The Pink Flamingo :: The Empire Strikes Out (or Conservatives with Their Panties in a Wad)

It has dawned on me that once again the usual conservative suspects are blogging on a theme. I swear they are getting their talking points from someone the very same way Dems get theirs from the MoveOn.org bunch. I’ve linked a few things together that are examples of the usual conservative hysteria. I’m also pointing out a few liberal, politically correct attempts elsewhere (laws against hate speech, and bloggers). This is the one thing both the liberal and conservative bloggers do best.

We’re facing several major problems with the “top conservative” blogsphere. First, they’ve been on top so long they forget that there are ideas different from theirs that are not subversive, slightly conservative, and may be better. Cliff Kincaid is so near, yet so far with this comment

“…It may be that there are fewer conservatives these days. But it could also be that the definition of the term has changed. Perhaps my friend in Cincinnati is correct. Perhaps Reagan couldn't campaign and win as a Reagan Republican these days….”

Right on target, Rick Moran at Right Wing Nut House (a title that is increasingly significant) is lamenting that Mike Huckabee is destroying conservatives, destroy the party (which one might I ask) and split it at its base?

“…Is Mike Huckabee carrying out a “scorched earth” campaign where he doesn’t care if he destroys the party and splits the conservative movement into its base component part…For myself, I could care less if the evangelical social cons threw a tantrum and walked out of the party and the movement. They have always been willing to fall on their swords and lose elections rather than compromise so what’s the big deal? Less political baggage in my book. And with them gone, I trust that many former Republicans as well as libertarians would feel a lot more comfortable about casting their lot with a small government, fiscally conservative party….””

He quotes Mark Levin. Now I consider Levin the most abrasive lf all the far far far right conservatives with no loyalty to the GOP. Moran is another of those conservatives who isn’t really Republican. Levin wrote

“…Huckabee continues to use his faith as a weapon against those who question not his faith, but his political populism — much of which he shares with secular progressives. And he is clearly hoping to stir up resentment among Evangelical Christians against the other elements of the conservative movement and Republican Party as a way of encouraging them to vote in the caucuses and primaries. This is a tactic right out of Saul Alinsky’s playbook. Of course he wants us to believe the Reagan coalition is dead because he cannot win with it intact. But he cannot win either the nomination or presidency with the narrow focus of his appeal. This is why I find Mike Huckabee’s tactics and candidacy so deplorable…”

A MUST READ SIDEBAR: Bill Smith, of the ARRA News-service (Arkansas Republican Assemblies) has an insider’s take on the Mike Huckabee – Wayne Drumond situation. Smith links to an Arkansas Times review of the case. I am becoming less and less impressed with Huckabee. It’s funny in a way. Instead of attacking Huckabee on his religious appeal, just use this. It goes straight to the way the man makes decisions.

ANTI-IMMIGRATION MALPRACTICE
Then, Political Wire has the results of a recent poll in Michigan. The fascinating thing about it is that only something like 11% of the people responding considered Immigration a big deal. This is John Tanton’s home state, where there is a fairly decent nativist base. Well, I rest my case. Immigration is a total loser for the GOP. Kathryn Jean Lopez apes the NRO hard-line, McCain bad, Romney good. McCain evil. McCain the Devil. McCain destroys civilization as we know it.

BREAKDOWN OF THE INSANITIES
Sally Vee alerted me to Selwyn Duke’s breakdown at The American Thinker today. Evidently she read the above poll and discovered that extreme nativitists such as she are losing, big time. Her column is the messy miasma of someone who needs a self-enforced time out and some therapy! She and Moran, and Malkin are basically having a temper tantrum. Just to look good Malkin and Duke throw in the Ezra Levant situation in Canada. Maybe I’m not all that bright, but what does Levant have to do with the price of treason in China, censored terrorists videos (I think they should be censored) Mike Huckabee, and the possibility that their little bunch of far far far right conservatives may not be ‘all that’? How on earth can she make a difference in some things.

I think a writer can make a difference in the world, if the crusade is narrow enough and if we stay on target, but just to go out and wring one's hands and lament that as a CONSERVATIVE BLOGGER you can change the world is terribly ego-centric. But then, maybe that's the problem. The blog world is getting a little to ego-centric be it left or right.

MacRanger is even falling for this do-do lamenting that this year could devastate Conservatism. It’s now about conservatives. It is about electing another REPUBLICAN President of the United States of America. If that person happens to have some conservative traits fine, but these people need to remember Ronald Reagan is dead. They are in danger of becoming so darn reactionary they are completely irrelevant. (Dear Lord let it happen and let it happen soon).

Jonah Goldberg is another conservative on the verge of some sort of break with reality. I take that back, most of the above broke with reality ages ago.

“…Huckabee says he's a "paradoxical conservative," and his success so far suggests that this is the wave of the future on the right. McCain, who may be emerging as the "establishment" candidate, proves the point. He's more socially conservative than many believe, but he often enjoys earning (and deserving) the enmity of the Republican Party's conservative base. Would anyone be shocked if this putative "establishment candidate" ended up picking Sen. Joe Lieberman as his running mate?

There are important differences -- on national security, the role of government, religion -- among the different brands of conservatism bubbling up. But none of them necessarily reflects the views of the pro-government and social conservative rank and file. The center of the right does not hold, and so we see an army with many flags and many generals and nobody knows who goes with which.

In other words, there's a huge crowd of self-described conservatives standing around the Republican elephant shouting "Do something!" But what they want the poor beast to do is very unclear. And it doesn't take an expert in pachyderm psychology to know that if a big enough mob shouts at an elephant long enough, the most likely result will be a mindless stampede -- in this case, either to general election defeat or to disastrously unconservative policies, or both.

The traditional conservative believes that if you don't have a good idea for what an elephant should be doing, the best course is to encourage it to do nothing at all. Alas, the chorus shouting, "Don't just do something, stand there!" shrinks by the day….”

If you want my personal opinion, and you really don't, I think there comes a point where people need to sit back, take a powder, and breathe. Or else, go get a stiff drink and deal with life. To constantly inflict an ideology and assume - ASS - U - ME people agree with your version of the world is an abject break with reality.