"Americans haven't started connecting the dots between these failed conservative polices. Too often critics either portray these failures in isolation or as some aberration of the Bush Administration. They are neither. These are the policies of the broader ascendant conservative movement espoused by the multitude of conservative think tanks, commentators, intellectuals, and politicians across America who have been hard at work for more than two decades designing and implementing the conservative agenda... If progressives want to stem the conservative tide, then it is essential that they begin to make these connections. The breakdowns in our communities, states and nation are all linked - they are the result of more than two decades of failed conservative policies. Progressives need to start painting this big picture in broad brush-strokes for Americans to see, as only then will they create the necessary opening for a new political paradigm - a modern, progressive movement - to emerge."

The Rove-controlled media has spent endless hours playing up alleged divisions among Dems. Now we know why - because Bush's conservative base is so deeply divided that even the Moonie Times is concerned. "Bush is beginning to anger certain hard-line conservatives, particularly over fiscal issues, the way his father did in the year before he lost to Bill Clinton in 1992... 'I'm hearing a lot of anger,' says Richard Viguerie. 'I'm beginning, for the first time, [to hear] people talk about 'it would not be the worst thing in the world if Howard Dean were president,' because the size of government would stay still rather than increase 50% under a second Bush administration'... Public signs of discontent inside the Beltway include scathing critiques from the American Conservative Union's new online journal and from the Cato Institute's president, Edward H. Crane, who writes that, Mr. Bush is responsible for the 'philosophical collapse of the GOP.'"

"The rhetoric on the campaign trail took a bizarre swerve on Friday when a news release from Tory headquarters ended with the line, 'Dalton McGuinty: He's an evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet.' The ensuing brouhaha eclipsed the issue of health care, which had finally made it into the speeches on the hustings. McGuinty took the remark in stride, joking, 'I love kittens, and I like puppies too. I have eaten calf, I'll admit to that. I'm not going to get sidetracked by that stuff,' the Liberal leader said in Cornwall. 'This is just a lot of noise and I'm going to stay focused on what people want me to talk about during the campaign.' Ernie Eves took back the Tory claims that Dalton McGuinty eats kittens, and is an evil reptilian alien, but did not apologize for the incident. 'I think someone either had way too much coffee this morning or had way too much time,' Eves said in response."

UC Berkeley News reports: "Politically conservative agendas may range from supporting the Vietnam War to upholding traditional moral and religious values to opposing welfare. But are there consistent underlying motivations? Four researchers who culled through 50 years of research literature about the psychology of conservatism report that at the core of political conservatism is the resistance to change and a tolerance for inequality, and that some of the common psychological factors linked to political conservatism include: Fear and aggression; Dogmatism and intolerance of ambiguity; Uncertainty avoidance; Need for cognitive closure; Terror management."

Michelangelo Signorile writes, William "Bennett relishes in telling us how immoral we are, implying that we must lead the supposedly solemn and sinless life that he does. He takes particular delight in slamming gays, and earlier this year he floated the all-gays-are-pedophiles canard, calling for the Catholic Church to ban homosexual priests in order to solve its problems. But Bennett also shows no mercy for... single mothers, people who work in Hollywood, feminists and that old standby, Bill Clinton. Meanwhile, Bennett has clearly been scarfing down obscene numbers of lobster tails and French pastries every chance he gets, while millions of poor people in the world - people he devoutly claims to care about - starve to death... It is heart-unhealthy porkers like Bennett, lining their arteries with cholesterol like it was peanut butter being spread on raisin-nut bread, who are making our insurance premiums go through the roof and are costing us taxpayers a lot of our hard-earned money!"

Thanks to the Sarah Scaife Foundation, the John M. Olin, Foundation, and the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the rightwing succeeded in lying and buying its way into the White House. By funding the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute, the Cato Institute and other bogus "think tanks" and corporate front operations, these three money moguls supplied the right with a steady stream of spin doctors, "experts" and a corporate agenda laundering operation. Almost all of the money from these groups went to "infrastructure" (rightwing speak for propaganda machinery), with nary a real good deed to show for all those millions. Now that their real work is done, plans are being made to fade into the sunset (the one setting over the nearest offshore account, no doubt), and, most likely, while carefully covering all their tracks.

