Grand Old Pander

The GOP candidates had another debate yesterday in the all-powerful state of Iowa (pity them, though, some genius invited Alan Keyes). It was the kind of pander-fest that really makes you pray for Spring, when all this will be over.

Reason magazine's Matt Welch has this to say on the embarrassment that is the GOP primary-

"This article about Mike Huckabee's blatant flip-flops on Cuba policy and illegal immigration, coming as it does in a season where the immigrant-embracing ex-mayor of New York is rebranding as a deport 'em all toughie while a northeastern RINO Republican Mormon performs daily feats of Moral Majority-pleasing contortionism, begs the question -- didn't Republicans think that flip-flopping was bad last time around?

And has there been a single broad area of pandering this cycle that one would describe as indicating a positive trend for the Republican Party? It would be one thing if every candidate felt compelled to burnish his bonafides on limited government, but it seems the required notes this year are ever-shriller shrieks against immigration and ever-louder hosannas to God. Am I missing something?"

Yes. You forgot the pandering on who will blow up more islamofascists.

By the way, the Google link he posts showing 2004 stories on John Kerry and "flip-flop" are a real fun trip down memory lane. Many of the examples cited represented subtle changes in policy (the most famous 'voted for it, before voting against it' one was a complete misrepresentation... of Kerry's making, admittedly), not core changes of character.

By contrast, the Republican front-runners are all former moderates who are now disavowing nearly everything they ever believed in so they can portray themselves as conservative caricatures for the party loyalists. It's a completely different ball-game; I'm not sure the childish phrase "flip-flop" (hated it then, hate it now) suffices. And it reveals more about the conservative base than does it about the candidates themselves. Any hint of tolerance or progressive thinking will not be tolerated. It's actually quite disturbing.

UPDATE: Just came across this video... a brilliant, Colbert-quality parody-



(The same guy did equally good videos on Mike Huckabee and Clinton's Obama attacks)