Goldwater, the Arizona senator and 1964 Republican candidate for president, an "insurgent"? Yes, if you keep in mind his condemnation of the too-liberal elite running the Republican Party, who, in his eyes, represented a clubby world of Ivy League bankers, corrupt politicians, media lords, and "one-worlders." Or consider the way he flirted with the freakish John Birch Society (which called President Dwight Eisenhower a "dedicated, conscious agent of the Communist Party" and warned of a Red plot to weaken the minds of Americans by fluoridating the water supply). Or the Senator's alarming readiness to threaten to push the nuclear button in defense of "freedom," which could be thought of as the Cold War version of "Don't Tread on Me."It is odd after eight years of Bush 43 - an administration that believed the presidency had unlimited powers - suddenly the Rightie tea baggers have discovered the 10th Amendment. The tea nut interpretation of the 10th would be the one Lincoln buried with all the traitors who fought for the Confederacy.
Above all, Goldwater was the avatar of today's politics of limited government. In his opposition to civil rights legislation, he might be called the original "tenther" -- that is, a serial quoter of the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, which reserves for the states all powers not expressly granted to the Federal government, with which he justified hamstringing all efforts by Washington to rectify social or economic injustice. For Goldwater the outlawing of Jim Crow was an infringement of constitutionally protected states' rights. Moreover, he was an inveterate enemy of all forms of collectivism, including of course unions and the welfare state.
As the Goldwater opposition sank its grassroots into the lush soil of the Sunbelt, its desire to restore an older order of things was palpable. At a time when New Deal liberalism was the reigning orthodoxy, the senator's reactionary impulses seemed startlingly adrift from the mainstream, and so strange indeed.
Upping the ante: Limbaugh and Hannity's falsehood about oil spill response keeps growing - When the numbers get larger than 3 Sean and Rush cannot keep up even when using their fingers to count.
Speaking At Trade Association Funded By BP, Gov. Perry Claims Rig Disaster Is An ‘Act Of God’
Texas, a beautiful state with a complete nut-bag as governor.
Perry questioned whether the spill was “just an act of God that occurred” and said that any “politically driven” decisions could put the U.S. in further economic peril. “From time to time there are going to be things that occur that are acts of God that cannot be prevented,” Perry said.
As Climate Progress’ Joe Romm has noted, BP cut corners by violating numerous safety regulations and refused to install “a remote-control shutoff switch that two other major oil producers, Norway and Brazil, require.” In fact, the Chamber, which is one of BP’s many trade associations and lobbying fronts, has worked aggressively to oppose regulations and fight for more offshore oil drilling.
