Politicians know that the obsessed, the fearful, the paranoid and the insane are easier to manipulate and outnumber by far than the attentive, Darrell Smith argues in a column. They can push their buttons at will. Tuesday proved it.
ideology
Don’t Celebrate Yet, Republicans:
Between Din and Tea Stains, a Reality Check
Short-attention span politics are here to stay, which is why Tuesday’s results are merely the latest re-casting of the same tiresome play that’s not about to end its run on our second-world stage. Not with allegedly educated voters like us buying tickets.
How Republicans Became America’s Arabs
That’s the strength behind the Republican No, as it is behind the Arab No, the Islamist No in particular: it appeals to some mythical, mass-marketable golden age. No proof necessary.
Charter School Failure: Why Imagine and Heritage Weren’t Included in FCAT Tallies
Charter schools are not in the same league as traditional public schools. Their standards are lower. The burden is on charters to prove their worth.
Why Tea Parties Are More Bunkers than Bunker Hill
The tea party’s booting out of Utah Sen. Robert Bennett from his state’s GOP primary, despite Bennett’s extreme conservative credentials, is emblematic of a movement in the grip of its own delusions.
Tea Party Throng Fills FPC’s Dawg House Cafe
The third meeting of the local tea party movement to be held at FPC drew 228 people, but discussions were standard and relatively tame.
Socialism, Capitalism, and Other Fallen Stock
We can rail about socialism’s evil and worship capitalism all we like. It won’t get us out of the hole we spent the last 30 years digging. History and Adam Smith are better guides.
The Liberation of Charlie Crist
Charlie Crist, never foreign to transgression, transgressed what’s left of the Republican Party, which has no room for moderates.
In Alabama, They Speak Ass
Alabama Republican candidate Tim James pledge to ban non-English driving tests, in a campaign video, is xenophobic mob appeal.
Lawrence: Flagler Tea Party’s Four Values–and Aims
Tom Lawrence, chairman of Palm Coast’s Tea Party movement, sums up the 4 values of the movement as it conceives itself locally, and its aims in the next six months.