The Commentariat -- Jan. 20, 2015
Internal links, discarded photo removed.
CW: I won't be posting till late in the day today, so I'll probably miss a lot of good stuff. If you see anything of interest, share, as so many of you do. Thanks.
Michael Paulson of the New York Times: "Around the country, traditional Martin Luther King celebrations took place -- interfaith prayer breakfasts, speeches, volunteer service. But in several large cities, protests were organized by a new generation of activists who said they wanted to use the day to denounce injustice and to point out social inequality. Many were hoping to use the day to rekindle a new movement for social change." ...
... Damn! I Missed Robert E. Lee Day. Jamelle Bouie: "... in three states -- Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi -- MLK Day is also Robert E. Lee Day.... This is the Gen. Robert E. Lee who led Confederate armies in war against the United States, who defended a nation built on the 'great truth' that the 'negro is not equal to the white man,' and whose armies kidnapped and sold free black Americans whenever they had the opportunity.... It should be said that the 'Lee' part of 'Lee-King Day' is mostly downplayed in states that have the holiday." CW: Don't know how I missed it. I live in Lee County, which is not named for Spike Lee.
Scott Clement & Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "President Obama will deliver his State of the Union address Tuesday enjoying rising approval ratings that have been strengthened by rapidly improving perceptions of the economy and increased optimism about the overall direction of the country, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.... Obama's overall approval rating now stands at 50 percent, the highest in a Post-ABC poll since the spring of 2013." ...
... James Oliphant of the National Journal: "As President Obama details his latest policy proposals and trumpets his accomplishments Tuesday night in the State of the Union address, he'll also be doing something else: building a bridge to a possible Democratic successor.... In teasing out new proposals over the last several weeks, Obama and his aides have stood in sharp contrast to the new GOP Congress that, for the moment, seems to be stuck on holdover issues such as the Keystone XL pipeline, Obama's executive actions on immigration, and the Affordable Care Act.... This is the White House still locked in campaign mode, seeking to set up a conflict with the GOP on basic values."
Tim Devaney of the Hill: "GOP lawmakers plan to employ the seldom-used Congressional Review Act (CRA), which gives lawmakers the power to formally disapprove of major agency rules, as they seek to ratchet up their attacks on federal red tape.... While Obama can and likely will veto any efforts to undo regulations through the CRA, the threats carry more weight now that Republicans control both chambers of Congress. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman James Inhofe (Okla.) and other Republicans are zeroing in on the EPA, believing they can use the Review Act against rules for new and existing power plants, water, ozone and coal ash." CW: Sounds like a nothing-burger to me -- just another venue for the Grand Old Party Whine. As if they needed another. ...
... Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "Conservative climate-change denialism is indeed dangerous, and not just because it threatens coral reefs and polar bears tomorrow. It's also dangerous because it's a symptom of a much greater anti-intellectual, anti-science epidemic, one that prioritizes populist punch lines over smart policy and threatens our ability to compete in the global economy today." ...
... But Sometimes Nobama Is Problematic. Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "Last November, when President Obama proposed strict rules to prevent broadband companies from blocking or intentionally slowing down the web, Republicans pounced on what they called yet another heavy-handed liberal proposal.... But ... [this] put Republicans in the awkward position of aligning themselves with the cable giants, among the most maligned industries in the country, against the sad Netflix viewer waiting for 'House of Cards' to break through its 'buffering' vortex. In the intervening weeks, politics on the so-called net neutrality issue have shifted so much that House and Senate Republicans are circulating legislation that would ostensibly do exactly what the president wants.... Once again, an Internet regulatory showdown might be guided as much by grass-roots guerrilla tactics as the lobbying of Comcast and Verizon."
** Bill Curry, writing in Salon, eviscerates the Democratic party & its leadership. Excellent!
What's in It for Larry? CW: Yesterday Akhilleus & I were wondering why Larry Summers had recently sounded so populisty. I believe I've found the answer in a post by Matt Yglesias: Summers is the American co-chair of the Commission on Inclusive Prosperity, a Center for American Progress-sponsored group that last week released a white paper that Yglesias describes as "the best guide to what Hillarynomics is likely to look like.... Many thinkers on the left will find a great deal missing. What Hillarynomics does not include is anything like an Elizabeth Warren-style effort to dethrone giant banks from the commanding heights of the American economic system.... Nor is there much of an anti-poverty agenda here...." Summers' op-eds, then, are designed to promote Hillary's campaign agenda & her presidential aspirations. Larry himself, no doubt, sees himself once again napping in the Cabinet Room.
