society (1953)

Of course, for a real conservative like Levin the actual facts about Aristotle are really just inconveniences that he does not need to confront.

WHO IS KEN MEHLMAN TRYING TO KID?

(h/t Pam Spaulding)

In a WSJ op-ed, the former Chairman of the RNC makes this absurd claim:

Conservatives don’t need to change core convictions to embrace the growing support for equal rights for gay Americans.

Conservatives DO need to change their core convictions because they have embraced the Fundies' social conservatism.

THE GASBAGGING CONTINUES

Ann "Kill Them All" Coulter argues that Mitten$ supposed RINO-ness wasn't the real problem but never touches on the fact that a lot of Fundies would not vote for a Mormon and never mentions the 47% comment and doesn't address how the GOP expected to win by nominating a private bankster.   She also failed to note that a lot of Americans are sick of her extremist comments.

Someone named Jerry Bowyer uses the Pilgrims farming fiasco to prove the superiority of capitalism over socialism but neglects to mention the great success of the Jesuit's communism in S. America.

UPDATE:  A little more on the Bagger myth of communist pilgrims.

THE GOP IN ONE PARAGRAPH

Paul Krugman has a terrific summation:

Second, today’s Republican party is an alliance between the plutocrats and the preachers, plus some opportunists along for the ride — full stop. The whole party is about low taxes at the top (and low benefits for the rest), plus conservative social values and putting religion in the schools; it has no other reason for being.

This will take decades to change, if ever.

THIS HAPPENS ALL THE TIME WITH THE WACKO WINGNUTS

(h/t Wonkette)

Judson Phillips, the head of Tea Party Nation, published a piece in WND that purported to describe a Constitutional way to throw the election to Romney.  Unfortunately, Phillips was relying on the Glenn  Beck edition of the Constitution, not the real one and even WND had to print a retraction:

Editor’s note, Nov. 20, 2012:

Since this column was posted it has been discovered that the premise presented about the Electoral College and the Constitution is in error. According to the 12th Amendment, a two-thirds quorum is required in the House of Representatives, not the Electoral College.

INSTEAD OF RAISING THE SS RETIREMENT AGE OR

(h/t Jay Ackroyd)

reducing benefits as Blankfein wants to do, we could simply take the cap off the Social Security tax, as Ezra Klein notes:

If we lifted that cap, if we made all income subject to payroll taxes, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that it would do three times as much to solve Social Security’s shortfall as raising the retirement age to 70. In fact, it would, in one fell swoop, close Social Security’s solvency gap for the next 75 years. 

DAVID HUME ON THE FUNDIES

This is from his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1776), part XII:

My inclination, replied Cleanthes, lies, I own, a contrary way. Religion, however corrupted, is still better than no religion at all. The doctrine of a future state is so strong and necessary a security to morals, that we never ought to abandon or neglect it. For if finite and temporary rewards and punishments have so great an effect, as we daily find; how much greater must be expected from such as are infinite and eternal?

How happens it then, said Philo, if vulgar superstition be so salutary to society, that all history abounds so much with accounts of its pernicious consequences on public affairs? Factions, civil wars, persecutions, subversions of government, oppression, slavery; these are the dismal consequences which always attend its prevalency over the minds of men. If the religious spirit be ever mentioned in any historical narration, we are sure to meet afterwards with a detail of the miseries which attend it. And no period of time can be happier or more prosperous, than those in which it is never regarded or heard of.

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES???

AYFKM?  Dennis Prager seems to think that the last 60 years (at least) of conservative agit-prop have been largely wasted:

For conservatives, the issue is that for generations now, they have failed to make the case for their values.

One obvious conclusion is that the case isn't very convincing, something Hayek noted in 1961.

A VIP MOTU THINKS RAISING TAXES IS OK

I'm not so sure about his advice to pare down Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid but this I can support:

Goldman Sachs CEO: Entitlements must be contained
By Scott Pelley
November 19, 2012 7:18 PM
CBS Evening News

We wondered whether he thinks the government needs more revenue in the form of higher taxes.

BLANKFEIN: In the long run, there has to be more revenue. And, of course, the burden of that revenue will be disproportionately taken up by wealthier people. That's just logical.

PELLEY: So higher taxes on wealthier people?

BLANKFEIN: More taxes on wealthier people, to the extent that we need to raise more revenue, and we do need to raise some more revenue.

UM, YEAH

Erick Erickson comes to the defense of The Stupid Party remark by Rubio and wrote this:

Believing what was believed to be literally true for a few thousand years is now nutty.

Yup, it is nutty.

I'VE HEARD THIS STORY BEFORE

Since the year 2000, some conservatives react to an electoral defeat by claiming that their candidates weren't conservative enough.  This year is no different despite the fact that several very conservative candidates, including Allen West, lost. 

MORE AMERICAN EXCEPTIONAL IGNORANCE

A few years ago I was talking with a colleague about tax rates and discovered that he thought if one's income crossed into a higher bracket, ALL the income would be taxed at the higher rate.  This is of course wrong but seems to be a widely held belief, as David Weigel points out.

WILL BEN STEIN DISAPPEAR FROM FAUX NEWS?

