Anyone expecting your "average American" to get the irony of the crap people like Levin post, is showing how out of touch he/she/it is with them. Too many people really are that easily manipulated - the extreme right (not even true conservatives) figured this out and began pumping out their line of BS through the hot bags of gas that pass (pun intended) for conservative radio. People smart enough to get the joke aren't the target of the propaganda.

They haven't noticed that the current administration has expanded government while spending like there's no tomorrow - Even with the money they're pumping into defense contractors the economy was declining. That's crazy talk.

I sometimes wonder how these yahoos can keep using the same campaign tactics successfully - they'll tax & spend you to death and grow government - in the face of reality; then I look around

Glenn, Your writing says a lot of what is swirling around inside my head.

If, however, you think "regular" or "average" Americans are smart enough to finally figure it out, you are dreaming. These are the same people who bought the W is a regular guy story hook, line and perpetual indebtedness. That anyone other than the ridiculously rich can still support his administration is telling.

Your choice of the word rule instead of govern is accurate. I remember being appalled when I heard someone (probably cheney) use that in early 2001.

Whoever is really running the republican party now (they definitely aren't truly conservative) have been consolidating power since at least Nixon. They learned from watergate what the boundaries were. When they next had the reigns under Ronnie, they continued to subvert the balance of power: Iran/contra was government employees INTENTIONALLY breaking the law by selling military hardware to Iran [yes, THAT Iran] then using the illegal funds to support rebels trying to overthrow the ELECTED government of Nicaragua. Once back in power, they again began to push for more executive power with the assistance of a compliant republican-controlled congress. On Sept 11 2001, they were given a free pass to go hog-wild and trample on the constitution. That's about the only thing they have one a good job of.

People were appeased by (most) not having to personally sacrifice - most in the military who are sacrificing have been easily strung along by a simplistic winning vs. surrender argument. Uncle W said to go out shopping to help. The easy credit made living beyond your means easy.

Now that it's crashing down around their heads, they turn to faux news to be told that in the last two years a democrat-controlled congress has ruined everything - forget all the previous talk about how they are a do-nothing because they can't muster enough votes to get anything passed.

I live in an area that is heavily funded by the federal government through several military bases. In addition to the actual military personnel, the economy is buoyed by government civilians and contractors. The pain is finally trickling down here, too, but the mccain/palin signs are still ridiculously frequent. I spent almost 27 years on active duty and found very few people who looked beyond the common knowledge of republicans are pro-defense and democrats are pansies who want to give all my money to lazy poor people. During the clinton years, when people first started quoting rush as fact, I would ask them what had become worse for them. Like palin, they had no real answers so fell back on babbling gibberish - actually more often shouting. Since 2001, the amount of money thrown at the defense budget - even without the costs of war - has grown. But anyone who has ever been involved with budgeting in the military knows that no matter how much there is, it will never be enough. And don't forget how much of that budget is funneled to contractors outright.

Back on topic: I hope I'm wrong. I really do.

The similar statement from mccain re: killing civilians with bombs shows how out of touch he already was in 2000 - even in the area of the military where he's supposed to be an expert.

Sure, in his day hitting accurately from 15k feet wasn't possible except with a few special aircraft and the tactics were all low-level delivery. But by 2000, it was possible to do so and that was much more the norm. Gulf War I had taught some hard lessons about low-level bombing against modern air defenses.

Regardless of the technology and tactics, things can still go awry and the wrong people get killed. The real tragedy in most of the Afghanistan missions was relying on Afghanis for too much intel and repeatedly letting them use us to take out their rivals. A problem that could have been reduced by NOT pulling out before we were done and squandering resources in Iraq because Uncle Saddam didn't kick the Iranians around like he was paid to do.