Donald Kettl, in the Washington Monthly, has some advice for the next president on how to run the government s/he really doesn't run.
Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "A new poll from the Washington Post and ABC News ... suggests that support for Keystone is softer -- and less urgent -- than previously thought. Just 34 percent of Americans say, 'Build it now.' An additional 61 percent are happy to allow the review process to play out.... That overall 61-34 split is the reverse of most Keystone polls.... But if and when [the Obama administration] ultimately nix[es] the project altogether -- as most think [it] will -- [it] will still be running afoul of the vast majority of Americans." ...
... Ryan Koronowski of Think Progress: "On Saturday morning, a pipeline in Montana spilled up to 50,000 gallons of crude oil into the Yellowstone River, the pipeline' operator confirmed Sunday night. Some residents are reportedly smelling and tasting oil in their drinking water, causing the EPA to test water samples and the city water plant to cease drawing water from the river.... The proposed -- and controversial -- northern pump more than 34 million gallons of oil per day through the Dakotas down into Nebraska and into the southern leg in Oklahoma and Texas." CW: Yeah? So? What about those 70 permanent American jobs (or so) t jobs that would be created by Keystone spills. Thanks, Keystone supporters.
Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: "In the wake of this month's terrorist attacks in Paris, European leaders are calling for significant changes to what has long been a paradox of their borderless continent: Their citizens can move freely, but information about them does not."
James Glanz of the New York Times: "In November 2008, British spies captured email messages addressed to reporters and photographers with at least a dozen international news organizations, many United Nations officials, workers at far-flung oil companies and tens of thousands of other people, according to a newly disclosed classified document. The document, a spreadsheet of some 70,000 lines -- each with a brief summary of the information gleaned from a single intercept -- is contained in a cache of British documents that are among the classified trove leaked by Edward J. Snowden.... It is unlikely that the collection of these emails -- as irrelevant as most of them seem to be -- broke any laws because British and United States laws place few restrictions on the collection of overseas communications."
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: Political scientist Richard Hasen has developed a sarcasm index for the Supreme Court justices. The hands-down winner -- no surprise here -- is Antonin Scalia. "Justice Scalia registered 2.78 on Professor Hasen's index, dwarfing the showings of every justice he has served with. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. came in a very distant second, at 0.43. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Sonia Sotomayor did not even register.... There were 134 opinions described as sarcastic or caustic, and Justice Scalia wrote 75 of them, more than all the other justices combined."
God News, Tuesday Edition. Rachel Zoll of the AP: "Conservative distrust of Pope Francis, which has been building in the U.S. throughout his pontificate, is reaching a boiling point over his plan to urge action on climate change -- and to do so through ... an encyclical on the environment and global warming.... In a news conference as he traveled last week to the Philippines, Francis gave his strongest signal yet of the direction he'll take. He said global warming was 'mostly' man-made. And he said he wanted his encyclical out in plenty of time to be absorbed before the next round of U.N. climate change talks in Paris in November after the last round in Lima, Peru, failed to reach an agreement.... 'What [conservatives are' worried about is the solution,' said Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. 'Climate change is the ultimate collective-action problem. It's going to require local, state and national policy change, and it's going to require international cooperation, which means the United Nations.'"
Charles Pierce gives "Selma" a qualified rave review but notes, "DuVernay's portrayal of Lyndon Johnson is even worse than I heard it was. She turns him into such a melodramatic villain that you half-expect Johnson to tie Amelia Boynton to the railroad tracks. And the clear implication that LBJ was behind sending the salacious videotape to the Kings has to dial one just to get to 'inexcusable.' (God, will American liberals ever stop covering for the Kennedy brothers?) But I was expecting those. What I didn't expect was that DuVernay would turn two of Johnson's shining moments into equally cheap cartoons."
Presidential Race
A Bush by Any Other Name.... Several commentators have remarked on a "conversation" the Coy Lady of the Absinthe had with a governor she dared not name. Said governor, whoever he may be (and it is a "he") explained to her why a lack of foreign policy experience is unimportant: "Because foreign policy still comes down, always, to your gut, your instincts." ...
