The View From the Right

I don’t know if any of my readers realize it but part of the research that goes into this blog is searching right wing and conservative sites for their input into what they see happening in this country and the world. It’s actually more fun and way more laughs than reading liberal or progressive sites because somehow we have ended up with way more crazies on the Right than on the Left.

Erick Erickson, who writes Red State, has become fascinated by an Obama reference to the crusades, while creating an analogy. An analogy, that’s something that is obviously beyond conservative understanding. But even though he didn’t understand what the President was saying, Erickson felt obligated to write two editorials about it. This is why we don’t take Right wing writing seriously.

In another editorial Erickson lauds Bobby Jindal of Louisiana for increasing the state’s credit rating from slightly below Zimbabwe to something approaching Nigeria. This would be excellent for Jindal and the state if he hadn’t done this by refusing to raise taxes even as the state was facing bankruptcy.

This may seem a wise move to conservatives but how about the people of a state that need schools, roads, ports, serviceable sewers and functioning police and fire departments? Government’s job is to create a functional entity in which people can lead a healthy and productive life,, not to make a profit. Sure Jindal didn’t raise taxes but his actions are responsible for eliminating the safety net, education, and all kinds of government services to the people of one of the most dependent states in the union. Jindal’s job was to lead and support the people of his state, not to save money for the rich. I realize that Jindal’s heritage harkens back to a country that provides nothing for its people, but he’s here now and this country, in aspiring to appear civilized, must provide a safety net. It’s too bad that Erickson is too blind to see the problems over the philosophy.

A glance at GOPUSA reveals a panicked article about how the 18-34’s are leaning left and how the GOP has to get off it’s ass and do something about that. It never considers that the thing to do might be to acknowledge and work to solve the problems of that group, over those of the billionaire class that pays for congress’ second yachts. It quotes polls that show Hillary Clinton with 57% of that age group’s interest and Ted Cruz with 16% and wonders what to do? The whole article breaks down into quoting percentages from this poll, and shivering at the prospects. Of course, Michael Haverluck, the guy who wrote the article, never even takes a shot at the possibility of the Right considering solutions to problems like student loans, building infrastructure to create jobs, a serious minimum wage, fixing instead of trying to eliminate the ACA and finding a solution to immigration, as ways to help the GOP’s image. The fact that fixing these kinds of problems, never even occurs to the Republicans, is the reason that they are a problem for them. IT’s also the reason human stain like Donald Trump has beaten the living crap out of all his fellow Republicans in the primaries.

Human Events, which bills itself as Powerful Conservative Voices, isn’t aren’t powerful enough, it seems, to attract financing or paying customers, so like any good conservative business they sell advertising. It may never have occurred to them that this practice marks them as paid proselytizers for the advertisers, not as an independent news media. Of course, it hasn’t occurred to the networks either so what the hell.

Anne Coulter writing for Human Events has penned a blistering attack on Jeb Bush referring to the Bush family as three generations of imbeciles and setting them up like the Marx brothers. Then she spoils it all by blaming the immigrants from Mexico for the measles epidemic while not bothering to place any blame on those American parents who have not had their kids vaccinated and still let them go to school and playgrounds where they can infect kids who for allergy reasons can’t take the vaccinations.

This is a typical Coulter approach, see only half the problem and make as much noise about it as possible. She goes on to attack all, south of the border immigrants, legal or illegal and spends the rest of a column attacking anyone who is trying to solve the immigration problem. Oh, yeah, her solution; send them all back to wherever they came from, after all, they’re not white like me.

Human Events, despite letting Anne Coulter spew her venom, appears to be the most even handed of the right wing journals that also include Guns and Patriots, a Nazi-like hate column and a couple of others that we really don’t want to advertise.

Amazingly, Fox New with Chris Wallace can occasionally be a very even-handed show. Of course they have their black liberal reporter to balance things, much like liberal shows, the last couple of years always featured Michael Steele, but I watched Wallace hold a couple of opinionated Republicans feet to the fire over illogical positions that were making the whole party look like dunces.

Much as I like to read through these various Right wing rags and blogs there are a couple that even in my most masochistic moods I can’t bear to put up with. Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin are totally beyond the bounds of reality. Watching them only makes a logical human being furious that such as they are actually allowed to leave the nuthouse, so why get myself into a huff. There are enough real problems in this world without allowing the degenerate fantasies of a coven of mutual masturbators to invade the world of the thinking.