As a result of writing the Death Of Outrage and the Book Of Virtues, William Bennett has positioned himself as America’s expert on morality. He has become the mainstream media’s automatic authority on all ethical issues. Those who should know better defer to his bombastic pronouncements. During the last presidential campaign, even James Carville sat meekly by on Meet The Press as Bennett savaged Al Gore for being depraved. It seems that no public figure is willing to challenge the prevailing establishment view that William Bennett is a national treasure whose moral leadership provides the rest of us with guidance on when it is appropriate to be outraged.

Far-right ideologues are ecstatic about all their soldiers appointed to the Bush administration. It reads like a "Who's Who" of Iran-Contra figures, Get Clinton players and right wing propagandists -- Otto Reich; John Negroponte; Richard Armitage; the Federalist Society's Ted Olson, Gale Norton, Spencer Abraham, Lee Liberman Otis and the entire White House Legal Counsel Office; the Heritage Foundation's Elaine Chao, Kay Cole James, Paul Dobriansky and Nina Rees; the Council for National Policy's Tommy Thompson; John Ashcroft; AEI's Cheney, Lawrence Lindsay, Diana Furchgott-Roth; the Hoover Institution's Condoleezza Rice; CSIS's Robert Zoellick and many, many more. There are a couple of good howlers in this article, especially Paul Weyrich's lament that the Reagan Administration ignored him and his fellow right-wing think tankers. Gee Paul, the Reagan administration only adopted two-thirds of the massive policy recommendations proposed by you and the Heritage Foundation. The Bush gang must really be bending over backwards for you.

In California's Orange County, Republican D.A. Tony Rackauckas is embroiled in a controversy involving local businessman Patrick DiCarlo, who has contributed to the campaigns of both Rackauckas and Rep. Chris Cox (R-CA). Since the '70's, DiCarlo has been investigated for possible mob activity. Recently, DiCarlo created an internet shell corporation with D.A. Rackauckas and one of his prosecutors . Meanwhile, Rackauckas has suspended two investigators who interrogated DiCarlo. The DA's office is a divided camp -- to the point that staffers have created their own web-site chastising Rackauckas for his conduct. Has DiCarlo been unfairly targeted by investigators -- or are the suspicions of mob activity justified? Stay tuned.

George W. Bush wants to make sure we all know that being president is a piece of cake. A day at work for Bush is like a day on vacation for any of the rest of us. He gets a late start, spends time at the gym and takes a nice long afternoon nap. So this leaves the messy business of governing the country to others. But who, exactly, has Bush gotten to mind the store while he takes it easy? Does the name "Federalist Society" mean anything to you? It should.

In examining Bush's theft of the presidency, one group of attorneys stands at the nexus between the Bush campaign, the Supreme Court, and the Florida legal maneuverings. They are the Federalist Society. Kenneth Starr is one of their most celebrated notables, but Scalia other Bush Federal bench partisans are members. The Federalists played a key role in the Clinton impeachment efforts, led by Ted Olson, Bush's lead lawyer before the Supreme Court. It's an incestuous and dangerous conspiracy, for sure.

It didn't take long at all. The conservatives are already yapping away. They're whining that they better get "their" cabinet positions or else. Hey, Nader, are you happy now?

As a poll watcher in Arizona, many years ago, Chief Justice Rehnquist proved to be adroit and bullying in denying minorities their voting rights. Maybe the 60's is a long time ago and maybe it's not, but his actions back then sure tell a lot about the man who is presiding over the most serious voting rights case facing this country in decades.

It's sometimes too overwhelming to believe the frontal assault on democracy that we are facing. Bob Herbert, in his New York Times commentary, writes about Tom DeLay's threats to impeach Federal judges, including those on the Supreme Court, who don't agree with his radical political outlook. It's about as chilling as it gets.