... Steve Benen calls this "'The Colbert-ification of foreign policy thinking.' What the unnamed governor argued, in effect, is that knowledge is overrated. In a complex world, filled with constantly changing challenges and unpredictable outcomes, the Republican sees himself qualified to handle foreign affairs because of his finely tuned 'gut' and 'instincts.' Funny, I seem to recall another recent presidential candidate saying his intuition had far more value than awareness of world events. His name was George W. Bush.... But for Noonan's source to argue that it's better to trust a governor's gut than a senator's (or former Secretary of State's) actual expertise is hard to take seriously." ...
... Steve M. looked for clues & had no trouble IDing the perp as Chris Christie. ...
... Daniel Drezner of the Washington Post blew a gasket: This is "a legitimately dangerous belief system in world politics.... There are actually quite a few important concepts in world politics that are not, at first glance, terribly intuitive.... There are a lot of intuitive concepts in foreign affairs that turn out to be of dubious value in conducting statecraft.... Foreign affairs is lousy with situations in which the counterintuitive idea is superior to the intuitive idea -- a fact that the governor chatting with Noonan clearly does not know. And the hubris on display in the governor's answer makes me very frightened about what would happen should this person become president in January 2017."
Katie Glueck of Politico: "A confident Rick Santorum took the stage at a tea party convention [in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina,] on Monday, taking swings at 2012 presidential rival Mitt Romney and offering a glimpse of what a second Santorum bid would look like.... During his wide-ranging speech, Santorum made several nods to a future presidential bid. He also spoke more broadly about the need to improve the lives of American workers, roll back Common Core educational requirements and embrace a muscular foreign policy."
Matea Gold of the Washington Post writes a longish, somewhat disjointed story of Jeb Bush's employment as a board member & consultant of a shady investment firm called InnoVida whose CEO was convicted of swindling clients & investors for activities he carried out while Bush was a "key manager." CW: As I recall, when Wesley Clark ran for president in 2004, there were assertions that he wasn't smart enough to be president. Well, he's smarter than Jeb Bush: while Bush was on the board, Clark declined to join the firm because he found evidence the CEO was a crook.
Senate Race
Emily Cahn of Roll Call: "Rep. Tammy Duckworth, a two-term Democrat, told CQ Roll Call Monday that she is seriously considering challenging vulnerable Sen. Mark S. Kirk, R-Ill., in 2016. Duckworth, currently finishing maternity leave following the birth of her daughter, said in a phone interview she is beginning the process of exploring a Senate bid as she gears up to return to Capitol Hill."
Beyond the Beltway
Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "About 9,000 people have been summonsed to Arapahoe County district court for consideration as jurors [in the James Holmes Aurora theater shooting case]. The whittling down of this vast pool, thought to be the biggest in US judicial history, is expected to take up to four months.... District attorney George Brauchler is seeking the death penalty. Brauchler, who reportedly declined an offer of a guilty plea in return for a life sentence, has declared that for Holmes, 'justice is death'."
News Ledes
New York Times: "Houthi rebel militiamen seized control of the palace of Yemen's president and clashed with guards outside his residence on Tuesday, in an escalation of the violent crisis that has gripped the capital for days and raised fears of a coup in one of the Arab world's most impoverished and insecure states. The president, Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, viewed by the United States as a crucial counterterrorism ally, was believed to be in the capital, but his exact whereabouts was unknown. He made no public statements as the fighting escalated, though Houthi leaders insisted that he was safe and in his home."
Putin Rears His Head & Comes into the Waters of ... Cuba. AFP: "A Russian intelligence warship docked in Havana on Tuesday, a day before the start of historic US-Cuba talks aimed at normalizing diplomatic relations. There was nothing stealthy about the arrival of the Viktor Leonov CCB-175, which was moored to a pier in Old Havana where cruise ships often dock. But the visit was not officially announced by Cuban authorities. US officials in Washington played down the presence of the Russian vessel, saying it was perfectly legal and not at all out of the ordinary."
New York Times: "A video posted online on Tuesday, purportedly by the Islamic State extremist group, depicted a black-clad militant with a knife threatening to kill two Japanese hostages within 72 hours unless the government in Tokyo paid a ransom of $200 million."
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Reader Comments (13)
..."But it's also notable for the Obama-era liberal ambitions it pushes aside. In the main recommendations for the United States, there's no cap-and-trade or carbon tax in here, no public option for health care, and no effort to break up or shrink the largest banks. Nor is there an ambitious agenda to tackle poverty."
