> http://www.johnlacny.com/archives/000007.html
As a Kansan, I have to point out that Fred Phelps is not "much-hated" in Kansas. He's a buffoon, but it's hard to imagine that anybody takes him seriously. He is, after all, so extreme that him and his family once picketed other churches in Topeka for not adopting his extreme anti-gay agenda.
Tom Frank: "Welcome to the Great Backlash, a style of conservatism that is anything but complacent. Whereas earlier forms of conservatism emphasized fiscal sobriety, the backlash mobilizes voters with explosive social issues -- summoning public outrage over everything from busing to un-Christian art -- which it then marries to pro-business economic policies. Cultural anger is marshaled to achieve economic ends."
I haven't read Frank's article, but this looks like a good assessment of contemporary American conservatism to me. Contemporary American conservatism is motivated and driven by fluffy cultural issues, not bedrock fiscal issues. This can be seen in the fact that Pat Buchanan and other traditional conservatives have been more critical of Bush and these other conservatives. This can be seen by watching O'Reilly or listening to Rush or reading Anne Coulter. Contemporary conservatives are kept in line by hysterical rants about "liberal traitors" and "activist judges."
A couple of days ago I was going to comment that the Democratic Party is going to be hurt this year by their decision to run Gore in 2000. My gut feeling after reading about recent polls showing little erosion of Bush's support, even after Richard Clarkes damagin testimony, is that the polls have discovered the core support for Bush which will be hard to erode. I would argue that this core support would be eroding right now if the Democrats hadn't run Gore in 2000, who many people see as a crony of the Clinton administration. The Clinton scandals may have been trivial, but liberals and progressives fool themselves if they don't take into account how much many Americans hated Clinton, and by extension, Al Gore.
The conservatives will throw lots of mud at Kerry and it will stick, because it's quite easy to show that Kerry is just another Democrat in the line of Clinton and Gore. By playing it safe and picking a candidate based on "electability," the Democrats may have screwed any chance they had to unseat a hugely unpopular president this November.
Chuck0