[MiNe 109]

I've been way too conciliatory to our Bircher friend from SoCal. Doing
him the favor of taking his ideas seriously leads inevitably to
disappointment and there's no level of response that doesn't lead to
insults and ad hominem attack in reply. Indeed, I conclude that he is
arguing from what Josh Marshall calls the "Bitch-Slap theory of
electoral politics," that the correctness or convincingness of an attack
is less important than the perception that the recipient is too weak to
defend himself. That strategy works well enough against me as I'm not
inclined to descend to name-calling, etc, as a first or early response.
That this isn't an election and anyone with a brain can see through his
sophomoric political views doesn't change that this posture is one he
has adopted, hence the constant vituperation and contumely, all the
while claiming victimhood for being misinterpreted.

In that spirit, a blog post, upon learning via Twitter that a Republican
member of Congress is enjoying "Atlas Shrugged":

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/ar...in_mccarthy_cu
rrently_reading_atlas_shrugged.php

Something I think most liberals don¹t understand is exactly how stupid
many conservative leaders are. There is, yes, a condescending tendency
to believe that no smart person could be on the right ideologically at
all. That¹s dead wrong. Plenty of bright people on the right. But the
way their movement works, intelligence or understanding of politics and
policy has no meaningful role in advancement. If anything, there¹s
something of a negative correlation between knowing what you¹re talking
about and being able to get ahead in right-wing politics.

So you get stuff like this. He¹s not cocooning by reading Milton
Friedman, he¹s cocooning by reading Ayn Rand. It¹s nuts, but it¹s the
way things work.

--

Stephen