This, and several other important social issues, are what make me apprehensive about a Hillary Clinton presidency. That she is still so tied to Larry Summers is discouraging. He is an ass wipe and a pretend liberal--really in the pocket of The Street. If she hires Mark Penn once again to run her campaign, I will have a major problem voting for her. Ohhh, I forgot.....SUPREME COURT.
Hillary Clinton is a "journey woman," a consistent, bright, but minimally talented, and unimaginative player (as in tennis)--who never wins tournaments, but is always in the draw. She has hung in for so long now, and is still closely tied to her charismatic, brilliant, narcissistic husband, who fucked us over in so many way, which have nothing to do with Monica Lewinsky.
I still believe Elizabeth Warren needs to stay in the Senate. She simply does not have the temperament to be President. Let her continue to raise Hell in the Senate, along with Bernie Sanders. Perhaps, as I have said all along--her most important role will be as a huge pebble in Hillary's shoe!
SUPREME COURT, she said unhappily.
Okay, I'll share. First, to Kate: well put re: Hillary Clinton and Sen. Warren. Let's just hope that if HRC is the nominee that she wins this time.
Next, there is an easy way to ascertain that the governor Noonan spoke to was not Scott Walker: he is no where near that articulate. His recent comment on foreign policy:
Asked if he believed Saudi Arabia was a free and open country and what he made of the United States' relationship with that country, Walker said: "They're making a few moves right now but those are things that can be easily altered, at least in terms of Cuba. In terms of Saudi Arabia, we haven't — those are things I guess folks at the federal level would ultimately have to comment on in terms of whether its consistency or not. The difference I think with Cuba is that's a policy the United States has had for some time. To change that, I think there has to be substantial change in terms of the positions that the Cuban government has."
Now the local paper (madison.com) says Walker may go to Israel this year, seeing as how it's so important in his efforts to suck up to Sheldon Adelson--oops, I mean to talk about water technology. I'n sure the Israelis will be impressed with his toughness when he explains mideast relations in parenting terms and reminds them that his first son is named Matthew.
Hmmmm....
Robert E. Lee Day AND Martin Luther King Day?
Why not a National Socialist Party Remembrance Day on Yom Kippur?
That money is speech has finally found a voice in academia with those calling for coordinated divestment from fossil fuel companies :http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/11/stanford-professors-fossil-fuel-investments
A depressing look in the mirror and something to think about:
http://www.salon.com/2015/01/13/have_americans_gone_crazy_partner/
@Nancy
Exceptional link, thanks! Well written by the tomdispatch writer on the Salon site. Have bookmarked it to return and absorb more...
"... most Americans have no idea just how strange we now seem to much of the world. In my experience, foreign observers are far better informed about us than the average American is about them."
I have to concur with Marie about the Bill Curry piece in Salon. Read it.
Those on the left, as opposed to Blue Dog Democrats who are not much more than jumped up Republicans who may or may not vote for progressive legislation (more likely not), and the old guard Democratic leadership that hasn't been much on leading of late, have a lot of work to do.
Conservative propaganda is ubiquitous and viciously successful. This morning I listened to back to back pieces on NPR. The first was a story of economic recovery in Elkhart Co, Indiana, which is back in business following the Republican led (or rather allowed) depression. Following efforts by the Obama administration, they are back to 5% unemployment, a bit lower than the national average and pretty much where they were when Bush's buddies in the banking and financial "services" industries broke their piggy banks and ran off with their life savings and jobs.
The story centers on one gentleman in particular who was selected to introduce newly elected President Obama in 2009 to a local audience. Today, he's careful not to mention that honor because "Obama" is a dirty word now. So how did Elkhart County survive and thrive after the economic disaster wrought on them by out of control capitalism with help from Republicans? They did it on their own. They DID build it all themselves. One mayor admits that they did take money from Obama, but they really did it through a belief in capitalism (the free enterprise system), and by sticking together. Obama had nothing to do with it.
Good job, Fox! You've set those people up like ten pins for the next free enterprise bowling ball.
Next, problems within the IRS. Tax payers and preparers alike will have a tough time of it this year, especially because the entrance of the ACA into the budgets of many taxpaying families will require some new adjustments. But don't bother calling the IRS for help. You may be on hold a loooooonnnnngggg time. And that's just how conservatives like it.
