July 2011

It’s an article of faith among conservatives that they are, at any given time, the smartest kids in the room. Just ask Jack Savage, author of a blog post at Unified Patriots entitled “Why They Think They’re Smarter Than Us”. The “They” in that title is, of course, liberals. Jack explains, using his amazing powers of mental telepathy with which he can scan the minds of every single living liberal and examine their thought processes in minute detail, just why liberals are so unbelievably stupid.

Of course, there’s no possible way that conservatives could be stupid. Just look at a small sampling of their intellectual achievements:

• The astoundingly intelligent conservatives instigated a war of aggression against Iraq based on intelligence reports that falsely claimed Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction that he did not, in fact, possess. These same conservatives happily used the lies of an Iraqi informant to justify that war.
• The incredibly brilliant conservatives drowned an entire American city by making massive cuts in funding for flood control projects. Once New Orleans was in ruins, the conservatives demonstrated how easy it is to completely botch the job of disaster relief by replacing experienced FEMA employees with ignorant political cronies.
• The massive intellect of the modern conservative tells him that climate change cannot possibly be happening, despite inconvenient facts like the recent, sudden increase in the heat content of the oceans and the thousands of shattered high-temperature records across North America.
• Our unbelievably bright conservative colleagues have decided that raising the US federal debt limit and forestalling the destruction of the US economy is simply not permissible if it means that some disadvantaged kids might get to go to college. Education, you see, is a luxury that our country can ill afford.

I cannot tell you how relieved I am to know that our hyper-intelligent conservative overlords are on the job, fixing all the world’s problems with their keen insights and their firm grip on reality.

Bob Cesca:

[G]uess what — while we’re all slogging our way through the impending second Republican recession, I can assure you, there will be millions of us spending our remaining free time pinning this entire thing on the pasty white foreheads of every last member of the Republican Party. Bet on it.

This is the headline on wingnut attack maggot Michelle Malkin’s website this morning:

Really, Michelle? You want to accuse someone else of being ‘creepy’? Well, you would know…

• August 2005: Michelle Malkin attempts to smear anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan by posting the court records from Sheehan’s divorce.
• April 2006: Michelle Malkin posts the phone numbers of students who took part in an anti-war protest at UC Santa Cruz. She piously disavows any responsibility for the all-too-predictable death threats those students subsequently received.
• October 2007: Michelle Malkin personally stalks 12-year-old Graeme Frost for daring to speak out in favor of the passage of SCHIP.

One thing is now very clear: When the subject is creepy behavior, there is no greater expert on the face of this planet than Michelle Malkin. She lives, eats, breathes, and sleeps creepiness. I think that we can all agree that Michelle Malkin is, in fact, the Goddess of Creep.

If you are at all concerned with the increasing drumbeat of right-wing hatemongering and the violence that inevitably follows in its wake, read Why Norway Could Happen Here by Peter Beinart:

Could an anti-Muslim bigot commit a large-scale terrorist attack in the U.S.? The answer is, Absolutely, because the same anti-Muslim bigotry that influenced Breivik in Europe is widespread here.

Then read Are rightwing bloggers to blame for the Norway massacre? by Peter Daou:

Anyone who listens to the relentless liberal-bashing on rightwing radio and other conservative outlets will quickly realize that the level of vitriol and derision directed at the left will inevitably provoke a few individuals to act out. And they do. Often with deadly consequences.

Then do what I did: Weep for the future of democracy in the United States.

David Neiwert:

Ever notice how conservatives love to preach to everyone else about the virtues of responsibility and accountability, but really, really hate it whenever anyone holds them accountable?

John Cole:

How did we get to the point that the world economy is held hostage by people who think Jesus rode a dinosaur but paid cash up front for it (because he refused to carry any debt, doncha know)?

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Kevin Eder: a textbook example of the pathologically dishonest wingnut.

Here’s an exchange I witnessed on Twitter a short time ago, between this lying halfwit and Oliver Willis, a well-known liberal commentator:

Everyone get that? Kevin Eder says that the government is allowed to steal from you. What’s another word for “stealing”, kids? That’s right: “theft”.

Now Kevin Eder tells us that the government steals our money by at least two means: inflation and taxes.