"May The Best Man Win" (Only In Your Lucid Dreams,...)

Republicans weren't beaten only by arithmetic this time. 

They lost through willful blindness.

-- Sandy Banks (great name) echoing my thoughts throughout the last year, in an aptly-titled column, "Reality crashes the Republican Party"

Despite all the public recriminations, I see no sign the Right has learned anything. Instapundit is still ideologically rolling along, as though nothing significant happened, and Ann Althouse is still in full-on conspiracy theory mode, about Benghazi - let nutjobs ring. Straight from the horse's mouth:

I’m not a conspiracy theorist. I think chasing conspiracies are counterproductive. But I know our side, and where this is going to lead. The calls that this is all part of the cover-up, that Petraeus didn’t really cheat on his wife, this was all a calculated way of driving him out in order to keep him from making Obama look bad, all the nefarious reasons why this happened now and in this way, are going to spin this story in a very unhealthy direction. And that will be tragic. 

What happened in Benghazi is not, and should not be able to be turned into the equivalence of birtherism and trutherism.

May The Force be with you. 

First, you've got to convince these insulated and well-paid losers they're wrong - which, as we've just seen, even a devastating loss can't do. 

So good luck with that!

How wrong were they? 

Hot Air's "witchcraft" polling coverage speaks volumes about the Right's whole enterprise:

The one thing that is no longer in question is that we need to stop trying to read sinister motives into the professional pollsters and poll analysts and see what might be gained from the product that they’re putting out there. And since we’re on the subject of bad news, it’s also worth asking.. which pollsters were the most accurate, though most of them did pretty well? It was PPP. Gallup and Rasmussen – who we quote here frequently – came in tied for 24th.

Ouch! Gallup and Rasmussen were the polls Ann Althouse threw out most often as well. Sigh. It's so sad to see your friends lose it - and acting so superior as they do so. (I wonder if Ann will be doing any defiantly "fun" posts, now that the premature party's over?) It's just - well, Mark Levin said it, but, if you ask me, he didn't cast his net far enough:

“You know, I’ve always known this but I’m coming to the conclusion yet again, that Republican leaders are really stupid people. And I’m coming to the conclusion that there are an awful lot of stupid people posing as commentators on cable TV,…What a bunch of self-defeating morons.”

"Self-defeating morons." Leave it to Mark Levin, another Bugs Bunny to mediocrity, to give it to 'em rough. Is there a black one out there? On the conservative side? Could there be?

Could that even be allowed?

I remember folks repeatedly saying "Be Humble" in the face of the facts they were "willfully" ignoring, as though their control over online word choice (and that's all it is) is more important than the facts themselves. Nice dodge, and very NewAge behavior. ("Be Humble"? What is this, an ashram?)

They never had to deal with being wrong as long as other's behavior modification was the issue. 

Walk away. They didn't care. They're wrong, but they're together.

And now, their world is sliding out of their control.

Conor Friedersdorf nails the problem as well:

Musing on Mitt Romney's loss, Jonah Goldberg makes several sensible points and one assertion that bears examining. "I have a different view from some about the coming wave of recriminations: I welcome it. I don't know that things need to be vicious or personal, but they do need to be honest," he writes. "This is one of the great and abiding strengths of the conservative movement and the thing I love about it most. Contrary to the conventional wisdom among liberals, conservatives are actually far more willing to examine their dogma and their first principles than liberals or 'centrists' are. This has been the source of conservatism's lasting strength." 

It's something I've heard him say before. 

My experience is different, Jonah, but let's not debate. Instead, help those of us unfamiliar with these vibrant conversation to find them. If these self-examinations of principle and dogma are a strength of the conservative movement, point us to five examples that are worthy of a wider audience.

When you consider, just the number of blogs out there, somebody's still fooling themselves. The fact is, these guys don't want to deal with anybody who's not like them, and yes - whether racial or not - that can get "vicious or personal." This is, for all intents and purposes, a family argument.

