On top of everything else they've done, the Republicans have taken all the skill out of satire, given that most of the time you really just have to repeat what they've said, maybe intone it slightly differently, and, poof, it's now parody.

It's not the fault of the satirist; it's that the Republicans and the conservative movement in general are just happy living in a state of natural ridiculousness.

Simply, astounding. "Conservatives" are People of the Lie. Peck was describing them. It's actually frightening when you really think about it.

Now they are simply retyping the left's talking points. Or is it just copy and paste?

Maybe that's it. Their sniffing the virtual paste from their computers.

Ahhh, it all makes sense now.

And who comment that no one uses war as an instrument of policy in the 21st century . . .

As the heroic freedom-fighter Mark Levin so memorably put it: "If conservatives don't stand up to this, who will?"

The heroic Democrats, under the leadership of the Stalwart Band of Pelosi, Hoyer, Emmanuel and Reid!

Oh. You mean no one.

This is how the conservatives or Republicans always do it. They cause the problem and then blame it on the liberals or Democrats who then are stumped on how to fight back. Until the liberals and Democrats do fight back and make the conservatives and Republicans accept the blame, this will continue.

It is a hilarious quote, if you know what is really going on. Unfortunately, too many people will read it and believe it to be true.

Assuming: (a) that the average american, while perhaps more gullible than warranted, is not stupid nor pro-facism and that (b) people like Mark Levin are average americans, how do you deal with this obvious contradiction?

They must believe that the constitutional corruptions cited here don't apply to them. And further, they must believe that what i might consider prudent legislation for the protection of the individuals against the power of corporations, is actually an attack on personal freedoms? Or something?

I don't get it, so i'm probably not explaining it well, but unless we actually treat with this people, how can we convince them of the correctness of our cause?

(Personally i think one root is the legal definition of corporations as "people" which leads to confused rhetoric as well as strange legal consequences - but, i'm crazy.)

Thanks, Glenn.

In these troubled times, we all could use a little hilarity.

Whenever I'm concerned that I'm being too cynical about the intentions of the right, I tune in to one of these pustules' shows for a little while and just listen to their accusations about the left. Hannity is the worst -- he is so lacking in creativity that he can only rely on PNAC's own battle plan for his accusations. It's very boring, particularly when they accuse the left of false indignation.

Mark Levin is the alter gender ego of the equally hysterical gunslinger Ann Coulter. They may be the literal political incarnation of Gore Vidal's Myra Breckinridge. Come to think of it...has anyone ever seen them in person at the same place...same time? Hmmmm...

We must take our entertainment where we find it.

That half of these right-wing pundits don't believe a word they write/say. But they know there is a bullshit hungry audience that will eat it up in exchange for money.

is when people then think that it is the democrats that are the answer. When they see these supposed conservatives turning our country further into a socialistic state, the answer they come up with is to instead turn power over to the originators of brining socialism into the mainstream, hmmm?!?

But this is the world of political contradictions we have come to know and appreciate. Much like how the problem with our public school system is how the government is handling it incorrectly, so we need to pump more funds into it and have the government handle it.

How the government has completely messed up the social security system, but we shouldn't take control of it away from them, but instead keep it the way it is.

The current economic crisis, caused predominately by our government and all of their elite buddies skimming off the top and the way to fix it is to allow the government to manufacturer almost a trillion dollars because surely they know how to best handle that kind of money.

Maybe our problem is that we are so stuck with thinking that there are two parties, that when one fails, the other one must be the answer and we fail to do any real thinking about how to change our circumstances. We have so many people still complaining that the republicans have controlled things for the last 8 years that they fail to remember the last two or anything that occured before this time period.

We have allowed ourselves to think anyone who considers themselves to be something, automatically is that, even if they do not exhibit any of the signs of this being true. When there is evidence that an entire party is going to do anything, then we can act. But we would be better suited to start following individuals and stop buying in to entire systems.

Levin's post was a joke, right? Surely, it was. He cannot have been serious.

The National Review has been a pathetic joke for a long, long time...but this kind of astonishing foolishness removes NR from the realm of joke to the realm of ....what? There is no word. Probably there's one in German, but not in english. Hypocritical seems utterly inadequate to the task, doesn't it?

In Duncan's immortal phrase "teh stupid, it burns!!!"

(because, in truth, Levin probably meant every word he typed. Poor, dumb bastard. He needs psychiatric help, no question about that.)

I don't think any of these "pundits" have their own opinions, I think they just read whatever the republican party hands them verbatum. The right likes to say that the reason left wing radio isn't very successful is because there is no audience for it. A fellow liberal suggested another reason recently, he said it was becuase we don't have the patience to sit and listen to the same talking points repeated for three hours ad nauseum. We actually think there may be more then one side to issues and like to discuss nuance. The right doesn't seem to have the intellectual capacity for that.