What is it with conservatives? Why is ‘anti-progress’ their fall-back position on almost every big, long-range issue?

Let us make a brief list of issues American conservatives (Note: I did not say Republicans) have fought furiously, on the wrong side:  Slavery, Social Security, Medicare, civil rights, women’s rights, unions, gays, etc.

We are not settled on all of these yet, but what does the scoreboard say?

Slavery – Abolished

Social Security – Approved

Medicare – Thought to be settled, but Paul Ryan and many others seek to eliminate this.

Civil Rights – Granted

Women’s Rights – A constant battle. Apparently ‘small government’ means sticking a bureaucrat between you and your doctor. Every day some state legislator introduces a law to do just that.

Voting Rights – Settled? There is a conservative campaign to limit voter rights in many states, making it especially hard to vote for youth, minorities and the elderly – who traditionally lean to Democrats.

Union – This battle is never-ending, but conservatives are winning the publicity war on this, painting unions as ‘the problem’ in our society. 40 hour work-weeks? Minimum wage? Paid vacation? Sick leave? Conservatives hate these, but they will walk in the Labor Day parade….

Pollution – Seriously? We still have to fight to prevent pollution? Apparently.

Public Education – This is what made America great, and conservatives attack it constantly.

Gay Rights – A long way from done, but the handwriting is on the wall.

Winkest Link has addressed many of these issues before, but today we focus on the last – gay rights.

President Obama has taken the belated, but firm stance, that gays should have the same rights, including marriage, that everyone else has.  Welcome to the club Mr. President.

For now, this is bound to cause some consternation among certain blocs of voters, and will certainly cause Obama to lose some votes. Principled stands tend to do that.

Here is an article from a conservative Republican saying, in effect: “Hey fellow Republicans, get over the ‘gay’ thing. Gay rights are coming, so you might as well get on the correct side of the issue.”

The battles for these issues were/are long and hard, and sometimes bloody (see ‘Civil War’ and ‘Civil Rights’), but the long-range outcomes are inevitable.

I don’t know why conservatives so consistently choose the wrong side. I just don’t know. Maybe change comes hard to some people, but why would anyone fight against equal rights?

It usually takes years, but eventually conservatives will admit the changes were correct, and for the better.

Today, conservatives speak of the ‘evil of slavery,’ and ‘vow to fight’ for Social Security. They now (usually) ‘stand firm’ in support of Medicare.  All are issues they fought vigorously to oppose. Now they are standard-bearers!

Sometimes they regress. They are now building legal barriers to make voting more difficult, and have even broached the idea of ending Medicare.

Eventually, though, they come around, and even start to brag, as if they themselves instituted the changes.

Better than citing revisionist history, and praying for massive public amnesia, would be a ‘mea culpa,’ as George Wallace did when he admitted to being on the wrong side of the Civil Rights battle….

“I was wrong and I am sorry.”

A little contrition goes a long way. Americans love to forgive.

REO Speedwagon and Styx have toured together before, and are beginning doing so again very soon. Having seen them both on several occasions, I can recommend them very highly.

Musically and lyrically their songs are entertaining and uplifting. You like straight-up rock & roll? REO and Styx are for you.

I saw that one tour date brings them very close to my town, so I started making plans to see them again.

And then I saw who they were bringing with them – Ted Nugent.

I am a fan of excellent guitar-work (ref: REO & Styx). Nugent is a very talented guitarist, but he doesn’t have very many decent songs.

His most popular ones (“Cat Scratch Fever,” “Yank Me Crank Me,” Wango Tango,” and “Jailbait”) tend to have the same simple message: “I would like to have sex with as many women as possible.”

Repetitive and, therefore, boring. (Nugent fans will certainly disagree.)

Crunchy guitar & sex messages always sell well with teen boys and with juvenile adults. They didn’t trip my trigger even when I was a teen boy. Again, boring.

Ted loves the limelight almost as much as Donald Trump, almost as much as he likes to talk/sing about sex.

