Tag Archives: conservatism

The Paleoconservative “Internationale”: Pat Buchanan Hearts Vladimir Putin

American conservatives have a curious relationship with Vladimir Putin: they recognize him as a macho and authoritarian traditionalist (which they like), yet he’s not an American, but a Russian (which they don’t like). And in a recent article, Pat Buchanan … Continue reading

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Surprise, Surprise: Obamacare Works for a Small-Business Owner

This was in The New York Times earlier this week: Rachel Bryant, a small-business owner who lives just outside Winston-Salem [N.C], felt unlucky when she received a notice from Blue Cross saying that her plan was being canceled and that the … Continue reading

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Nate Cohn on the Republican Path to Victory in 2016

It’s narrow. Here’s Nate Cohn at The New Republic: [I]t looks like Republicans will need to count on the appeal of their 2016 presidential candidate and economic fundamentals to overcome the party’s limited appeal. In other words, Republicans need a … Continue reading

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The Republican Train Wreck

At The Daily Beast, Peter Beinart crisply explains the double-bind the leaders of the Republican Party find themselves in: McConnell’s and Boehner’s job [is] virtually impossible. To get anything done, they need to compromise with Democrats. To improve their party’s … Continue reading

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Gold Price Plunge: Gold Theory and Gold Reality

Right wing “gold bugs” take note. Maybe Glenn Beck is wrong. The New York Times reports today that gold bug theory and gold reality have been diverging of late: The price of the metal has been undergoing extraordinary reversal from a decade-long rally. … Continue reading

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What the American Right Looks Like in 2013

__________ The above image is of a ouroboros (a serpent biting its tail). Nothing gets in. Nothing gets out. It’s why the right is so goofed up in the United States right now. Its epistemic closure divorces it from reality. And … Continue reading

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I Saw Dinesh D’Souza’s Documentary, “2016”

I finally got around to seeing Dinesh D’Souza’s hatchet job documentary on Barack Obama, 2016 (it’s out on DVD). What I hoped for was a serious and thought-provoking conservative take on the nation’s first black president. D’Souza, after all, is … Continue reading

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CPAC Attendee: No Need to Apologize for Slavery

A white southern male at the CPAC conservative convention this afternoon, during a diversity break-out session, defended white pride, segregation, and slavery in dialogue with a black conservative. Stunning. And other CPAC attendees were giving him support. Even more stunning. … Continue reading

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Rand Paul Speaks the Truth

I’m no fan of Rand Paul, but his directness in the below Politico article on the GOP’s national troubles impresses me. Here’s Politico: Republican leaders are questioning the interventionist foreign policy that President George W. Bush and the party’s last two … Continue reading

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An Unusually Effective Campaign Ad

Wow.

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Onward American Theocrats, Marching As To War

A preacher introduces Rick Santorum at a rally in Louisiana: “We don’t worship Buddha; we don’t worship Muhammad; we don’t worship Allah. We worship God; we worship God’s son, Jesus Christ!” Red meat.

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Let My People Go: Reconsidering the Tea Party

I have of late been rethinking the meaning of the Tea Party to American politics. My first take was dismissive: this movement is the same type of Herderian nationalism that, last century, brought Hitler and his merry band of crazed … Continue reading

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In a Michelle Bachmann Administration, Would She Entertain the Idea of Making Glenn Beck Her Press Secretary?

Knowing that, at the end of this week, Glenn Beck will no longer be with Fox News, I watched the full hour of one of his parting shows. I wanted to see what impression he might leave me with—something to recall about him—and what struck me was his … Continue reading

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The Florida Quran Burning Incident and the Clash of Fundamentalisms

The mixing of fundamentalist religion and right-wing politics is where we’re at today in America; it’s our cultural Zeitgeist. And this 30-year-old documentary foreshadowed it all. Hosted by Burt Lancaster and produced by the liberal group, People for the American Way, it’s … Continue reading

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Rick Santorum Opposes Gay Marriage, Gay Adoption, and Wants to Reinstate DADT. But Why?

Republican Rick Santorum is likely running for president in 2012 and here are his views on same-sex marriage and gay couples adopting children. Listen for the reasons that he offers (or at least alludes to) in support of his views: I pick up from … Continue reading

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American Tea Party Politics Arrives in China?

Mark Lilla, writing in the New Republic, tells a fascinating anecdote, which occurred just a few years back, of an end-of-semester discussion that he had in his office with a bright student from Beijing that he taught at the University … Continue reading

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The Simple Truth

I think what the ideologically motivated person wants is a one party controlled state. Left or right, it is a poverty of wisdom and proportion to desire such a thing. The great danger is that the right, in a time … Continue reading

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A Wonderful Arugula Rant

This guy’s arugula rant never went viral back in 2008, but it should have. It has only gotten about 1600 hits at YouTube, but it’s absolutely worth seeing: And here’s some arugula I found being sold at “elite” Walmart:

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Total Message Control Solution #1: Just Handcuff Any Journalist Who Asks Questions That You Don’t Want to Answer

Total message control (that is, the Palin model) was on disturbing display on Sunday in Alaska. This from Glenn Greenwald: [P]rivate “guards” working for GOP Senate nominee Joe Miller forcibly detained and handcuffed a journalist as he tried to ask the candidate questions … Continue reading

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Chris Hedges on the Tea Birchers

In a recent TruthDig essay, Chris Hedges (I think accurately) sizes up the Herderian Tea Party movement in America, and where it is moving us: There is a yearning by tens of millions of Americans, lumped into a diffuse and fractious movement, … Continue reading

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