Subtle Signs of Sanity

Right-wing insanity may have finally crossed a bridge too far. It might finally have arrived at its Waterloo. The signs are indeed subtle, and who knows if this is merely a temporary reprieve or if people have actually come to their senses? There's plenty of crazy still going round, as Happy Hour should prove. But let's enjoy watching some folks on the right dip their toes in.

Sen. Jim DeMint, one of the original kings of krazy, actually thinks the Teabagging antics are unacceptable.

David Brooks wakes up from a long slumber and realizes Rush Limbaugh is completely insane.

Cons everywhere (Newt Gingrinch excepted) wake up from a long slumber and realize Sarah Palin is completely fucking insane.

The number of town halls where there's some actual conversation rather than Teabag Tantrums has now reached four.

And David Frum sobers up and discovers what a Con victory against health care reform would actually mean:

It's certainly possible that conservatives will successfully rally enough opposition to defeat health care reform. David Frum, himself a conservative, ponders the consequences of the right "winning" the fight.

The problem is that if we do that ... we'll still have the present healthcare system. Meaning that we'll have (1) flat-lining wages, (2) exploding Medicaid and Medicare costs and thus immense pressure for future tax increases, (3) small businesses and self-employed individuals priced out of the insurance market, and (4) a lot of uninsured or underinsured people imposing costs on hospitals and local governments.

We'll have entrenched and perpetuated some of the most irrational features of a hugely costly and under-performing system, at the expense of entrepreneurs and risk-takers, exactly the people the Republican party exists to champion. [...]

Even worse will be the way this fight is won: basically by convincing older Americans already covered by a government health program, Medicare, that Obama's reform plans will reduce their coverage. In other words, we'll have sent a powerful message to the entire political system to avoid at all hazards any tinkering with Medicare except to make it more generous for the already covered.

If we win, we'll trumpet the success as a great triumph for liberty and individualism. Really though it will be a triumph for inertia. To the extent that anybody in the conservative world still aspires to any kind of future reform and improvement of America's ossified government, that should be a very ashy victory indeed.

I hope this isn't just a false dawn, but that Cons really are seeing the light.

I am not, however, holding my breath.