Unfortunately, Nugent hasn’t a ‘hit’ since “Wango Tango” rocketed all the way up to #86 in 1980.

In the intervening decades Ted has kept himself in the news by being vehemently pro-gun, and as controversial as possible. .

Normally I wouldn’t care – you know – ‘freedom of speech’ and the ‘2nd amendment’ and all. Go for it Ted.

Nugent has always been a little ‘wack’, but in recent years he has really begun to lose it…

During the primaries in 2008, when Democrats were still deciding between Hillary Clinton & Barack Obama, Nugent, at one of his concerts, waived what appeared to be a semi-automatic machine gun, and incited the crown by saying “Obama’s a piece of s***, and I told him to suck on my machine gun.”

He said some equally unflattering/unprintable things about Hillary.

Classy.

In a country where both Presidents and presidential candidates have been assassinated, you don’t make death threats. You don’t even make loosely-veiled death threats, or ‘I-was-just-joking’ death threats.

This is not patriotic and not funny. In fact it is the OPPOSITE of patriotic.

‘Patriotic’ is voting, and supporting everybody’s right to vote.

‘Not patriotic’ is saying “If Barack Obama becomes the president in November again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year.”

The video where he says this was on the NRA website only days ago, but has since been taken down.

In light of these comments, the commanders at Fort Knox Army Base in Kentucky have decided Nugent is not a logical entertainment choice for military men and women.

We know who the patriots are: The soldiers who are trained to, without question, follow the orders of the Commander in Chief.

OUR Commander in Chief.

We also know who the classless headline-grabbers are.

Karl Rove is cranking up the old Muck Machine in preparation for the 2012 election. His Super-Pac has tens of millions of dollars, donated by a handful of billionaires with the full knowledge that it will be used to slime President Obama, and any other Democrats in the line of fire.

Remember Rove’s motto: “Scare people, then scare them again. It doesn’t matter if it is total bulls*** or meaningless drivel that sort of ‘sounds sinister,’ as long as it scares people.”

The Rove motto is now a standard part (page one) of the Republican playbook.

People, even otherwise-reasonable people, will begin to believe some of it, because they ‘heard it somewhere’ before. Chances are you already accept some of the below as ‘truth.’

So now we present a partial list of the crap the GOP is regurgitating about Barack Obama. (Note the repeated use of the word ‘czar,’ to emphasize just how communist he really is. Try not to get confused, because he is also Marxist, socialist and Muslim.)

These were sent to me by a GOP operative, so bad spelling and grammar is left ‘as is.’ I have added a few notes, and in parenthesis.

Try to read these without gagging….

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He (Obama) refused to disclose who donated money to his election campaign, as other candidates had done.

He received endorsements from people like Louis Farrakhan, Muramar Kaddafi and Hugo Chavez.

He was a total newcomer and had absolutely no experience at anything except community organizing. (I guess, if you don’t include that whole ‘U.S. Senator’ thing)

He chose friends and acquaintances such as Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn who were revolutionary radicals.

His voting record in the Illinois Senate and in the U.S. Senate came into question. (What on Earth does this mean?)

He refused to wear a flag lapel pin and did so only after a public outcry. (In this case ‘public’ means Fox network. The GOP never mentions the many times ‘W’ didn’t wear a flag pin, presumably because it is a totally phony issue.)

People started treating him as a Messiah and children in schools were taught to sing his praises. (The GOP really hates that Obama has any popularity, and they often use ‘Messiah’ to imply he feels he is like Jesus. Remember, the only president worthy of worship is Reagan.)

He stood with his hands over his groin area for the playing of the National Anthem and Pledge of Allegiance. (True. One time, early in his presidency, Obama stood at attention, hands folded in front of him, listening to the anthem. Leave it to the GOP to translate this into ‘groin area.’)

