E.J. Dionne: "The more he [Obama] emphasized a better balance between the individual and the community, the less interested conservatives became in anything that smacked of such equilibrium.
"That’s why today’s conservatives can’t do business with liberals or even moderates who are still working within the American tradition defined by balance. It’s why they can’t agree even to budget deals that tilt heavily, but not entirely, toward spending cuts; only sharp reductions in taxes and government will do. It’s why they cannot accept (as Romney and the Heritage Foundation once did) energetic efforts by the government to expand access to health insurance. It’s why, even after a catastrophic financial crisis, they continue to resist new rules aimed not at overturning capitalism but at making it more stable."
Dana Milbank: "When news broke that a vial of Ronald Reagan’s blood was being auctioned online, the price quickly jumped to $30,000 as Web sites and blogs explored a tantalizing possibility: Did this mean the late president could be cloned? [snip]
"But before they go filling that mold by mapping the Reagan genome, Republicans may wish to consider some genetic flaws that party scientists should repair in the cloning process. To make the Reagan clone more compatible with today’s Republican Party, a bit of genetic engineering may be in order..."
Both pieces are worth reading in their entirety. While it's early and the campaigns have just gotten underway, it appears from polling to date that a large percentage of voters are looking to reward these Rethuglican crackpots in November for their mindless radicalism. Sic transit gloria.
