{"id":4054,"date":"2010-05-01T09:30:22","date_gmt":"2010-05-01T13:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/?p=4054"},"modified":"2010-05-01T09:30:22","modified_gmt":"2010-05-01T13:30:22","slug":"the-big-push","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/2010\/05\/01\/the-big-push\/","title":{"rendered":"the “big push”…"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Have Conservatives Gone Mad?<\/a>
The Atlantic<\/strong>
by Marc Ambinder
Apr 23 2010<\/div>\n

Serious thinkers on the right have finally gotten around to a full and open debate on the epistemic closure problem that’s plaguing the conservative movement. The issue, to put it in terms that even I can understand, because I didn’t study philosophy much in college: has the conservative base gone mad? This matters to journalists, because I really do want to take Republicans seriously. Mainstream conservative voices are embracing theories that are, to use Julian Sanchez’s phrase, "untethered" to the real world.<\/p>\n

Can anyone deny that the most trenchant and effective criticism of President Obama today comes not from the right but from the left? Rachel Maddow’s grilling of administration economic officials. Keith Olbermann’s hectoring of Democratic leaders on the public option. Glenn Greenwald’s criticisms of Elena Kagan. Ezra Klein and Jonathan Cohn’s keepin’-them-honest perspectives on health care. The civil libertarian left on detainees and Gitmo. The Huffington Post on derivatives.<\/p>\n

I want to find Republicans to take seriously, but it is hard. Not because they don’t exist – serious Republicans –  but because, as Sanchez and others seem to recognize, they are marginalized, even self-marginalizing, and the base itself seems to have developed a notion that bromides are equivalent to policy-thinking, and that therapy is a substitute for thinking. It is absolutely a condition of the age of the triumph of conservative personality politics, where entertainers shouting slogans are taken seriously as political actors, and where the incentive structures exist to stomp on dissent and nuance, causing experimental voices to retrench and allowing a lot of people to pretend that the world around them is not changing. The obsession with ACORN, Climategate, death panels, the militarization of rhetoric, Saul Alinsky, Chicago-style politics, that TAXPAYERS will fund the bailout of banks — these aren’t meaningful or interesting or even relevant things to focus on [The banks will fund their own bailouts].<\/p>\n

Conor Friedersdorf thinks the problem lies with the conservative movement’s major spokespeople – its radio\/net news nexus – and the "overwhelming evidence that their very existence as popular entertainers hinges on an ability to persuade listeners that they are "’worth taking seriously as political and intellectual actors.’" That is why the constant failures of these men to live up to their billing is so offensive, destructive, and ruinous to conservatives. There are plenty of women, too, is all I’ll say.<\/p>\n

I think this sensibility is pervasive throughout the smart media – old and new. I think it’s one reason why, say, Jake Tapper and other good reporters are very keen about direct fact-challenging – why the media is reasserting itself as gatekeepers [CNN might want to think about branding themselves here, even at the risk – well, the reality – of calling out Republicans more]. I think it’s because there’s so much misinformation out there – most of it spread by the conservative echo-chamber. With the advent of Fox News and the power of that echo-chamber, complaints about liberal media bias are quite irrelevant – the reaction to it being like lupus’s reaction to the body, as Jon Stewart correctly noted.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Ain’t it just the truth? It’s as if this stream of misinformation has become a national hobby. For example, this is from our weekly newspaper – in a report on this week’s Commissioner’s Meeting: <\/div>\n
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Behind bars for observing National Day of Prayer?<\/font><\/strong><\/div>\n

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To pray or not to pray, that is the question Nancy Davis of the Pickens County TEA Party wants answered. Davis, public relations arm of the local Constitutional advocacy group<\/font><\/strong> and a regular face at all county, city and school board meetings, wanted Commissioner Robert Jones to assure her that she and others would not be arrested for observing the National Day of Prayer<\/font><\/strong>. Davis told Jones TEA Party concern arose over the question after a federal judge in Wisconsin ruled earlier this month that the National Day of Prayer established by Congress is unconstitutional. In her judgment, U.S. District Judge Barbra Crabb ruled the government does not have the power to support a day of prayer. “This is a big push to do away with our Constitution,” <\/font><\/strong>Davis told the commissioner at his Thursday meeting. “Judeo-Christian people are about the only ones not allowed to worship anymore.” Davis asked the commissioner if he thought there would be any ramifications for observing the Day of Prayer Thursday, May 6th, in front of the Pickens County Courthouse. “Who would arrest you?” Jones asked. He had no specific answers for Davis other than to say he would see her at the event.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The likelihood of someone arresting people for praying in front of the courthouse next week in this solidly Republican, Bible Belt, Georgia town is zero, but that’s hardly the point of the public relations arm of the Constitutional advocacy group [AKA TEA Party] bringing this up in the Commissioner’s Meeting. The point is to take any opportunity to say, "This is a big push to do away with our Constitution<\/font><\/strong>." And whatever the logic of Judge Crabb’s ruling, the likelihood that she is part of a conspiracy involved in a big push to do away with the Constitution is also zero. From the Judge’s point of view, she is defending the Constitution. But I guess Nancy Davis missed this:<\/div>\n
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Obama will appeal Day of Prayer ruling<\/a>
Boston Globe<\/strong>
April 23, 2010<\/div>\n

MADISON, Wis. — The Obama administration said yesterday it will appeal a court decision that found the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional. US District Judge Barbara Crabb in Madison ruled last week the National Day of Prayer that Congress established 58 years ago amounts to a call for religious action. The Justice Department said it will challenge the decision in the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago. The notice came after about two dozen members of Congress condemned the ruling and pressed for an appeal…<\/p>\n

The administration had argued the law simply acknowledges the role of religion in the United States. Congress established the day in 1952 and in 1988 set the first Thursday in May as the day for presidents to issue proclamations asking Americans to pray. An Obama spokesman has said the president plans to issue a proclamation for the upcoming prayer day, May 6. Many other state and local officials typically follow suit.<\/p>\n

The Justice Department signaled it would appeal not only Crabb’s decision on the merits of the case but also her ruling last month that the defendants had the standing to bring the lawsuit in the first place…<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Again, hardly the point. Like so many of the Talking Points of the Right, what matters is to get the Talking Point out there. It’s truth or any rebuttal are immaterial. Marc Ambinder says, "I want to find Republicans to take seriously." I take Republicans, TEA Party comments, and the Media of the Right seriously. They learned that the way to win was to engage people with a constant barrage of misinterpretations and obfuscations, marginalizing serious political discussion in the process. I included the version in our local Commissioner’s Meeting for a reason. It illustrates a sub-strategy of the Talking Point methodology – accuse the other side of doing what you are actually doing. There’s no  Left Wing "big push to do away with our Constitution<\/font><\/strong>." The "big push<\/font><\/strong>" is coming from the Right ["public relations arm of the local Constitutional advocacy group and a regular face at all county, city and school board meetings<\/font><\/strong>"].<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have Conservatives Gone Mad? The Atlantic by Marc Ambinder Apr 23 2010 Serious thinkers on the right have finally gotten around to a full and open debate on the epistemic closure problem that’s plaguing the conservative movement. The issue, to put it in terms that even I can understand, because I didn’t study philosophy much […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4054\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}