He surrounded himself in the White House with advisors who were pro-gun control, pro-abortion, pro-homosexual marriage and wanting to curtail freedom of speech to silence the opposition. (He also has advisors who are pro-life, and has done nothing to restrict gun ownership. Curtailing freedom of speech and silencing opposition? – Are Fox news, Rush, Beck, etc. still on?)

He said he favors sex education in kindergarten, including homosexual indoctrination.

His personal background was either scrubbed or hidden and nothing could be found about him. (Scrubbed or hidden? He wrote two books about his background, which you can find in any library. Republicans have gone through his personal history with a proctoscope, and are mostly upset because there nothing truly controversial. – Ref: ‘Birth Certificate’)

The place of his birth was called into question, and he refused to produce a birth certificate. (Proof positive that no amount of evidence will quash this specious argument.)
He had an association in Chicago with Tony Rezco – a man of questionable character and who is now in prison and had helped Obama to a sweet deal on the purchase of his home.

George Soros, a multi-billionaire Marxist, spent a ton of money to get him elected. (Multi-billionaire Marxist – I love this!)

He started appointing White House Czars that were radicals, revolutionaries, and even avowed Marxist /Communists. (Czar, Marxist, communist – triple play!)

He stood before the Nation and told us that his intentions were to “fundamentally transform this Nation” into something else. (???)

He trained ACORN workers in Chicago and served as an attorney for ACORN. (ACORN made the unforgivable mistake of registering people to vote. The GOP wants as few voters as possible.)

He appointed cabinet members and several advisors who were tax cheats and socialists. (The first question on the application is “Are you a tax cheat and/or socialist?”)

He appointed a Science Czar, John Holdren, who believes in forced abortions, mass sterilizations and seizing babies from teen mother. (Pretty much all made-up. Except for the ‘czar’ thing)

He appointed Cass Sunstein as Regulatory Czar who believes in “Explicit Consent,” harvesting human organs without family consent and allowing animals to be represented in court, while banning all hunting. (A human organ harvesting Czar. You KNOW some people believe this.)

He appointed Kevin Jennings, a homosexual and organizer of a group called Gay, Lesbian, Straight, Education Network as Safe School Czar and it became known that he had a history of bad advice to teenagers. (Eeek! A homosexual czar!)

He appointed Mark Lloyd as Diversity Czar who believes in curtailing free speech, taking from one and giving to another to spread the wealth, who supports Hugo Chavez. (There is nothing ‘diversity’ people like more than curtailing free speech.)

Valerie Jarrett, an avowed Socialist, was selected as Obama’s Senior White House Advisor. (Advisor? Are you sure she isn’t a ‘czar?’)
Anita Dunn, White House Communications Director, said Mao Tse Tung was her favorite philosopher and the person she turned to most for inspiration.

He appointed Carol Browner, a well known socialist as Global Warming Czar working on Cap and Trade as the nation’s largest tax. (Cap and Trade was created by conservative Republicans.)

He appointed Van Jones, an ex-con and avowed Communist as Green Energy Czar, who since had to resign when this was made known. (Czar, czar, czar)

Tom Daschle, Obama’s pick for Health and Human Services Secretary could not be confirmed because he was a tax cheat.

He bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia.

He traveled around the world criticizing America and never once talking of her greatness. (Yes, he has never said anything nice about America!)

His actions concerning the Middle East seemed to support the Palestinians over Israel, our long time ally. (“Seemed to” is too soft. Couldn’t you just say he wants to bomb Israel, since you are just making this stuff up anyway?)

He took American tax dollars to resettle thousands of Palestinians from Gaza to the United States.

He upset the Europeans by removing plans for a missile defense system against the Russians. (Which Europeans were upset? Name one.)

He played politics in Afghanistan by not sending troops early-on when the Field Commanders said they were necessary to win. (Yes, it took time to transfer some troops from the totally useless Bush war in Iraq.)

He started spending us into a debt that was so big we could not pay it off. (The GAO says his health care proposal would ultimately save money.)

