It's long past time for people to stop treating Fox-style, Malkin-style, Limbaugh-style conservatism as merely a "political" phenomenon. It may once have been, but it isn't now. As of this millennium, it's nothing but a hate movement with neckties. Protofascism with bright, patriotic logos. Stop treating it with anything but revulsion and disdain. Stop pretending for even a bare moment that they are anything more than thugs.
The bile generally accepted as conservative discourse from people like these, and Coulter, and Hannity, and O'Reilly, isn't something that we can continue to ignore.
The BS over the MoveOn advertisement, the "phony soldiers" remark by Limbaugh, the obsession over contrivances like this will not be allowed to dominate the framing of the debate over who is best qualified to lead this nation out of the moral quagmire that Bush led us into, and from which someone will have to extricate us.
We are going to have a debate over how best to end this war, and not over flag lapel pins. We are going to have a debate over how best to address the concerns of climate change, not whether or not it exists or who's responsible for it.
We will progress on the challenges we face, not refuse to acknowledge them or allow ourselves to be preoccupied by inanities.
As citizens we simply no longer have the luxury of being distracted by Cavemen or American Idol; we are now compelled to look at the circumstances created by the unethical leadership which derived from our earlier apathy and begin making improvements to our republican democracy.
Before it collapses on our heads.
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