I don’t mean that conservatism in general is dying. But what I and others mean by “movement conservatism,” a term I think I learned from the historian Rick Perlstein, is something more specific: an interlocking set of institutions and alliances that won elections by stoking cultural and racial anxiety but used these victories mainly to push an elitist economic agenda, meanwhile providing a support network for political and ideological loyalists.

By rejecting Mr. Cantor, the Republican base showed that it has gotten wise to the electoral bait and switch, and, by his fall, Mr. Cantor showed that the support network can no longer guarantee job security. For around three decades, the conservative fix was in; but no more.

To see what I mean by bait and switch, think about what happened in 2004. George W. Bush won re-election by posing as a champion of national security and traditional values — as I like to say, he ran as America’s defender against gay married terrorists — then turned immediately to his real priority: privatizing Social Security. It was the perfect illustration of the strategy famously described in Thomas Frank’s book “What’s the Matter With Kansas?” in which Republicans would mobilize voters with social issues, but invariably turn postelection to serving the interests of corporations and the 1 percent.

In return for this service, businesses and the wealthy provided both lavish financial support for right-minded (in both senses) politicians and a safety net — “wing-nut welfare” — for loyalists.



http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/13/opinion/paul-krugman-eric-cantor-and-the-death-of-a-movement.html

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) railed against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Wednesday for failing to support her student loan refinancing proposal, which the Senate killed in a 56-38 vote earlier in the day.

Warren's bill would have enabled millions of Americans to refinance their student loans into cheaper debt by increasing taxes on wealthy households. Following the bill's defeat, Warren told MSNBC that McConnell, who called the proposal a "show vote," has made clear where his allegiance lies.

"Mitch McConnell is there for millionaires and billionaires," Warren said. "He is not there for people who are working hard playing by the rules and trying to build a future for themselves."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/11/elizabeth-warren-alison-lundergan-grimes_n_5486667.html

David, who just beat Eric Cantor in the primary election refused to say if he's for or against the minimum wage.

http://crooksandliars.com/cltv/2014/06/david-brat-refuses-say-if-hes-or

The 56-38 vote on the refinancing proposal, sponsored by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), failed to garner the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster. Warren’s proposal, which mostly targeted student loans owned or guaranteed by the Department of Education, sought to fund the reduction in borrowers’ student loan payments by increasing taxes on wealthy households.

“With this vote we show the American people who we work for in the United States Senate: Billionaires or students,” Warren said minutes before the vote.

Other than Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who voted against the measure on procedural grounds in order to preserve Democrats’ ability to reconsider it at a later date, only Republicans voted against it. They said the measure wouldn’t help reduce the skyrocketing cost of college and argued that it was not the best way to help former students manage their debt.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/11/elizabeth-warren-student-loan-refinance_n_5484662.html

Conservative Republican terror analyst Daryl Johnson's remarks are chilling and prescient in light of weekend shooting in Las Vegas...

In July of 2011, just days after the massacre of 77 mostly children at a youth summer camp by a Rightwing extremist in Norway, Brian Levin, the Director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University interviewed Daryl Johnson, formerly of the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS).

Johnson was the agency's senior domestic terrorism analyst from 2004 to 2010. He was also the lead author of DHS' April 2009 draft report --- which was, shortly thereafter, retracted under pressure from Republicans, rightwingers and some veterans groups --- entitled "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment" [PDF].

After the public outcry from the Rightwing victimization industry, the DHS shamefully apologized for working on the report at all, even though it was begun during the Bush Administration; was being produced in response to a mandate from Congress; followed a DHS report on Leftwing extremism [PDF] (which received no similar outraged protestations) in January of 2009; and was authored by Johnson, who describes himself in the interview below as a pro-life, pro-gun, conservative Republican Mormon.


http://www.bradblog.com/?p=10668

Republican bill supported by Democrats in the Assembly would allow only wealthy individuals to seek post-elect handcounts...

Up until now, the state of California has been able to boast about one of the most liberal election "recount" statutes in the nation. It allows any voter or group of voters to request a post-election hand-count of any number of precincts in any race or ballot initiative in the state. The state election code allows crucial access to citizen oversight of public elections.

That may all be about to change, however, if a Republican proposal, currently being supported by Democrats in the state legislature and causing alarm among some who have carried out recent "recounts", becomes law.

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=10671

The Ku Klux Klan plans to begin military-style combat training under the direction of military troops returning home from overseas deployments, according to a Barcroft Media report.

The notorious hate group has been attempting to recruit new members – children, in particular – in recent months, and the Loyal White Knights faction has begun preparations for a long-awaited race war.

“We’re going to do something a little different for probably the next couple of years to try to get our men and women ready for the upcoming battle that we’re about to take upon us, and this is something that no Klan has ever done and we’re going to start it,” said one Klan leader during a rally in Parkersburg, West Virginia. “All our boys are finally coming back home from the military, which is good, and we’re getting a lot more military members to join.”

Klan members have dropped leaflets and candy in neighborhoods across the United States, and the group has also used social media in hopes of attracting teenage recruits.

Other young people are recruited by their own parents to join the group.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/06/10/returning-troops-help-kkk-build-paramilitary-force-to-retake-us-in-coming-race-war/

In a clear effort to hurt Hillary Clinton’s sales of her new book, Hard Choices, far-right Republicans have swarmed the Amazon page for her book and driven down its ratings.

The negative reviews, which complain a lot about Benghazi, but also mention St. Bowe Bergdahl, the American POW saved from the Taliban by President Obama.

Republicans have decided, without any evidence, that Bergdahl is a traitor and should have been left behind for dead. Which is an interesting new standard for America prisoners of war.

http://americablog.com/2014/06/right-wingers-trash-hillarys-new-book-amazon.html

And none of this is illegal?

Okay, okay, everybody is all “Damn Those Republicans!” this morning when it became apparent that the GOP had bribed Virginia Democratic State Senator Phillip Puckett to resign and thereby give them the power to reject Obamacare in Virginia.

Hell, I am far madder at the damn Democrat for taking the bribe. We are supposed to be better than that.

The bribe is that his daughter gets a judgeship and Puckett gets the job of deputy director of the state tobacco commission. So now you have a guy sitting on the state tobacco commission, a job which involves awarding economic development grants funded by the national tobacco litigation settlement. So you’re going to trust a guy who is bribable to sit on a commission in charge of millions of dollars?

And you want a judge who didn’t get there on her own but through her father’s under the table dealings? You really want a George W Bush sitting on a court?

Terry Kilgore, a Republican who confirmed the deal, said, “I would say that he wanted to make sure his daughter kept her judgeship. A father’s going do that.”



http://crooksandliars.com/2014/06/i-m-more-worried-about-guy-who-accepts


isn't it illegal to offer a bribe?

The Republican Party in Virginia has resorted to what appears to be outright bribery in its ongoing effort to deny low-income residents in the state access to the Medicaid expansion authorized by Obamacare.

The Washington Post is reporting that Republicans offered to move Democratic state Sen. Phillip P. Puckett and his daughter into prestigious jobs in exchange for Puckett's resignation, which will flip the chamber into Republican hands. Pucket will officially accept the offer on Monday, the paper reported.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/08/phillip-puckett-resign_n_5470640.html


If I lived in VA I would get even and vote the GOP bums out!