He took a huge spending bill under the guise of stimulus and used it to pay off organizations, unions, and individuals that got him elected. (The spending bill wasn’t about ‘wages,’ it was about jobs, to help us out of the Bush-made recession. The side bonus purpose was to fix our crumbling infrastructure.)

He took over insurance companies, car companies, banks, etc. (Oops, this was a Bush initiative.)

He took away student loans from the banks and put it through the government. (…lowering interest rates students are being charged.)

He designed plans to take over the health care system and put it under government control. (No, he designed plans for private industry to insure all people. That is why insurance companies do not object to the proposals.)

He claimed he was a Christian during the election and tapes were later made public that showed Obama speaking to a Muslim group and ‘stating’ that he was raised a Muslim, was educated as a Muslim, and is still a Muslim. (You must have an IQ in the mid 50’s to still believe the ‘Muslim’ thing, but many do.)

He set into motion a plan to take over the control of all energy in the United States through Cap and Trade. (I repeat, ‘Cap and Trade’ was created by conservative Republicans.)

He finally completed his transformation of America into a Socialist State, people woke up— but it was too late. (Fun Fact:  Private enterprise is no longer allowed in the U.S.!)

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The Super-Pac smear-machine is pouring millions of dollars into finding new ways to scare you, with more and more creative ‘discoveries’ about Obama.

Be afraid. Be VERY afraid.

“Buddy the Elf…What’s your favorite color?”

“Round up the usual suspects.”

“He’s not the messiah. He’s a very naughty boy.”

“You mean I’m gonna stay this color?”

“Sixty percent of the time it works…every time.”

“I don’t know, but some people without brains do an awful lot of talking.”

“I am serious, and don’t call me Shirley.”

“It’s only a flesh wound.”

“Oh, maybe ‘Garfield’.”

“I bet you were a ‘looker’ before electricity.”

“The fall is gonna kill you.”

“Don’t be jealous. I’ve been chatting online with babes all day.”

“The price is wrong, bitch.”

“Oh no, don’t do that, don’t do that. If you shoot him, you’ll just make him mad.”

“Decaffeinated?”

“You’re killing me, Smalls!”

——-ANSWERS——–

Elf, Casablanca, Life of Brian, The Jerk, Anchor Man, Wizard of Oz, Airplane, Monty Python & the Holy Grail, Zombieland, Caddyshack, Butch Cassidy, Napoleon Dynamite, Happy Gilmore, Blazing Saddles, Hot Fuzz, Sandlot

——-BONUS ‘HOT FUZZ’ DIALOGUE———-

Andy Cartwright: Here, what else you got, Crockett and Tubby?

Nicholas Angel: Skid marks.

Andy Wainwright: Now who’s being childish?

The gods were against me this year. I couldn’t get Thursday March 15th off, and I couldn’t get Friday March 16th off either.

That doesn’t matter to you? Well, it matters to me. This year those were the first two days of the NCAA basketball championships – March Madness.

Those are the best two days of the year in sports. The best. Every year.

You can have your Super Bowl, or your Daytona, or Wimbledon, etc.

I will take the first two days of the Big Dance.

Sixteen games each day. Winner stays, loser goes home. There is no higher drama in sports.

Days three and four, on Saturday and Sunday, are okay but, excitement-wise, fall well short of the first two days. For one thing, Saturday and Sunday only have eight games each day – half as much fun.

Plus, by the end of the weekend we are left with only the ‘Sweet 16’ teams, almost always entirely populated with the usual suspects, the heavy favorites: North Carolina, Kansas and (usually) Duke. – BORING.

Except in those places where the home team continues on, the excitement for this event does not build after the opening weekend. At best it stagnates. At worst it evaporates.

The lack of interest, other than the first two days of the tourney, is a curiosity. For most of us, the entire regular season, from October through February, does not even matter.

How many times did Duke beat North Carolina this year? Or vice-versa? It doesn’t matter.

Which team won the Big East conference regular season title? Which won the conference tourney? Who cares?

But for two lovely days in March we DO care. Dreams do come true.

