Rudy, have you no decency?!

This guy talks about how he's got such a great rep as terror fighter and how he's got a 9/12/01 mindset. Except, no one would be so tasteless as to pull this kind of fundraising bullshit on 9/12/01. What a tasteless asshole. I was remaining semi-agnostic on the GOP nominations (though Paul would be a treat), but now I think Rudy officially deserves to lose. He should immediately donate all those $9.11 pledges to a charity for firefighters.

Karl the Grand Inquisitor

There is a section of Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov where one character tells a story about a church official (The Grand Inquisitor) whose interest in religion only goes to the extent that he can use it to control people.

In that sense it would seem that Karl Rove is the Grand Inquisitor, at least if you believe Christopher Hitchens and/or Wayne Slater. Whether Rove is agnostic, atheist, or something else, I think you have to put him in the non-believer column on this one. It certainly casts his attempts to get evangelicals to vote GOP in another light.

It's probable that this will simply add to the evangelical disillusionment with the GOP in the US.
Picture: Dostoevsky hadn't seen anything yet!

Godwin's Law: Tom DeLay Edition

The Huffington Post finds an example in Tom DeLay's new book. It's been a bad week for Republicans resorting to Hitler comparisons.

The War and Conservatism in the US

It appears that launching an illegal war with no exit strategy tends to be a drag on the rest of your platform. Small "c" conservative views on a whole range of subjects are now profoundly unpopular among the under-25 set.

Of course this forces us to ask the question, if the Iraq war had gone swimmingly, would gay marriage now be less popular in the US?

People tend to sign up for a political party or activist group because they believe strongly in one or two things. The might be ardent about abortion rights, lower taxes, health care, affordable housing, a strong military, family values - anything. What happens though, is that once someone buys into a party because of their stance on one issue, they tend to adopt that party's stances on a variety of issues.

People who were driven from the Republican party by this administration and its war, may now question the entire GOP platform.
Picture: Could the preserved head of Nixon save the GOP?

Harper Can't Get an Election

It looks like the Bloc is going to support the budget. This is probably actually a blessing in disguise for the Liberals and the NDP. There are some hard right undercurrents in the budget and they still won't take away their income tax increase on the poor, but I don't think that it's the sort of thing that can get the bulk of Canadians really worked up. There's just as much a risk that the electorate would punish the opposition parties for dragging them to the polls again.

The opposition parties need to make the government fall on a flash of deep blue. I'm convinced that the Stephen Harper who fawns over the GOP and who ran the far-right National Citizens Coalition is still lurking behind Mr. Nice-guy hockey dad. The trick is to get Harper to tip his hand, get him to show how he'd really govern if he got a majority.

Gay Porn Stars Heart Republicans

I sort of wasn't paying attention to this, but apparently some fellow by the name of Matt Sanchez is the new Jeff Gannon. I think Dennis Perrin had the best/funniest summation:

"I love how reactionaries suddenly find their compassion when one of their own is forced from the closet. They become as PC as the libs they hate, engaging in victimspeak while touting the power of redemption, just so long as the closet-case they're defending remains stoutly rightwing, or better yet, has "learned" from his or her "mistake," and is now a flag-waving, God-fearing heterosexual, devoted to adding new members to the tribe via missionary sex under a photo of Ronald Reagan on a horse."

I hope that mental image makes your Sunday.