Glenn Greenwald Hits The Nail On The Head

I sure you have all heard what Ann Coulter said about John Edwards during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Comitee meeting the other day:

Glenn Greenwald eloquently parses what this says about the conservative movement in the U.S. today. He voices what I have been feeling for some time, now. Glenn talks about how conservatives are more interested in the appearance of a strong, masculine leader, not the reality. I was reminded of an example that perfectly illustrates how conservatives think. Do you remember during Ronald Reagan's funeral procession, there was a riderless horse at the lead? Well, if you remember, there was a pair of boots in the stirrups; the boots were facing backwards, though. Now if you know military history, when a soldier of glory dies, it is considered the a high honor to have a riderless horse at the front of the funeral procession with an empty pair of boots placed backwards in the stirrups. This is exactly what was done for Ronald Reagan, a man that was never in the army, never saw a battle except in the movies he starred. For me, that is the perfect example of the emptiness of the modern conservative movement and, ultimetly, the danger. The modern conservative movement is all smoke and mirrors, without any of what the term conservative truly stands for.


Here's Glenn's take on Reagan:

Ronald Reagan never got anywhere near the military war (claiming eyesight difficulties to avoid deployment in World War II), and he spent his life as a Hollywood actor, not a rancher, yet to this day, conservatives swoon over his masculine role-playing as though he is some sort of super-brave military hero. Meanwhile, Jimmy Carter, who actually graduated the Naval Academy and was assigned to real live nuclear submarines, is mocked as a weak and snivelling coward who should not have a ship named after him.

And let's not forget Bush's embarassing "Mission Ac[con]plished" flight suit nonsence:


The modern conservative movement: Smoke and mirrors with no sense of responsibilty for their delusional celebration of war, Gitmo, Abu Ghirab, etc...

I really encourag you to go and read Glenn's post on the real consevative movement.