Every Norfolk State, every VCU, every South Florida and Ohio and Lehigh has a chance to stand tall, as they all did this year. Congratulations to all in that group who now get to hang a cool banner from the rafters of their basketball arena…a much-deserved tribute.

But, for most of the nation, NCAA basketball, after last Friday, does not much matter.

All the big dogs will own the rest of the tourney, and the rest of us can go to sleep on NCAA basketball until next March, and wait for those two magical days, when a Lehigh again stands a chance to take down mighty Duke.

————

P.S. A pox upon Mizzou and Wichita State, for trashing all of my bracket hopes…

Rick Santorum narrowly defeated Newt Gingrich in the Alabama and Mississippi primaries. Both men decided, long ago, to push a ‘southern strategy’ to remain in the race for the GOP nomination.

What, you may ask, is a ‘southern strategy?’ We will get to that in a minute, but first let me share some statistics.

A recent Public Policy Polling survey revealed that the vast majority of Republicans in Mississippi and Alabama either believe Barack Obama is not a Christian or are just ‘not sure’. Here are the numbers:

Mississippi – 52% say ‘Not Christian’ / 36% say ‘Not Sure’
Alabama – 45% say ‘Not Christian’ / 41% say ‘Not Sure’

Totals: Mississippi – 88%, Alabama – 86%.

These people must have their heads stuck all the way up their Mason-Dixon lines, if you know what I mean….

Again note that these statistics do not include Democrats in Alabama and Mississippi and, while I am not wildly optimistic, I hope and pray adding in the Dems would reflect more positively on these two states.

To be fair, you can remove about five or ten percent of the ‘not sure’ people in any survey, because some people just don’t pay ANY attention to current events or politics. Regardless of the question, five or ten percent will say ‘not sure.’ … Was Abe Lincoln a Republican? ‘Not sure’ – Does the sun rise in the east? ‘Not sure’ – Is evolution real? ‘Not Sure.’

Okay, that excuses up to ten percent, but the other 90%, the vast majority, should be pretty clued in to whether or not the current president, like EVERY American president throughout history, is Christian.

I don’t care if someone likes or dislikes the president. It doesn’t matter if you think he is too ‘something’ or not enough ‘whatever.’ Those issues, political issues, are all a matter of perception.

His religion, and his status as an American, are not matters of perception. They are facts. Barack Obama is an American. He is a Christian.

That nearly 90% of Republicans in Alabama and Mississippi can’t identify the religion of our President is a crippling indictment of the education system in those two states. This is not a sign of partisanship, it is a reflection of stupidity. These are two states seemingly brimming with dolts…

Don’t misunderstand, it is perfectly fine for them to like him or dislike him, but if you doubt he is a Christian, this means you are a moron. It means you have ignored all the obvious evidence.

This is easy…
1) He says he is a Christian. Frankly, that should be enough evidence.

2) He has been going to the same Christian church for decades. (Remember? You hate his mouthy ex-pastor. You remember THAT, don’t you?)

3) He was raised by his Christian grandparents from the very Godly state of Kansas.

There can be little doubt that when a Mississippi or Alabama resident says someone is ‘not Christian’ they usually mean he is ‘bad’ or ‘evil.’ With that in mind, here is a short civics lesson: Being a Christian is not a prerequisite for holding elective office in America.

Fact: Barack Obama is a Christian.
Fact: You don’t have to be Christian to be President.

So what is the ‘southern strategy’ that Santorum and Gingrich play to?. Aim for the ‘moron vote.’ There is no such thing as aiming too low there. Leave out all the high-falutin’ talk, no big words. Say ‘grits’ and drop all the ‘g’s’ at the end of words. Talk about how you went swimmin’ and huntin’ when you were a youngun’.

Please tell me none of the other 48 states (yes, there are 50 total) reach as low as Alabama and Mississippi. Please.
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Side note to the 12% of Mississippi Republicans and the14% of Alabama Republicans who know our president is a Christian: Congratulations. You are the valedictorians. Go to the head of the class…and replace your teacher.

