Fault Line II

And now, let's hear from the other side of the impending divide, specifically David ("Axis of Evil") Frum, who had a bit of a disagreement on the radio because of the Red State rant mentioned in our item just beneath. Also, Frum's Newsweek cover story, which should be stirring the pot very soon, & starts w/ Frum vs. Levin. Non-aficionados of rabid weasels on the radio should know that the Mark Levin referred to by Canuck Frum is, among nationally syndicated talkers, a close second to Michael "Savage" (neé Weiner) for the highly coveted honor of Most Likely to Snap. Links to Levin pod casts at New Majority [Snicker. "Majority." As if.]

The ferocious hatred and anger – the shouting at people not present to reply, the self-pitying complaints against a world that does not pay enough respect: it’s an ugly performance. [...] Print can only inadequately convey Levin’s sneering and resentful tone as he warmed to this theme, building up to a ringing conclusion:

“And by the way, I will compare my education, my writings, my intellect to any of these buffoons. Any of them! Any of them!”

We can just hear Levin's screeching, whiny voice saying that. Frum adds:

If you want recognition for your intellect, you don’t use your airtime to shout into the microphone like an unhoused madman yelling at the passing cars.

Two things there: Levin has a microphone, that makes him legit. (Sorry, but that's the way it is.) And, we'll assume, a house. As an actual unhoused madman (And thanks for the colorful description!) give us a fucking break. We're trying to help you split your party here. 

He may not need much more help, after the Newsweek piece. 

[I]n 2007, the typical American worker was earning barely more after inflation than the typical American worker had earned in 2000. Out of those flat earnings, that worker was paying more for food, energy and out-of-pocket costs of health care. Political parties that do not deliver economic improvement for the typical person do not get reelected. We Republicans and conservatives were not delivering. The reasons for our failure are complex and controversial, but the consequences are not.

Of course, information like that should be dividing the country into Workers & Parasites, rather than merely breaking up the right wing, but that's just one of the many reasons we hate AmeriKKKa. We'd like to hear more about how & why the reasons for their failure are "controversial," but at least wage stagnation & inflation can't be blamed on the media, suckas!

Fascinating Factoids in the Decline of the G. O. P.:

In 2008 Obama beat John McCain among college graduates by 8 points, the first Democratic win among B.A. holders since exit polling began.

Republicans won California in every presidential election from 1952 through 1988 (except the Goldwater disaster of 1964). Democrats have won California in the five consecutive presidential elections since 1988.

Voters who turned 20 between 2000 and 2005 are the most lopsidedly Democratic age cohort in the electorate. If they eat right, exercise and wear seat belts, they will be voting against George W. Bush well into the 2060s.  

Voting against G. W. into the 2060s. Ha ha.

Between 2004 and 2008, Democrats more than doubled their party-identification advantage in Pennsylvania. A survey of party switchers in the state found that a majority of the reaffiliating voters had belonged to the GOP for 20 years or more. They were educated and affluent. More than half of those who left stated that the GOP had become too extreme.

By this point, we're starting to pity Mr. Frum, stuck in Republican World yet still able to perceive a reality not dissimilar to what most of us know as real. Even starting to worry a bit; this Republican/conservative flame, crash & burn is too good to be true, or too true to be good, perhaps, & Frum's (&, we suppose, the other pundits, for lack of a better term, mentioned) connection to recognizable fact can only be an advantage in a re-grouping/re-building. This, however, reassured us.

We need to put free-market health-care reform, not tax cuts, at the core of our economic message. It's health-care costs that are crushing middle-class incomes.

It can only be a matter of time until This Great Nation of Ours™ removes its head from wherever it's been & realizes that the threat of (Gasp!) Gummint Bureaucrats is less than the threat of For-Profit Bureaucrats. Another nail in the free-market coffin, & health care for all that's less expensive & can't be any worse than it is now. We're not saying next month, or next yr. even, but it can't take forever. Good deal all around. Laying off the tax-cuts & pimping market-based health care may be the only way for the RINOs to hang on through 2010, but it won't hold off the inevitable march of history forever. 

The Not-RINOs are set to fade into history even sooner. 

Most of these e-mails say some version of the same thing: if you don't agree with Rush, quit calling yourself a conservative and get out of the Republican Party. There's the perfect culmination of the outlook Rush Limbaugh has taught his fans and followers: we want to transform the party of Lincoln, Eisenhower and Reagan into a party of unanimous dittoheads—and we don't care how much the party has to shrink to do it. That's not the language of politics. It's the language of a cult.

Harsh. And we can't top it.