The right thought it was America. It turns out America is bigger than that. Forty years ago the left labored under the same delusion.
Crazy-ass, bug-eyed, screaming imbeciles, drunk with hate and high on anger are always with us, on both fringes. The terrible failure of conservative leadership today is their refusal to repudiate those foaming fanatics in the harshest, clearest words possible.
Conservatism is a serious intellectual project. It has a long, proud history of standing foursquare against the rule of the mob. There is only one moral response a true conservative can have, when confronted with ignorance, hatred and lies, lies, lies about the duly elected President of the United States of America: "We renounce you, root and branch.
But they don t because it feels too good. The hatred is "energizing the base, it s "firing up the party, it s "bringing us back.
No, it s not. It s killing you. And it will keep killing you until you decide you don t want Obama to fail more than you want America to succeed.
For just a few moments of bitter joy, the Republican party is murdering itself. Those screaming crowds, the frightened Democrats, the rising ratings of right-wing radio ranters, Obama s slipping poll numbers! It s such a rush! We can t stop, it feels too good!
But it s not good, my conservative friends, it s death. What you are feeling is the fatal bliss of autoerotic asphyxiation.
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