Good catch from Baxil. Apparently Bruce Tinsley was for conservatism before he was against it :

The “I’m really a libertarian” trend has been picking up steam lately among conservatives who want to seem reasonable in the face of undeniable corruption, but it should be pointed out that a real libertarian (assuming you can find one) wouldn’t spend half their time complaining about abortion, homosexuality, drug use, violent video games, etc. People who favor “small government” tend to do so because they want to be left alone, but conservatism has shown us time and time again that when push comes to shove, imposing regressive social values always trumps any professed love of limited government.

Even funnier than the popularity of bogus libertarianism is the pleas of “I’m conservative, but not a Republican” among wingnuts. For a crowd that prides itself on its toughness and resolve, it’s amazing to see how many of them are too cowardly to stand by the party they unquestionably support. This usually manifests itself in self-righteous odes to fiscal discipline with the chorus of “I didn’t leave them, they left me”, but anyone who would vote for a Republican after Ronald Reagan’s first term has no right to feign ignorance over the GOP’s irresponsible governance. Though they may try to absolve themselves of responsibility for the choices they make in the voting booth, anyone with a long record of supporting GOP candidates and bashing Democrats is a Republican in my book.

Or to put things another way, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck…

I don’t intend to turn this site into a Crooks & Liars style videofest — C&L already exists, and does the job admirably, so there is no reason to reinvent it. But occasionally I’d like to be able to post the odd exchange that I might happen to catch. Case in point: last week, Hannity & Colmes were looking at the case of the former Taliban spokesman who is now attending Yale. More on that here if you’re not familiar with the story. Short H&C version: Yale won’t let Uncle Sam on campus (in the person of military recruiters) but it’s inviting our enemies in. Hannity and Colmes were discussing the matter with a Yale alum and Army vet with the improbably Dickensian name of Flagg Youngblood. This clip begins with Colmes saying (predictably enough) that he’s not defending Yale for letting the former Taliban in. The reason I’m posting the clip comes at the very end.

Hannity: There’s nobody at Guantanamo that’s there for no good reason.

Colmes: That’s not what the Justice Department –

Hannity: Excuse me. (Pause.) Do you mind? (Pause.) Ah, there’s nobody at Guantanamo Bay that’s there for nothing.

(To see the video, click here. It’ll take a few seconds to load, just be patient.)

I could have just posted the transcript, but the thing that really struck me about this exchange gets lost in print. Basically, it’s the power dynamic. This has never been a show of equals, of course — as Al Franken famously pointed out in one of his books, the original working title of the show was Hannity and Liberal To Be Determined. But they used to at least make the pretense of it being an actual debate show, and not just the Harlem Globetrotters playing the Washington Generals night after night. But now, if Colmes brings up an unpleasant fact that goes contrary to the worldview that Hannity and the rest of the Fox news gang are pledged to support, he is simply told to shut up, in the way that the lord of the manor might dismissively deal with an annoying servant who has momentarily forgotten his place.

It just seems like an awfully sad way to make a living.

(Thanks to everyone who helped me figure out the tech side of this.)

Can anyone point me toward a decent tutorial in converting and posting video clips? I’m on a Mac, and I have the capability to burn DVDs off Tivo–I just don’t have any idea what to do with the DVD files once I get them to my computer. I’ve already been directed toward a program called “Streamclip,” but there’s definitely some intermediate step I’m just not seeing.

… thanks for now, got some good tips. Unfortunately the DVD burner apparently decided to give the pooch a good screw since the last time I used it, so I’m going to have to take this project one step at a time.

They really do seem to believe that the act of saying a thing makes it true.

Hinderaker: “Murtha’s suggestion that the administration said Iraq had nuclear weapons is absurd. (Why don’t talk show hosts ever seem to call Democrats on these wild misrepresentations?)”

Vice President Cheney, Meet the Press, 3/16/03:

We know that based on intelligence that he has been very, very good at hiding these kinds of efforts. He’s had years to get good at it and we know he has been absolutely devoted to trying to acquire nuclear weapons. And we believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons. I think Mr. ElBaradei frankly is wrong. And I think if you look at the track record of the International Atomic Energy Agency and this kind of issue, especially where Iraq’s concerned, they have consistently underestimated or missed what it was Saddam Hussein was doing.

Much more here. Also an email address, if you want to encourage the Power Boys to correct the record. They’re big on citizen activism in the face of demonstrable published falsehoods — I’m sure they’ll appreciate the constructive criticism.