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[Dutchling]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

woops, forget to spoiler this before.

[olemars]

Newsies around here are saying that according to Santorum, the new axis of evil is Iran, Egypt and Poland. Can't seem to find any mention of this elsewhere though.

[DJ]

Their sausages are a cornerstone of the gay agenda.

[palsch]

Just a couple links for now

Roemer's AMA.

Secular coalitions scorecards on religious intrusion/separation of church and state.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

As for Santorum, no-one took him seriously before his late surge simply because he isn't someone who should be taken seriously. He was a Senator who got stomped to the tune of 17% (710,204 votes), the largest defeat of any incumbent Senator since 1980, who is grossly out of tune with the current popular rhetoric in the Republican party, who has been a joke on the internet since 2003. People haven't needed to do anything other than point and laugh since 2006.

I'd love it if he does stay high in the polls for a while, simply because there are so many more stories about him that haven't had enough time in the spotlight yet. Like his take on the Catholic sex abuse scandal (blame liberals). Or his lending his name to a Dicovery Institute written Intelligent Design pushing amendment. Or going Godwin over the Democrats using the filibuster. Or saying that Terri Schiavo was executed. Or how (just last year) he said how John McCain doesn't understand torture enhanced interrogation techniques. Or him being about the only person to maintain the US found WMDs in Iraq. Or his inserting of a multi-billion dollar tax credit for synthetic (coal based) fuel oil into a bill otherwise concerned with aid for Katrina victims. Or his proposal to block the national weather service from publishing any weather information that might compete with commercial sources. Or why he is commonly referred to as 'man on dog' Santorum (which is somehow worse since Dan Savage had his way with his name). Or how he blames radical feminism for making it "more socially affirming to work outside the home than to give up their careers to take care of their children."

This just from a quick skimming of his wiki page for stories I remember.

[RedKing]

Newsies around here are saying that according to Santorum, the new axis of evil is Iran, Egypt and Poland. Can't seem to find any mention of this elsewhere though.

Huh. Yeah, I'm not finding any mention of that in the US media. And I'd think a gaffe (even a relatively minor one like criticizing the wrong East European country) would be jumped all over on this side of the pond. What I *am* finding though, is plenty of stories that Santorum just isn't going over that well with NH Republicans. Many of them are pro-choice and in favor of civil unions at minimum, if not outright allowing gay marriage. New England Republicans tend to be the remnant of the pre-1980s Republican Party, when they were about a strong military, limited government and low taxes, and that's it. They're not interested in the culture wars.

EDIT: The more I think about this, the more I want Santorum to stay in this thing a while. Yes, by all means let's make this race about the culture wars. Because the GOP will distinctly be on the losing end of that discussion, as evidenced when Santorum was booed by a NH college campaign event when he equated same-sex marriage with polygamy. It will also paint the GOP in general as the party of the 19th century, helping lead to losses in the Senate and House. I'm curious to see if Obama can redeem himself if he can get a Congress he can work with (and hopefully majority leaders in both chambers who have spines that aren't made of Nerf.)

Of course, if the R's get trounced in the House elections, they're liable to think the lesson learned is "We need to be MORE conservative!" and they'll make Bachmann their new House leader and barricade themselves in a heavily-armed compound. 

[Miggy]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Wait wait wait wait... Is it true that only 3 out of 8 of your presidential candiates accepts evolution?

I mean, I knew there were some religious nutheads who didn't but... Really? I'm blown away of how insanely retarded that is.

Sory if that's offensive but... Wow.

[Nadaka]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Wait wait wait wait... Is it true that only 3 out of 8 of your presidential candiates accepts evolution?

I mean, I knew there were some religious nutheads who didn't but... Really? I'm blown away of how insanely retarded that is.

Sory if that's offensive but... Wow.

At least 40% of Americans believe the earth is 5000 to 7000 years old because the bible says so (it doesn't). Nearly all of them have been voting exclusively republican since at least 1980.

[scriver]

"They have this idea that people should be left alone, be able to do whatever they want to do, government should keep our taxes down and regulations low, that we shouldn't get involved in the bedroom or in cultural issues. That is not how traditional conservatives view the world."

I...fuck...last time I checked that was how traditional conservatives viewed the world. Unless of course he means social conservatives, then fuck that shit.

That is the traditional liberal positions. Traditional conservatism has always been authotitarian.

[GlyphGryph]

Conservatism and Liberalism are both relative terms.

Since a large part of that has been around since the countries founding, it really is conservative.

Of course it would be authoritarian in Europe - Europe's traditions tend to be authoritarian.

Not so much so in the US.

[Dutchling]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Wait wait wait wait... Is it true that only 3 out of 8 of your presidential candiates accepts evolution?

I mean, I knew there were some religious nutheads who didn't but... Really? I'm blown away of how insanely retarded that is.

Sory if that's offensive but... Wow.

Generalisations won't get you anywhere. And where do the letters stand for?

[scriver]

That would make socialism conservative in Sweden. It doesn't work like that. Yeah, what is considered "liberal" or "conservative" varies from country to country, but the traditional/classic definition does not.

[palsch]

At least 40% of Americans believe the earth is 5000 to 7000 years old because the bible says so (it doesn't). Nearly all of them have been voting exclusively republican since at least 1980.

Depends on your bible. I picked up a gorgeous 1896 study bible ("With paragraphs!") that included both the Ussher (creation at 4004 BC) and Hales (5411 BC) dates for each event. I've seen Ussher's dates included in bibles as late as the 60's at least and they have been included since 1701, so hold a lot of authority in certain circles. I've even seen one bible (an American KJV study text, can't remember the date) with Lightfoots "October 23, 4004 B.C at nine of the clock in the morning" (which isn't Lightfoot's and comes from a misquote around the time my edition was at the printers).

And where do the letters stand for?

The letters are grades. There is a lot more at the link in the original post.

[Nadaka]

The worst thing possible for any republican candidate may have just happened.

I don't know how many people remember it, but last year there were a number of the new breed of tea party republicans that said they were willing to destroy the economy in order to ensure that Obama was forced out of the white house in 2012.

http://news.yahoo.com/unemployment-rate-falls-8-5-pct-hiring-surges-140336279.html

[Darvi]

They were willing to what?

... why do they keep on with their acts and don't already bring out their supervillain doomsday devices already?

[GlyphGryph]

That would make socialism conservative in Sweden. It doesn't work like that. Yeah, what is considered "liberal" or "conservative" varies from country to country, but the traditional/classic definition does not.

One: You said traditional, not classical. Traditional by definition varies depending on the traditions - you can't just remove the context and expect is to have any meaning. Classical is all about preserving the power of the aristocracy and monarchy, sure, I'll give you that, because classical, in modern parlance, is just a synonym for "European". This makes it completely irrelevant to any discussion of the American conservatism which comes from a very different tradition. So if when you say "traditional" conservatism, what you mean is "classical european conservatism", which is very different from traditional chinese conservatism or traditional american conservatism, you might want to just use that name instead when dealing with people from a different tradition. Basically: You're Eurocentrism is showing. Sorry, but you're continent isn't the center of the world, and you don't get exclusive rights on history or tradition.

Two: Even by that definition, it's stupid, because "Traditional" in a conservative european context still represents two distinct movements - the French and British "classical conservatism" are quite different.

Three: Its perfectly possible for conservatism to advocate socialism. Why wouldn't you think that was possible? Socialism has little to do with the liberalism/conservatism divide. In fact, by your claim as the previous quote being the traditional liberal definition, well.. socialism certainly isn't liberal!