Cal Thomas is a syndicated writer I like to read. I have mentioned him now and then in Winkest Link (most recently on Nov 18th).

That he is conservative, very conservative, does not bother me. We all need to keep our minds open to different perspectives.

As much as I like Cal, he occasionally whiffs, as he did recently, discussing his friend, Rush Limbaugh.

As you recall (see 3.7.12 Winkest Link) Rush decided to take to task a 30-year-old female law student with whom he had a disagreement. Because she supported a waiver of copays for birth control, Rush called her a ‘slut’ and a ‘prostitute’ and insisted she make sex tapes for all to see.

These distasteful comments resulted in a number of sponsors fleeing.

Rush doesn’t have to care, because he still has plenty of sponsors and, more importantly, he still has a huge audience. It is a safe bet that some of the ‘former’ sponsors will wait a bit, and then re-up to sponsor his show again. Audience size (money) talks.

After three days of ripping on this woman, Rush decided to issue a lame apology on his website, saying there were ‘two words’ he should not have said.

The response to that ‘apology,’ even from his fans, was not very positive so, the following Monday he went on his radio show and expanded on his misgivings……

“I acted too much like the leftists who despise me. I descended to their level using names and exaggerations to describe Sandra Fluke. It’s what we have come to know and expect from them, but it’s way beneath me.”

Cal Thomas uses that exact quote to show how ‘contrite’ Rush is.

C’mon Cal, you know what real contrition is. When you took a (much milder) jab at Rachel Maddow you made a sincere apology. Considering the playfulness of the ‘insult’ your mea culpa was genuine, and touching, and Miss Maddow was moved by it.

Rush, on the other hand, gave what I call, a “GOP apology.” No matter what the transgression, no matter how vicious, never say you are sorry without slamming liberals or Democrats or anybody you disagree with. Every apology has a ‘but’ and, in Rush’s case, it is a very big ‘but.’

Below is an English translation of the above Rush apology:

“Of course you know me, I am nothing but class. I would never normally stoop as low as the Democrat/liberal scum, but THEY dragged me into this… THEY caused me to say things I never would have said otherwise. Only the vile left wing could cause me to say ‘slut’, ‘prostitute’ and ‘sex tape’.”

“Oh by the way… Gorbasm… Feminazi… etc…”

“See? I am nothing but class…”

The Obama administration recently tried to change the national statutes to mandate a waiver the copay for oral contraceptives.

This is not new. Many states throughout America already have this law.

In every one of these states there are religious-based businesses, including Catholic organizations, that are obligated to abide by this law, and they do, every day, without controversy

In many states it was a Republican governor who approved and signed into law this mandate.

Want to know the names of two of those governors? Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. It wasn’t an issue when Romney did it. It wasn’t an issue when Huckabee did it.

Why is it an issue now? Oh yeah, now it is connected to Barack Obama, and everything he does is a Muslim-oriented, soldier-hating, socialist big-government overreach. I keep forgetting.

I repeat, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee both signed this very same requirement into law in their respective states.

But lately the political winds only blow to the right for the GOP, and now even birth control is ‘controversial.’

It is weird that this is even a point of discussion. Millions of American women take the pill. In the U.S. a vast majority of women, even Catholic women, use birth control, including the pill.

To validate just how controversial it is, the Republican-controlled House convened a panel to discuss why waiving the copay for ‘the pill’ is wrong-wrong-wrong.

An all-male panel… to discuss the birth control pill.

My first question to the panel would have been “How many of you ever had a doctor prescribe ‘the pill’ for you?” Any that said ‘yes’ could remain seated and testify, and I would dismiss all who said ‘no.’

During the official hearing, a female law student was not granted time to testify in favor of waiving birth control copays. She later testified at an ‘unofficial’ congressional panel.

As you know by now, Rush Limbaugh immediately called this college student a ‘slut’ and a ‘prostitute’ and insisted she make sex tapes available for all to view.