It's been treated, instead, as a mob scene.

Another, more personal, example. 

Gawker has lucid dreamer and  NewAge Assassin Jared Lee Loughner's "dream logs"
and here's one of them:

Now, looking at that - and remembering all the online speculation at the time, "looking for answers in/arguing politics" - is there any wonder why I would write of Reynolds & Co. "Today's Intellectual Class Couldn't Catch A Cold"? And this was a prime example of letting Obama exploit an issue (Oh man, the shit was flying fast and furious then!) because the Right refused to see what was in front of their eyes - and ripe for the picking.

But how could they know? I still read people, to this day, who - understanding the shooting of Gabby Gifford wasn't just (or even mostly) political - say Laughner's merely "a crazy man."

They're right, but they, too, have succumbed to the same madness. (You must look at that link.)

That's the hard one to take - unless, of course, you're sitting on Oprah's couch.
Funny how that works. Tell me:

What's the difference between the trade-off Loughner was making, with his values, and what just occurred between the Right and Romney?

Very little that I can see.

But then, unlike them, I'm in what Ann Althouse called the "ugly" business of getting it right,... 

 

Like The Blues

Standing isolated from superstition isn't all bad, but being forced to do so can be excruciating.

“I believe in God and God is going to make sure Mr. Romney wins.”

Glenn Beck, who I used to enjoy on the radio, should understand. 

Armed with facts, history, humor and passion, he spoke the truth - and happily alienated a lot of folks.

I wasn't by myself.

Then he started preaching - and he pushed me away.

Today Beck has maneuvered to "Man, sometimes God really sucks" - which is a step closer to saying there is no God - but still far away from me.

Yeah - Beck gave me some push!

Beliefs mean nothing - it's their movement I find fascinating.

That beliefs do so - but people don't acknowledge it in their actions - means I disregard them.

Tell me what anyone actually knows - what's nailed down - that's what I want to hear.

In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s election, Beck had repeatedly said that God was orchestrating Republican nominee’s path to the presidency. 

Speaking to his radio listeners in September, he insisted that Romney’s poll numbers had fallen as a part of a plan from God to make it obvious to the American people that divine intervention was responsible when Republicans took the White House in November. 

The conservative radio host later speculated that Romney had lost the final debate because he was “being guided” by God to be “less contentious” and agree with President Barack Obama.

I don't listen to Beck, or Rush, or Hannity anymore - I don't trust any of 'em to stay sane.

I read a lot of blogs and online news.

But you know my stance there - which, being participatory, also hasn't made me popular:

It’s always amazing to me that people choose to believe it’s better, not just for their pageviews, but for their causes, to be dishonest or to waste time on conspiracy theories or straight-up dishonesty. If you lie, you can get caught, and sometimes, sued. If you chase ghosts, you risk being thought ridiculous both by people whose opinions you disdain and those whose approval you might like to court. If you devote bandwidth to nothing stories, you waste time that could be more profitably spent researching and reporting real scandals, and developing sources of actual value. If you mislead your readers to inflame their passions, you divert them from issues that they could profitably mobilize around. If you skew possible outcomes, you risk exposing your audience to shattering disappointments and confusion. No matter how well you firewall yourself, you will eventually be exposed on some level.

Being popular. I got from under Althouse because she can be more frivolous than David Cameron, but mostly because I got sick of the continuing (but completely erroneous) commenter claim that I was always promoting my site or wrote about Glenn Reynolds because I was jealous, or envious.

The Althouse rule is, I can correctly think Obama wrong, but I can't accurately think Reynolds is, too:

Earth to everybody - he's wrong.

Plane forced into landing after passenger 'refuses to stop PRAYING in the aisle'

I've said having (somewhat) "clean hands" matters to me - and almost everyone's are dirty.

