afternoon dose...

Pandagon points out that the Republican strategy has now moved from 'make conservatives happy' to 'punish liberals'.

Really funny Chris Matthews Interview with Jerry Falwell:

        MATTHEWS: How old were you when you chose to be heterosexual?

        FALWELL: Oh, I don`t remember that.

        MATTHEWS: Well, you must, because you say it`s a big decision.

        FALWELL: Well, I started dating when I was about 13.

        MATTHEWS: And you had to decide between boys and girls. And you chose girls.

        FALWELL: I never had to decide. I never thought about it.

How can these people be so incoherent?

Digby points to an excellent article about how all fundamentalisms are essentially the same, and probably a biological response to feeling threatened. Liberalism can flourish only when we respect but do not cave in to the fear that drives fundamentalism.

Talking Points Memo has this choice quote from Kerik, our new Homeland Security guy. Talking about critics of the war, he said: "Political criticism is our enemies' best friend."

When did it become okay to revile pacifists?
"It probably paints with too broad a brush to say that every opponent of the Afghan War is a pacifist or someone who thinks that the whole thing was motivated by some nefarious natural-gas pipeline scheme, but the pacifists and the tinfoil hatters are very much real people, and liberals need to recognize that when these people become the public face of progressive politics -- as Michael Moore did around the release of Fahrenheit 9/11 -- that conservatives are the ones who reap the benefits."

Pacifists are all tinfoil hat people? All of them? Even all the Quakers? That seems a bit extreme. And poor Michael Moore. Four months ago everyone was talking about how he did us all a great service with his film -- now he gets to take the blame for our electoral loss.