After three days of harping on her he started to lose a few sponsors, so he issued a half-hearted ‘apology’ on his website, saying there were ‘two words’ he should not have said.

Really Rush? Two words? How much more contrite can you get?

Rush feels his job is to stir things up. Sometimes, to fire up his audience, he ends up calling college women sluts and prostitutes, and suggests they put out sex tapes for him to watch.

For money, large sums of money, some people will say anything,

So who is the real prostitute here?

By Wink

In the mid 1970’s I read an article about a man in Florida who had been arrested for possession of child pornography. This is pretty despicable, and I am glad he was caught. This vulgar type of crime happens too often.

The kicker to that story? The arrested man was the head of a Florida Anti-pornography group. Surprise – surprise!

I don’t know how much time he served, or whatever happened to him. Maybe one of our readers can dig that info up and report back to me. Please.

It may have been Shakespeare, or maybe it was Chaucer or Paris Hilton, who once said: “Me thinks thou dost protest too much.”

We talked about this before. On April 9, 2009 I wrote an article about anti-gay gays.

In it I postulated that the leaders of most anti-gay groups are most likely gay. Some are active gays, some are very active gays, and some struggle every day with urges they ‘just know’ are wrong.

Of course some people hate gays for religious reasons. If this describes you, and you don’t have gay primal urges, congratulations, your hate simply emanates from ignorance. You don’t have to fear ‘catching’ the gay.

Now we have a better way to document my thesis. Here, for your entertainment, is a ticker-type chart that counts off the amount of time since a homophobe was outed as gay.

Enjoy!

Recently, in front of a group of severe conservatives, candidate Mitt Romney described himself as ‘severely conservative.’

You do not believe that Mitt is severely conservative. I do not believe that Mitt is severely conservative.

It is impossible to pin down exactly what Mitt is, because he has been all- things-to-all-people throughout his political career. He is simply calling himself severely conservative because it is politically expedient. He cannot call himself anything else until he has the Republican nomination sewn up.

For now, he still has opposition for the nomination, and because that opposition is from the far right wing of the spectrum (Birth control should be outlawed!), Romney feels compelled to legitimize his conservative bona fides.

He is hardly the first politician to declare an opposition to his former self, but Mitt is making both-sides-of-every-issue an art form.

I won’t delineate all of his issue contortions here. They are well documented and easy for you to find. I only bring it up for one reason. To gain the Republican nomination Mitt has turned hard-hard right.

Compromise is the only logical way to govern, but is soooooooo out of fashion in conservative ranks. To compromise is to be weak or, worse yet, to be the enemy!

A once reasonable and reasoning politician, Romney has sold his soul. He got caught up in the pander-fest that took hold during the early stages of the primary process.

Audiences at the GOP debates were packed with Tea-bagger types, and other far right-wingers. They booed an Iraq-based American soldier who admitted to being gay. They yelled ‘let-her-die!’ at the idea of someone dying because they didn’t have health insurance.

In other words, they were right-wing pep rallies, and the only way to get cheers was to out-conservative whoever was standing next to you on the stage. (Ron Paul was the notable exception.)

It is really hard to ‘out-conservative’ Rick Santorum, but Mitt is going to give it a try.

I promise you, when Texas governor Rick Perry runs again in 2016, he will have his hard-right stump speech memorized. No more ‘oops’ moments. No more catering to soft-headed centrists. Deport the Mexicans and kick the gays back out of the military!

The ‘issue pendulum’ is not exclusive property of the Republicans. For this election President Obama is free to run as the centrist he is, because he has no competition, but the Democratic field will be wide open in 2016, and one or more truly liberal candidates will try to pull issues their way.

There will also be centrist Democrats who will probably disown some of their previously held middle-of-the-road positions, and move further and further left, in a desperate effort to win a primary or a caucus.

Mom always said ‘it is best just to be who you are, and let the chips fall where they may. You won’t get elected, but your dignity will remain intact.’