2012 Presidential Campaign Said to Hit Unprecedented Level of Lying

As long as that's the case, online, I don't trust or long for anyone's acceptance. I've got my own mind and that's what's important. That, and it matches reality. And, sure, it hurts a little.

But did you hear? 

The NewAge Assassin - who even Glenn Reynolds acknowledged I called long before anybody else - just got life in prison?

Like I said, it's not all bad,….

The Union For Peace, Love And Understanding

Just keep repeating "there's no link between the Democrats, NewAge and violence, there's no link between the Democrats, NewAge and violence" and that will make it true:

SUZAN HAYDEN

It seems that this person has tweeted death wishes towards Governor Scott Walker and Jihn Kasich, as well as every “Republican Governor.”

She is “an astrologer.” No. Really. She is.

Let’s tell her fortune….

I see her in an orange jump suit, sharing a cell with her new special friend, Bernice. Bernice enjoys it when you “yodel while carrying a six-pack.”

Here are the tweets:

-Gov JOHN KASICH (OH)&Gov Scott Walker(Wi)must be eliminated by March 22nd or OUR AMERICA WILL BE DESTROYED. about 5 hours ago via web

-Wisconsin&Ohio Police eliminate in any way possible GovWalker & Gov John Kasich. Prison for TREASON or DEATH. about 5 hours ago via web

-Local&State Police jail or eliminate Republican Governors NOW<<<<<<<<< about 5 hours ago via web

I want to know if this idiot is a member of the Astrologer’s Union! hehe

Yea, she, Andrew Sullivan, Jared Lee Laughner, The Daily Kos kids, and Arianna Huffington, are all founding members!

And do you notice how she feels she's got some special "connection" to, or "powers" over, the police to do her bidding?

In-fucking-credible.

Hat Tip (and a complete fucking rip) from the blog we love: iOwnTheWorld

Jello: We Wonder How He Felt Whenever He Discovered The Shooter Was From His Side?

Don't get us wrong - we love Jello:

He signed our first group, and The Dead Kennedys were an amazing punk band, and we still cherish a post card from him, saying how much he liked our "rock" group, Little White Radio.

But - BUT! - here he's being a butt, falling on the wrong side of every issue, and we bet - serious business and we'd be willing to put up serious money to back it up - we bet, after he discovered Jared Lee Loughner was a Left-wing, NewAge Bush hater, he didn't even make another video admitting he was wrong about anything. No, instead of showing some integrity, he was happy to let his misinformation ride, and his now ultra-stupid minions are running around spitting this shit at each other like it's gospel, and that's just wrong.

Oh well, we love him anyway.

It's just too bad he's such a fucking dishonest ass about everything.

A Modest Proposal

With so many in politics discussing "the new civility" as a way to combat violence, it seems to us - in light of the fact that, rather than being a politically-motivated killer, Jared Lee Loughner was a New Age Assassin - we should, instead, call an end to NewAge interests.

So no more 2012, brainwashing, Westerners getting into the Buddha, or keeping weird shrines. Think about it:

Is Oprah going out of business a big deal if it saves lives?

P.Z. Myers Can Be A Scientist & An Atheist, But The Red Nose, Make-Up, & Confetti Are All His

Jesus Christ. For a brief moment there, P.Z. Myers had won us over with his robust defense of free speech for skeptics; but then, after Jared Lee Loughner went bonkers and that abortion doctor got busted - wow. According to James Taranto at The Wall Street Journal, P.Z. promptly climbed back aboard his turnip truck, just so he could fall off of it again:

Myers seems to think symbolic speech from his political foes is a worse offense than the actual killing of babies. His lack of perspective is so gross that it has led him to outright depravity.

Ouch. Ouch. And Ouch. As they say, read the whole thing for yourself.

Oh well. We wish we could say we're surprised, but we were calling Myers a "clown" long before Taranto (apparently) even knew he existed. Still, it's a crying shame:

If P.Z. Myers wasn't a crazy Liberal, he'd be brilliant.