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- It's a bit sad that conservatives desperately want to believe that the public is motivated by ideological conservatism and votes accordingly. This is how the election of Barack Obama can be explained as a rejection of "big-government 'do something' conservatism of the Bush years," and the enduring unpopularity of Republicans is explained by saying "it hasn't been right-wing enough." Like Jon Chait asks, "Just how right-wing do they think this country is?"
- Ezra Klein highlights a telling example of conservative chicanery on the economy, namely that things would be different if Barack Obama just governed like Ronald Reagan, who apparently ended the 1981 recession with a wise combination of slashing taxes and spending. Besides the fact that our current economic crisis does not remotely resemble the 1981 recession, one might note that Reagan worship and voodoo economics show no sign of abating in today's conservative movement.
- The position that abortion should not be permitted even in cases of rape or incest is clearly an expression of total contempt for women as co-equal human beings. But what does Senate candidate Ken Buck mean when he takes this "principled" "pro-life" stand and yet still makes an exception when the life of the mother is at stake? Is he saying the right to life of an embryo is more important than the rights of the mother, except when it isn't?
- Remainders: Birtherism, alive and well; conservatives are obsessed with the legacy of the '60s; there is no economic miracle happening in Texas; the anatomy of winning a Senate race in Kentucky; Sharron Angle wants to replace the First Amendment with the First Commandment; and why is Michael Steele meeting with foreign ambassadors?
--Mori Dinauer