The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy entered the Florida recount battle in the form of Larry Klayman, Chairman of Judicial Watch. It's pretty funny to see Klayman joining forces with Bush, since Bush specializes in denouncing the courts and the lawyers, while Klayman files 3 lawsuits every morning before he brushes his teeth. While Klayman looks over the shoulders of the vote counters, someone (with a strong stomach!) should look over his shoulders. Last we checked, KlaymanWatch.org was available...

It must be a full moon, because the right wing is starting to rant and rave again. They are coming out of the weeds, now that it looks like their Boy George may be in a little bit of trouble. BuzzFlash.com emptied its "E-Mail Lockbox" and discovered these harangues from the Dubya loyalists.

When the public sided with Bill Clinton over Tom DeLay during the impeachment farce, right-wing super-moralists went ballistic. Bill Bennett, whose brother Bob made a killing defending Clinton, made his own killing by attacking Americans in his screed "The Death of Outrage." But when a REPUBLICAN is charged with a moral crime, where do the super-moralists go? They're probably passing the bong around, if you ask me.

No Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and the rest of the right wing crowd are not down and out; they are just laying low in the weeds. Come election day, they will be out in droves for their man George.

Watch how they do this: First a conservative flack comes out with a report filled with erroneous numbers. The major news media mostly ignore an attempt by credible people to set the record straight. Then the Republican leadership climbs aboard the rickety platform, using it as the foundation for public policy proposals that are unfounded, ill-considered and unwise. And what do you get out of this dissembling and dishonesty? You get the very high potential for environmental disaster in one of America’s greatest natural treasures, the Artic National Wildlife Refuge, which at its peak production could only produce enough energy to meet the U.S. demand for energy for a matter of weeks.

Watch how they do this: First a conservative flack comes out with a report filled with erroneous numbers. The major news media mostly ignore an attempt by credible people to set the record straight. Then the Republican leadership climbs aboard the rickety platform, using it as the foundation for public policy proposals that are unfounded, ill-considered and unwise. And what do you get out of this dissembling and dishonesty? You get the very high potential for environmental disaster in one of America’s greatest natural treasures, the Artic National Wildlife Refuge, which at its peak production could only produce enough energy to meet the U.S. demand for energy for a matter of weeks.

Last week was a golden week for GOP hypocrisy. There was so much of it going around that it was, to quote George W. Bush, "gargantuan." And Dubya was right up there at the top of the "A" list. On Friday, Bush held a media event in which he announced a $2.7 billion anti-drug program, chided the Clinton administration for being soft on drugs, and promised "to turn back the tide of drug abuse." But a former cocaine user is hardly the person to be lecturing the Clinton administration about its drug policies. Especially, a former drug user who apparently missed two years of national guard service because of his, shall we say, "little problem." Not to mention that he drank booze like a fish until he was forty, nine years after he claims that the birth of his twins turned his life around. Bush might gain some credibility on this issue if he were to tell us about his two missing years of National Guard Service (recently documented on Democrats.com), when he was allegedly snorting a lot of toot. But then again, he might not be able to recall the missing years at all. After all, as one of the anti-drug commercials run by the Clinton administration tells us, cocaine scrambles your brain into fried eggs.

Paula Jones, the woman at the epicenter of the Clinton impeachment efforts, is reportedly going to get naked for Penthouse magazine. All the right wing groups and the Ken Starr legal thugs championed Jones as a wronged innocent. It was a sham from the outset. Since that infamous period when the right wing unsuccessfully tried for a legal coup d'etat, Jones divorced her protective hubby and is now going to display her fleshy gifts for all to see. The Republicans are great for creating grand farces. Alas, when it involves an attempt to overthrow an elected President, it's not a farce; it's a troubling tragedy. The co-conspirators of the right who hatched the Jones-Starr alliance are now the ones who should be investigated. There's no longer Paula's modesty to hide behind.

