Leftists, who see their ideological brethren as the most balanced, enlightened and compassionate of Americans, find themselves in a faux fret, oh, so worried, they say, that many conservatives are going bonkers.
It must be tough, some have written, for the remaining sane if benighted conservatives when we have all these nutcase Rightists contending President Obama was not a citizen at birth and all those nasty, generally alienating, Rush Limbaugh-like voices that aim to lead what’s left of the dwindling, out-of-joint movement.
I hate to bother Leftists with reality, but it’s their ideology that’s most filled with dingbat, conspiratorial theories, it is some of their spokesmen who most disgrace democratic discussion, and it is their movement that’s most in the minority, however much power it may be momentarily wielding in a country that appears to be catching on to its recklessness.
On the conspiracy front, lots of Americans, mostly self-identified Democrats, believe George W. Bush knew about the 9/11 attacks before they happened and some even that his administration participated in them.
Sponsors of polls exploring this territory included Rasmussen, Scripps Howard and The New York Times/CBS. Close to one-third in one Scripps Howard poll said the administration ignored specific warnings.
Wondering if Obama may have been born in Africa is child’s play next to this weirdo, very nearly evil stuff, but let’s go on to other crackpot notions, such as a favorite of leftist intellectuals during the Bush years that the United States was becoming a theocracy, which is to say, a government run by an established religion.
Instead, like all kinds of non-religious groups, one collection of Christians was pushing for some things its adherents thought right, and, unlike any number of these other groups, such as radical environmentalists, was mostly losing.
You also had Bush aiming without much luck to extend Bill Clinton’s use of some faith-based organizations to administer federal programs. Out of this was manufactured a baseless sky-high dread.
Leftist commentators? You want to hear about Naomi Wolf, former political consultant to Al Gore, who wrote a book saying that Bush was using the tactics of Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini to make himself a dictator? Or maybe you want to ponder the juvenilia-style work of MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, who makes tasteless sexual jokes about conservative protesters.
Perhaps you want to consider HBO’s obnoxiously shallow, unthinking, closed-minded Bill Maher calling America stupid. Or we can talk about The New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, who was again more mean-spirited than clever when she called Sarah Palin “one nutty puppy” for resigning as governor of Alaska.
Maybe Dowd had missed the fact that Palin had been beaten to a pulp, burdened beyond a capacity to function and in effect robbed of a half millions dollars in legal fees by something on the order of 18 mostly dismissed ethics complaints filed by people trying the same thing as the column, to ruin her politically.
I myself prefer Limbaugh over Dowd and am pleased that conservative commentators include some of the most brilliant, wisest people in the business, including George Will, Charles Krauthammer, Peggy Noonan and Victor Davis Hanson.
As for conservatism itself, it is doing OK, even if the Republican party is deservedly in disarray. It can examine itself, as the conservative journal National Review did in slamming questions about Obama’s citizenship.
And, according to a Gallup poll, the political philosophy retains the loyalty of 40 percent of Americans, as compared to 35 percent who call themselves moderates and 21 percent who call themselves liberals.
To be sure, the liberals are right now running things, but for how long?
Examiner Columnist Jay Ambrose is a former Washington opinion writer and editor of two dailies. He can be reached at: [email protected].
