"One of Andrew Sullivan’s readers tries to make the case that the conservative movement was sane in 1994 when they took over, even more hilariously they claim Rush Limbaugh’s critiques of the Clinton administration were “pointed”. Are you kidding me? As Sullivan points out, that was the fevered swamp of nuttiness. Limbaugh led the charge into every nothingburger investigation of the Clintons, and push the same bull he pushes today – the only different is his attacks are more racist nowadays. The larger point is that the modern conservative movement has a long lineage of nuttiness. The same people today bleating about a government takeover of healthcare are the same ones who wanted to impeach Justice Earl Warren, supported the use of tactical nukes, and were convinced fluoridated water was a mind control plot." - Steven Perez from Bookmarklet

SSDD :-( - Rene, Pro Button Pusher

There *was* a strain of conservatism that was more prominent in earlier decades, in the pages of National Review and other publications, which focused on a well-reasoned defense of limited government and private enterprise. But those days are long gone: neoconservatives and Christian Zionists have turned the conservative movement into a mindless hate cult. - Sean McBride

Sean, was that back when they were defending Jim Crow? - Andrew C (✓) from Android

+1 Andrew - Cole Jolley

Andrew -- which conservatives in particular are you referring to? Are you suggesting that all conservatives are racists and that traditional conservatism in general is motivated by racism? - Sean McBride

I mean that conservatives have been anti-sufferage, anti-abolition, and anti-civil rights. In every era, the progressives were on the side of progress. - Andrew C (✓) from Android

Specifically, the National Review was on the wrong side of civil rights, as I recall. I can look this up for you within a day or so if you'd like. - Andrew C (✓) from Android

Well, quite a few progressives on the left during the last century also supported political ideas which resulted in the murder of as many as 100 million civilians (especially in the Soviet Union, China, Cambodia and other Marxist enterprises). See the writings of R.J. Rummel and the Black Book of Communism. But it is true that quite a few conservatives have been less interested in promoting libertarian values of free enterprise and limited government than in protecting patriarchal and authoritarian oligarchies -- most of which have been anti-libertarian. Both the left and right have strong tendencies to gravitate towards authoritarianism and totalitarianism. As for the link between the contemporary Republican Party and racism -- it rather screams at one. Confederates have made a big comeback on the American political scene. - Sean McBride

They might have been lefties who supported communists in theory, but being nuts enough to sign on for Mao's crazy ideas, or totalitarianism in general, is something else altogether. - Andrew C (✓) from Android

There are some leftists who have supported Mao or Stalin (possibly not realizing what that actually means), but they don't control a major political party, or even have much of a voice in politics. - John (bird whisperer)

Andrew -- you need to read more deeply in 20th century history -- the Soviet Union in particular received considerable support from influential circles on the left in the United States for several decades. And the truth is that the political left during the last 100 years has been responsible for much more murder and mayhem than the political right. The numbers to support this assertion are overwhelming. Try Googling the Black Book of Communism to begin to get a handle on the subject. - Sean McBride

"The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression is a book which describes a history of repressions, both political and civilian, by Communist states, including genocides, extrajudicial executions, deportations, and artificial famines. The book was originally published in 1997 in France under the title, Le Livre noir du communisme : Crimes, terreur, répression. In the United States it is published by Harvard University Press. The book was authored by several European academics and edited by Stéphane Courtois." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... - Sean McBride