Matthew Glavin, president and CEO of the Southeastern Legal Foundation, has been charged with public indecency in a National Park. The Southeastern Legal Foundation has been virulently anti-Clinton. The "Foundation" is behind the effort to disbar Clinton and files frivolous lawsuits aimed at discrediting the President. More significantly, the Southeastern Legal Foundation has been at the forefront of right wing groups attacking Clinton as indecent and immoral. Glavin stands accused of fondling himself and a police officer in the Chattahoochie National River Park, just east of Atlanta. Because his indecent behavior occurred in a National Park, he will be tried in a Federal Court.

The self-righteous, moralizing Tom DeLay is quite the party animal. Known for his lavish treatment of generous lobbyists, DeLay recently flew the Gucci Gulch crowd out to Vegas. There, in the gambler's den of sin, he treated them to liquor, food and hot tubs. Curiously, his daughter hosted the main cocktail soiree where, she bragged to friends, one lobbyist poured champagne over her while she bathed in the hot tub. Hey, Tom, hypocrisy is your family heritage, isn't it. Like father, like daughter.

Former Virginia Governor George Allen thought it was just dandy to inaugurate a Confederacy History Month in Virginia. James Gilmore, Allen's successor and fellow Republican, is being read the riot act by the NAACP, but Gilmore is taking his time about a decision whether or not to continue the state-sponsored month honoring the "glories" of the ante-bellum South. Message to Governor Gilmore: Forget all the weepy-eyed sentimentality about mint juleps and magnolia trees. There was nothing "noble" or glorious about slavery. How about the "Confederacy Repentance Month"? That would be more fitting. The Virginia skirmish is similar to the symbolic battle fought over flying the Confederate flag atop the South Carolina Capitol. We know that George W. Bush didn't want to offend his supporters, so he wouldn't take a stand against the "Johnny Rebel" flag. And don't count on the Bushman to denounce the Virginia Confederacy month. After all, the Sons of the Confederacy are Bush voters. And don't you forget it.

The guessing game is over. The question was, "When will the conservatives throw off their muzzles and start calling Bush a wimp?" The answer -- if a commentary piece in the conservative news site NewsMax is any indication --is now. Bush is taken to task for his bumbling Friday attack on Gore, which the column suggests was delivered in a fumbling, unprepared fashion. More significantly, Bush is criticized for carrying through with the GOP "compassion" makeover. As a result, the Bush campaign "stands for nothing" NewsMax charges. It might just be that Bush's drop in the polls has drawn the jackals out of the woods.

The conservatives will never stop asserting that the media is run by a liberal conspiracy. But a new study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs shows that this year Bush is getting the favorable coverage. The president of the non-partisan research group says that "This is a man bites dog story" because the GOP holds the press in such high disregard. Don't expect the Bushies to stop yapping anytime soon. They just love to jawbone journalists.

The top ranking GOP hypocrite, Newt Gingrich, is back in the swing of things at the GOP convention. In what appears as the first official step toward restoring his GOP star status, Gingrich is making the rounds. This article doesn't mention, by the way, that Newt is getting hitched for the third time in a couple of weeks. He's marrying the woman, 23 years his junior, with whom he was having an adulterous affair while he was scurrilously attacking Clinton as an adulterer. You got to love the guy.

The right wing jackals are biding their time inside the Trojan Horse of the Bush Campaign. If Junior is elected, you'll see them jettison "compassionate conservatism" as quickly as you can say Pat Robertson.

Pat is back. Yes, the indefatigable and insufferable Pat Robertson promises to pull out all the stops for George W. in the fall. We didn't have to wait long for the religious right to start coming out of the woods.

The carefully scripted and packaged GOP convention show finally opens in Philadelphia. On first blush, it appears that the seething, self-righteous watchdogs of the right wing are taking a pass on the Bush coronation. Washington Post "Rough Draft" columnist Joel Achenbach, however, has a different take: "The conservatives are grimly determined to win this election even if it means standing in the corner with fake noses and mustaches."