December 29, 2015 6:02 AM

Today's cheap entertainment: Watching Conservatives eat their young

Outside the Beltway, the right is livid with new Speaker Paul Ryan’s trillion-dollar spending deal with Democrats. Conservative pundit Ann Coulter says Ryan, just seven weeks on the job, is ripe for a primary challenge. “Paul Ryan Betrays America,” blared a headline on the conservative site Breibart.com. And Twitter is littered with references to the Wisconsin Republican’s new “Muslim beard.”…. Ryan has also emphasized that he “inherited” the flawed omnibus from his predecessor, ousted Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), and that the cake was “already baked” by the time he was handed the reins in late October. Those arguments have done little to sway some of Ryan’s critics, particularly on conservative talk radio. Laura Ingraham denounced the spending package as an “omni-bust” and said Ryan should be “regarded as a declared enemy of the Base.” Mark Levin said Ryan is “already a disaster” and criticized the funding package for increasing the number of visas for foreign workers.

It’s true that the moments when I believe political compromise is possible are few and far between, but few things cause me to despair more for the future of the republic than the idea that House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) isn’t nearly Conservative enough for a sizable segment of the Rabid Right.

Of course, the rage directed at Ryan, more often unfocused, personal, and/or vitriolic than it is rational and fact-based, is hardly surprising. Red Meat Conservatives on the WAY Far Right aren’t exactly known for tolerance or willingness to compromise. To their way of thinking, anyone not willing to metaphorically burn the village to the ground is insufficiently committed to the Conservative cause. The fact that none of the indignation and animosity directed at Ryan (and his “Muslim beard”)- NO one’s Liberal- has anything at all to do with classical Conservatism seems to be beside the point.

The new Speaker has been in office a matter of mere weeks, and there are those already willing to burn him at the stake. For some of the zealots, compromise on even the smallest of matters is tantamount to capitulations. Truth is, no one would be able to satisfy those whose attitude reflects the belief that if they don’t get everything they want, they’ll just go ahead and burn the place down.

On the bright side, I really rather enjoy watching Conservatives consuming their progeny. While they’re heavily invested in fighting an internecine ideological (and not so very) civil war, it’s tough for them to do any significant damage. Their insistence on ideological purity and complete obedience to their take-no-prisoner-show-no-mercy-burn-the-village-to-the-ground inflexibility is probably the best thing for the country, though. Their refusal to compromise or tolerate those who are willing to find common ground means the odds are very low that they’ll carry the day. They’re so busy looking for torches and pitchforks that they’re unlikely to ever actually accomplish anything of value. As long as they’re distracted by their witch hunt, they can’t do any damage…which means their impotent rage will continue unabated without actually posing much of a risk to the country.

Don’t just LOVE watching Conservatives eat their young??

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on December 29, 2015 6:02 AM.

Dreaming of a world where politics reflects truth and reality? Dream on. was the previous entry in this blog.

The runner-up for the 2015 WWJD Worst Person in the World: Ted Cruz is the next entry in this blog.

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