[W]e were often critical of President George W. Bush.

John Hinderaker, 2005:

It must be very strange to be President Bush. A man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, he can’t get anyone to notice. He is like a great painter or musician who is ahead of his time, and who unveils one masterpiece after another to a reception that, when not bored, is hostile.

Whatever, playah.

Also, anti-semetic.

Idiots.

Dede Scozzafava’s decision to endorse the Democrat and not the far-right Conservative party candidate in NY-23 will probably not help Bill Owens, who was a long shot to win a +30 Republican seat. But it tells you what you need to know about the current Republican party.

They are purging those who do not march in lockstep with their core identity, and while in some instances there is is the need for some idealogical cohesion (witness the ongoing ill-feelings between moderate and progressive Dems like myself versus the conservative Democrats), the Republicans don’t have the elasticity the Dems currently do. As I said numerous times before electoral success in 2006 and 2008, first you get the majority then you go for a more cohesive idealogical movement. The Democrats have the kind of wiggle room right now where if we lost some of those conservative Dems in the House, it would probably produce a net improvement in the legislation the body produces — and the leadership would remain the same.

The Republicans and the conservative movement, led by such bright bulbs as Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and Rush Limbaugh, are whittling down a base that already is the minority of Americans. In a time where American parties should be expanding the GOP is contracting. They show no interest in moderation, racial inclusivity, or movement on gender issues.

In the past I and other progressives supported candidates that in normal circumstances would make us roll our eyes. Why? For a change, the left was playing the long game. Every Stephanie Herseth or Heath Shuler you elected was one step closer to a Speaker Pelosi. Every Bob Casey was a step towards Leader Reid (and while the outcome of that fight is less than ideal, Reid is still preferable to the Mitch McConnells of the world).

Like every one of their “policy” positions, conservatives are supporting the quick fix. Sure, purging the party feels good to them, but a the end of the day they just push more away.

Which can only mean one thing: Sarah Palin 2012.

Please?

Oh, damn.

From Redstate.com (the failed Kos clone):

As you may know, RedState has started a Great Books style program. We are rather slowly making our way through a series of books on conservative thought and ideas. We have started with Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism.

They really are so gosh darn cute. What a difference in how the two sides view themselves idealogically. When we were out of power Democrats and liberals argued about our positions on economics, how to appeal to the religious, how strongly we should advocate for our beliefs after years of going GOP-light via center-right organizations like the DLC, etc. The right? They read books based on shoddy research that draw the conclusion that the Democratic party is just like Hitler.

Bwahahahahahahaha!

I can never believe that there are people in the world this stupid. Taking umbrage at teabaggers being called by the word they popularized – teabagging – Scott Johnson Scott Ott at Power Line takes this one step further:

Referring to a sexual practice featured in pornography, Dowd had titled her column “A daisy chain of Cheneys.” (For those who need help picking up Dowd’s sick joke, the Urban Dictionary helpfully defines the term “daisy chain.”)

Yes, daisy chain is a sexual reference, it is totally based on sex. It is all about — WHAAAAA?????

daisy chain

–noun
1. a string of daisies linked together to form a chain.
2. such a chain used as a garland or carried on festive days by a group of women college students.
3. a series of interconnected or related things or events: a daisy chain of legislative delays and stalemates.
4. Slang. a group sexual activity in which the participants serve as active and passive partners to different people simultaneously.
5. Commerce. a series of transactions designed to create the appearance of active trading, as in a particular stock, in order to manipulate the price.

The daisy chain in question here is of course about a series of connected events – like one Cheney popping up after another. But Power Line could not keep its mind out of the gutter!

I will make this offer to Olbermann. If he has me on the show to debate Palin-related issues, live, for a full hour, I will pay his favorite charity $100,000, which is more than any profit I am ever likely to make from my film “Media Malpractice.” This offer is 100% real.

The death cult attraction to Sarah Palin from the conservative base is one of the reasons I hope she runs in 2012. Because when she loses in epic fashion, we’re liable to set off an epidemic of shrouds and sneakers.

Keep it up guys.

1. Limbaugh has enough of a slime trail as an unrepentant racist, sexist, homophobe with verified comments that there’s no reason to stretch things.

2. Conservatives have never before been concerned about the media reporting on false quotes. They’ve spent years falsely claiming that Al Gore said he invented the Internet or that he discovered Love Canal.

Like their sudden championing of human rights when it was used to justify the unnecessary invasion of Iraq, the right shows again just how pliable their so-called morality is.

A new focus group study from the Democratic-friendly polling firm of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research shows that right-wing Republicans have jumped the political rails to inhabit a world of their own. The dominant ‘fact’ for this band of conservatives is that President Barack Obama has a secret plan to impose socialism on the United States and repress the citizenry. Consequently, they believe that Obama’s success is tantamount to the destruction of the country.

And off the cliff they go.

“You’re never going to make everybody happy all the time. That’s just the rule of politics,” said Democratic strategist Josh Gottheimer, a former senior adviser to the Clinton administration.

“I think he’s done plenty for the left, he’s done plenty for the center,” he said of Obama. “He’s got a philosophy. He made it clear when he was running for president that he was going to do what’s best for the country in very difficult times, and you’re not going to please everyone.”

Oooh. Burn. Obama’s gotta really feel that zinger. But it gets better.

The other person FoxNews.com quotes is Michael Gerson. Who is Michael Gerson, you might ask? Michael Gerson is a conservative columnist for the Washington Post and even better – the former speechwriter to failed president George W. Bush. Gerson comes to the shocking conclusion that President Obama has disappointed his liberal base. SHOCKING.

Not a single other person is quoted in the article. There are no data points cited to make the article’s main thesis (in fact, among Democrats the President has an average approval rating of 83.5%).

The article notes that Fox News White House correspondent Major Garrett contributed to it. In recent articles discussing the Obama administration’s view of Fox, the White House and others have said that Garrett is not as biased as the rest of Fox. Maybe they should rethink that.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell failed to offer support of Rush Limbaugh’s bid to buy the Rams on Tuesday and said the talk-show host’s ‘divisive comments’ would not be welcome in the league.

‘I’ve said many times before, we’re all held to a high standard here,’ Goodell told reporters, via the New York Times.

‘I would not want to see those comments coming from people who are in a responsible position in the NFL –- absolutely not.’