Who You Calling Deranged?

Jonathan Chait
TNR

Democracy Corps has a very interesting survey about the worldview of conservative Republicans. The focus group interviews show that the Republican right, which consists of about a fifth of the electorate, is held together by a set of beliefs that goes well beyond small government and traditional values. "Our groups showed that they explicitly believe [Obama] is purposely and ruthlessly executing a hidden agenda to weaken and ultimately destroy the foundations of our country," reports the survey. Conservatives further believe that Obama’s policies are not merely misguided but "purposely designed to fail."

Conservatives pundits tend to be extremely touchy about the subject of right-wing paranoia. In response to a typically measured column by E.J. Dionne early this week ("Middle-income men, especially those who are not college graduates, have borne the brunt of economic change bred by both globalization and technological transformation," he sensibly observed), George W. Bush’s former minister of propaganda, Peter Wehner, exploded at Dionne’s "condescension." Wehner lashed back:

"[D]uring virtually the entire tenure of Obama’s predecessor, E.J. was part of a group, Angry White Men Inc., whose membership included the likes of Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, Frank Rich, Paul Krugman, Jonathan Alter, Jonathan Chait, Bill Maher, Michael Moore, and many others. This homogenous crew was, to a person, afflicted with a condition diagnosed as Bush Derangement Syndrome, one that has effects on its victims long after the cause of the condition has left the stage."

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