I'd say it was an even chance after this exchange on the 11/16 edition of The O'Reilly Factor: (h/t Media Matters & LexisNexis)

STEIN: What do you care if they raise taxes on some rich person by seven ...

GUTFELD: Because I'm not a class warfarist. I want to be rich.

STEIN: You are already rich. But the problem -- the problem ...

GUTFELD: I'm rich in my soul.

STEIN: No, you are rich all together. What does it matter if a person is making five, ten, 20, 30 million a year, pays another few hundred thousand in taxes? What does it matter to him?

GUTFELD: Do you actually think I'm in that pay range?

STEIN: You might be at a lower ....

GUTFELD: You totally exaggerate my stature at Fox News. I live in a basement. I want to tell you, though, I don't- whenever you raise taxes, it never goes against anything. It just goes for more spending.

(CROSSTALK)

STEIN: That's not so. I mean when President Reagan -- look, everyone says oh, Reagan cut taxes and revenue went up. He cut taxes in his first year. Every year after that, he raised taxes, and in some years after that he raised them quite dramatically. So let's go back to the Gipper and say, he realized that a kind of (ph) tax was a good idea ...

GUTFELD: Yeah.

STEN: Until he saw it didn't work, then he raised taxes. Look, I hate paying taxes, too. Any normal person doesn't want to pay more taxes than he has to. But we need the revenue. We don't want to bequeath our children a bankrupt country.

GUTFELD: All right, you're a communist. I want to talk now about Hostess.

DOES GERAGHTY NOT HAVE A RADIO?

(h/t The Dish)

Jim Geraghty of the National Review Online writes that it's a good thing that Mitten$ lost because of his infamous 47% remark:

"...it is a good thing for the Republican party and the conservative movement to not have to defend a president who effectively writes off nearly half the country as lazy and selfish, and even more important, unpersuadable, unreformable, and unchangeable,"

To be consistent, Geraghty would also have to denounce Fats Limbaugh and all the other gasbags who supported Romney's statements.

FUNDIE GASBAGS FLUNK LOGIC 101

Almost 8 years ago, Jerry Falwell refused to say when he chose to be heterosexual despite holding that sexuality is a choice.  Not much has changed:

Bryan Fischer refuses to say when he decided to be straight
By Stephen C. Webster
Monday, November 19, 2012 16:22 EST
THE RAW STORY

During an interview with progressive talk show host David Pakman on Monday, The American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer refused to say when he decided to be straight.

“People are not born gay,” Fischer insisted near the end of the interview.

“So, when did you decide to be straight?” Pakman asked.

Fischer didn’t answer and instead claimed that the existence of identical twins with inverse sexuality proves that nobody is born gay.

IT'S GOING TO TAKE A VERY LONG TIME...

The GOP will remain the Party of Stupid until the Fundies die off:

Rubio Dodges Question On Earth's Age

by Frank James
November 19, 2012 3:16 PM
NPR

Sen. Marco Rubio's answer to a GQ interviewer's question about the Earth's age, in a story published on Monday. The Florida Republican said:

"I'm not a scientist, man. I can tell you what recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that's a dispute amongst theologians and I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States. I think the age of the universe has zero to do with how our economy is going to grow. I'm not a scientist. I don't think I'm qualified to answer a question like that. At the end of the day, I think there are multiple theories out there on how the universe was created and I think this is a country where people should have the opportunity to teach them all. I think parents should be able to teach their kids what their faith says, what science says. Whether the Earth was created in 7 days, or 7 actual eras, I'm not sure we'll ever be able to answer that. It's one of the great mysteries."

UPDATE: Rubio is on these committees -

Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet
Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard:
Subcommittee on Science And Space
Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security

BROKAW STATES THE OBVIOUS

I lived in Manhattan from 1978 to January 1986 and for most of that time, I was living on about $700/month so you can imagine I was a bit amused by a NY Times article on how $1,000,000/year wasn't really much money in NYC.  I also recall a Times story about young banksters which quoted a 26-year old bragging that it was nice to know he could afford anything he saw in a store window.

John Aravosis snagged a nice quote from Tom Brokaw about the MOTU in The City:

ANDREA MITCHELL: The business community, you speak to people here in New York, today again, they are very suspicious and very angry.

BROKAW: Yeah, I don’t have a lot of sympathy for them. The fact is, they’ve done pretty well in the last four years, all things considered. The big banks did get bailed out, and then didn’t spend the money anywhere else in the country. I think New York does distort your view about this a little bit. Given the amount of money that’s available around here, and what their expectations are about what they’re “owed.”

YES, THIS HAPPENED

A few months ago I decided to reduce my complaints about conservatives to a simple phrase: They are mean people.   Apparently Gov. Jindal partially agrees with me:

Jindal: Liking people is key to expanding GOP tent
By MICHELE SALCEDO | Associated Press – 2 hrs 47 mins ago

"If we want people to like us, we have to like them first," Jindal said on Fox News Sunday.

LOW TAXES AREN'T THE ANSWER

At least not in Arizona.  I noted before that the greater Tucson area is tied for 6th poorest in the nation and today I learned that Arizona is #2 among all the states in income inequality.