You are correct, of course. Normally I would take a cheap shot at that. And it would be cheap.

There certainly are thinking conservatives. William Buckley comes to mind, as does George Will. It would have been interesting to watch either one of those debate Joe Biden. And I believe both of those individuals are or were more or less honest. I can't imagine Buckley insisting the US doesn't torture. I think he would have said, "So what!" As opposed to many Conservatives, he would have accepted responsibility.

Limbaugh is bright and articulate, capable of thinking at some depth. He is not, however, any more honest than any other entertainer. He's an actor portraying a buffoon and has to be laughing all the way to the bank at the people who consider him drama rather than slapstick. They take him seriously while he tries to be as outrageous as he can.

"Our" conservatives, on the other hand, seem to be neither capable of thinking nor intellectually honest. They enthusiastically followed every twist and turn of the Bush-Cheney Administration without missing a beat. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, if ever one asked, were always going according to plan. Palin was a fine choice for VP despite the lack of awareness of important issues and the petty dishonesty. A Democrat as "challenged" as Palin is would have appalled them. The problem with Abu Ghraib was that it was publicized, not that it was wrong.

Ideologues, they do their reasoning by definition. By definition the use of force by the US is good. By definition Conservative politicians are make no important mistakes. On crucial matters, they have to check the blogs and Limbaugh to see what to think.

(Along those lines, when I suggested reading a particular book by a Conservative author who was inside the Bush counter-terrorism "efforts" early on to one of ours, that person said he didn't need that author to tell him what to think. To him reading a book is being told what to think.)

Arf