After all, the IRS went after right-wing groups. Darrell Issa says so. So congress, under Republican leadership, slashed the IRS budget nearly 20%. Are Republicans worried? Of course not. This draconian cut (which Democrats allowed as well) serves two purposes: it's payback for "attacks" on poor GOP public service groups like Karl Rove's Crossroads, that'll show them to fuck with us; and it helps to starve the beast.
But the people really hurt, as usual, are taxpayers, for whom tax season isn't painful enough. Not to mention that it's like a free lunch for tax cheats and frauds who are realizing that tax audits are about to disappear. The end result is federal coffers will be billions lighter this year.
But are people complaining? Of course not.
And WHERE ARE THE DEMOCRATS??!!
These propaganda and policy attacks on the country need to be countered by truth and fairness and facts. Republican policies and right-wing propaganda hurt average Americans. When there are fewer federal dollars to help build schools or hire workers or fix bridges, Wall Street doesn't suffer. Mitch McConnell and Ted Cruz don't suffer. Bill O'Reilly doesn't suffer.
This is the Party of Stupid spreading more stupidity.
But WHERE ARE THE DEMOCRATS??!!
The Democratic Party needs to be the antidote to Stupid, not some collection of mealy mouthed namby pambies, trying to stay under the radar in case some Fox bot picks on them.
What we need are 20, 30, 100, 1,000 Elizabeth Warrens to tell these assholes to STFU and to tell the American people the truth, to help them fight the stupid and the evil wrought by Republicans.
We don't need more Chuck Schumers. We don't need more polls. We don't need more focus groups to tell us what to think and what not to vote for.
Republicans and their media allies have succeeded in turning Wall Street puppets, bug-eyed Christian extremists, and America-hating, democracy hating apparatchiks into populist heroes.
Something the Democratic Party used to have quite a few of.
Where are they now?
Nancy,
Good piece. The problem is that too many Americans couldn't possibly care less what people in Norway think of them. Fox tells them they are the greatest people in the greatest country with the greatest political party, and the greatest religion (you know which one) in the whole world. Evah.
Propaganda is a great thing. Compared to Murdoch and Limbaugh and Beck and Rove and the Kochs, Goebbels was an amateur.
Did I say the "Party of Stupid"? I think I meant the "Party of Extra Stupid With Rotten Cherries on Top".
So, you'll all recall, with some mirth (rueful perhaps, but mirth nonetheless), the batty Fox "expert" (aren't they all?), Steve Emerson, who, last week stunned Britain in general, and the people of Birmingham in particular, with the news that Moooslim types have pretty much taken over large swathes of London and own the City of Birmingham into which those who do not obey Sharia Law go with the realization that they could be beheaded at any instant.
The PM dubbed Mr. Emerson "a complete idiot" and after much Twitter guffawing (very funny, btw), and a forced check of those facty things that conservatives find highly inconvenient and pain-in-the-assy, Fox was forced to backtrack on silliness and stupidity.
But guess who doesn't?
The guy who leads one of the worst off states in the nation, possible contender for the White House, Bobby Jindal! Yes, folks, not only does Jindal not accept the Fox retraction (seriously guys, when Fox retracts something, you know it was abysmally stupid), he doubles down on their initial assertions that Mooslims are in charge in many sectors of Britain.
He told CNN that "I think your viewers know absolutely there are places where the police are less likely to go. They absolutely know there are neighborhoods where they wouldn't feel comfortable"
Got that? No-Go Zones in Britain controlled by Mooslims where the police fear to tread. British officials and residents aren't aware of this, but Bobby Jindal knows. He KNOWS, dude.
CNN neglected to include the following exchange between Jindal and Prime Minister David Cameron:
DC: Gov. Jindal, there is no such thing as a no-go zone in England controlled by extremist Muslims.
BJ: Are too.
DC: Are not.
BJ: ARE TOO.
DC: No, there aren't.
BJ: Are too, are too, are too, are too. (stamping of feet, holding of breath, face turning blue).
DC: Loony.
And this is one of the more rational conversations you're likely to have with a wingnut married to the stupid.
Jindal is in Europe on a "fact-finding" trip to bolster his foreign policy cred for a run at the White House. He even goes so far as to tell Wolf Blitzer that the Brits don't know what they're talking about because he knew that "...by speaking the truth we were going to make people upset".
You see, Nancy, even when you bring these people to Europe, they're not just idiots, they're bigger idiots. Jindal's fact-invention trip to offer further hilarity. Next up: secret commie/Muslim/pro-choice organizations control Angela Merkel and the Deutsche Bank. Bobby has all the facts!
Stay tuned.
Nancy, my best appraisal of the the reason for American behavior, especially when compared to places like Europe is religion driven ignorance. And BTW, Ann Jones is not the only person to be asked those questions. America likes to live in Neverland especially when it comes to money. About 4 years ago I was having lunch in Lisbon and the physician sitting next to me from Madrid asked about the ACA. I one point I asked her how much was her salary. She said about 70,000 euros. I asked if she was OK with that. What? That's excellent. I actually did a little study on the value of the 70k including the difference in the cost of living. She was making the equivalent of 125k US money. See if you can find one of our doctors on that level. America is all about religion and money. And believing in the former makes sure that the latter does not come to you.
Having read Bill Curry's piece and then another Salon article that Nancy suggested on the stupidity of Americans I am about to pack up my belongings and head to one of those finger lands Ann Jones portrays as paradisiacal. Let's pick the one Ms Jones resides in––Norway. Yikes! Norway is having all sorts of problems (see link below) . One of the facts Ms Jones leaves out is the USA is made up of many states which by its makeup makes running it complicated, while her comparison countries are small. The U.S. is also the biggest donor to other countries: Israel, for instance, receives over 3 billion annually; Palestinian government gets half a billion per yr. The U.S. has the largest military in the world (and would defend Norway?) whose budget is hardly ever reduced because god forbid we lack for anything in that area except of course when it comes to the aftermath–-like care for veterans. So when Ms Jones does her compare and contrast I cringe. The other point she makes about other countries' asking what's the matter with the good old USA, I say, look to yourselves––if any country has humans residing in it, it has problems. Given all that her article isn't off the mark––it's rather like being comfortable criticizing your own kids, but getting angry if someone else does.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/24/world/europe/anti-immigrant-party-norway.html?_r=0
Two of conservatism's leading intellectuals passed on over the last week or so, Henry Jaffa and Walter Berns.
Their careers, and their influence in the burgeoning conservative movement of the 60's and 70's, are instructive in how political operatives and opportunistic right-wingers have used the work of people like Jaffa and Berns to provide their vengeful quest for power and coat their various hatreds with a patina of intellectual seriousness.
Berns, who studied with neocon godfather and teacher of the anti-democratic forces that gave permission to The Decider and his circle to lie, cheat, and steal, anything to gain and keep power, Leo Strauss, left Cornell where he was teaching in 1968 because of his dislike for uppity nee-groes who demanded a voice. They should have remained good little darkies and not bothered Very Important White People like Berns. He landed at the American Enterprise Institute where his work, spurred on by such as Bill Buckley, helped launch the Reagan-Bush assault on America. Big surprise.
His writings, while not as obviously incendiary as some, still reek of a kind of totalitarian love of control over citizens, who, if they can't control themselves and their own passions, must then be controlled by others. He did however write about the importance of shame, something his descendents on the right have never felt. He was a supporter of the Iraq Debacle but, in contrast to his wingnut progeny, believed that it might be okay to be against the war and not be considered a vile traitor. A couple of points for that, anyway, but he was a big supporter of capital punishment because life must be valued so we must kill others to show how much we value life. You follow? A couple points off for that.
Henry Jaffa, whose 1959 Lincoln bio has prompted wingers to place him on a pedestal in the Wingnut Pantheon as one of the Smartest Men Evah, helped to diminish his credentials as one of the wisest of the wise by allowing unchecked hatred and bigotry to infiltrate an enormous number of his public statements. He joked about AIDS, called gays "sodomites", compared them to murderers and rapists, and like Berns, peppered his works with plenty of right-wing finger wagging over "virtue" which was defined solely in terms of what was best for right-wing ideology.
Neither of these guys are nearly as bad as the people they spawned, but the dark side of their work, rather than the more useful philosophical and historical writing is all that can be seen in the current state of the anti-intellectual, anti-democratic, anti-intelligence right-wing swamp. In many ways, it's a demonstration of the essential darkness at the heart of conservatism. Whatever decent and reasonable ideas may have been floated by serious conservative intellectuals, what has remained is the blight.
As you can imagine, the encomiums on the right haven't stopped. It's like Aristotle and Plato died in one week.
Marie, why haven't you posted articles that show that the family farm of Senator Ernst received almost a half million dollars in subsidies. I wonder if she hypocritically is against food stamps too.