Con Games: Conservatism In Reality

With all the numbers spewed by pollsters -- if you have to spew, spew here -- it is all too tempting to pick out a few choice morsels and yuk until you upchuck. These pre-selected numbers show no confusion in conservatism whatsoever -- and a core audience ready to frog-march in militant, military formation toward a future that looks all too much like those good old days that never were.

I have in mind three numbers that tell the tale like no others: (1) conservatives who believe see-you-later, soon-to-be former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is a credible Republican figure; (2) conservatives who believe climate change is a load of hooey if not an outright hoax; (3) conservatives who believe comedian Stephen Colbert is not joking on The Colbert Report on Comedy Central.

Or look at it this way: conservatives tired of dealing with the real world are more than happy to go condo in the closet of the closest alternative universe.

Let's go to the numbers. According to a USA Today/Gallup Poll two out of three Republicans want Palin to be "a major national political figure" in the future; if anything, Republicans say her resignation as Governor of Alaska means they are somewhat more likely to look even more favorably upon her. Quit on your state, duck and run -- Republicans don't much care, because Sarah Palin is the real deal...or something.

The trend toward dismissing the known world continues when Republicans are asked by Gallup about climate change. While three-fourths of Democrats say climate change is already happening, only 41 percent of Republicans agree -- a 35 point difference.

"The resulting 35-point gap," according to Gallup, "stands in stark contrast to 1997, when nearly identical percentages of Republicans and Democrats (47% and 46%, respectively) indicated that global warming was already happening. Thus, despite all of the attention given to global warming in the media, including coverage of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) reports, Republicans have become less likely over the past decade to believe that global warming is occurring."

Furthermore, according to another Gallup Poll, two out of every three Republicans believe news of global climate change is "exaggerated" -- the same margin as those who want Sarah Palin to remain "a major national political figure."

Stephen Colbert is the icing on the cake. His rapacious over-the-top depiction of a right-wing cable news host could not be possibly been seen as anything but parody, could it?

A study by The Ohio State University -- and reported upon first by HuffPo blogger Jason Linkins -- said the joke was on conservatives, who "were more likely to report that Colbert only pretends to be joking and genuinely meant what he said while liberals were more likely to report that Colbert used satire and was not serious when offering political statements. Conservatism also significantly predicted perceptions that Colbert disliked liberalism."

As Colbert once said at a Washington correspondents dinner: "Reality has a liberal media bias."

Put it all together -- Palin, climate change, and Colbert -- and you've got Humpty Dumpty after he was told to tear this wall down. With reality nothing more than a nuisance, the numbers reflect a conservative mindset slavishly devoted to wishful thinking, with the next new sign of reality never more than a single news cycle away.

Comments

[RomeoMD25]

Guess you didn't try my experiment with the ice cubes and the glass of water. Basic physics tells us that water expands when it freezes, therefore it takes up more volume than when it was water. So, when it melts, it takes up less volume, causing a drop in the water level.

You ask who is being cheated and of what by this scam. The American people are the ones being cheated

less than 2/1,000 of all CO2 is produced by human activity. So even if we wiped out every car,
power plant, jet liner, and human being from the face of the earth, there would be no noticeable effect on global CO2 levels.

The most important greenhouse gas by far is water vapor, which evaporates from oceans, lakes and rivers.
Water vapor accounts for up to 90% of the earth's greenhouse effect.

[The Ghost]

Go back to school.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intergovernmental_Panel_on_Climate_Change

[ThermoChemist]

If people were to take your entire first paragraph "at face value", it would ONLY be pertinent for "sea based ice". I do not believe it is relevant to "land based ice" which would also be melting (not to mention the negative consequence of it diluting the salinity of sea water).

As to water vapor:

Objection: H2O accounts for 95% of the greenhouse effect; CO2 is insignificant.

Answer: According to the scientific literature and climate experts, CO2 contributes anywhere from 9% to 30% to the overall greenhouse effect. The 95% number does not appear to come from any scientific source, though it gets tossed around a lot.

"...If you were to read through the table of climate forcings in the IPCC report or at NASA's page about forcings in its GCM, you won't find water vapour there at all. This is not because climate scientists are trying to hide the role of water vapour, rather it is because H2O in the troposphere is a FEEDBACK EFFECT, it is NOT a FORCING AGENT. Simply put, any artificial perturbation in water vapour concentrations is too short lived to change the climate. Too much in the air will quickly rain out, not enough and the abundant ocean surface will provide the difference via evaporation. But once the air is warmed by other means, H2O concentrations will rise and stay high, thus providing the feedback."

http://www.grist.org/article/series/skeptics/

[ThermoChemist]

One minor note..I believe Colbert's actual quote was:

"Reality has a well-known liberal bias"

[not "liberal media bias". No need to feed the Conserv need to parrot that old talking point..!]

[Freesia2]

You hit the trifecta with your summary, Michael. Conservatives who believe Sarah Palin is a credible Republican figure; conservatives who believe climate change is a load of hooey; conservatives who believe comedian Stephen Colbert is not joking.

I was reading a comment from a conservative reader over at The Atlantic. This was one those rare conservatives who still has neurons firing (they're occasionally spotted - elusive and rare) but he/she made a good point. Their concern was for 2012 that the zealot base that the GOP has courted and counted on will now demand a ridiculous candidate. Someone totally unelectable but who will satisfy all their right wing talking points. (And I guess also believe Sarah's credible, climate change is not credible and Stephen Colbert believe these things too. :-) )

In short his fear is that they're going to be devoured by their own monsters. lol

[dadw5boys]

One thing remains constant no matter what reality you live in.

We only have one planet and one life.

So we must decide how we treat the planet we love on and how we choose to live there with other people.

It is that simple no matter how hard those with agenda's want to change it.

Good action beget good actions while good intentions are only ideas never acted on.

[birdie2]

If a person can honestly believe that the earth is 6000 years old and that there is a bearded man in the sky orchestrating the live of every human being, why would it be a stretch for them to believe the 24/7 propaganda of conservative media. Ignore the man behind the curtain and live on faith.

[fumes]

it's why just saying ''flip-flopper'' worked against john kerry.

[me again]

Our Country has major troubles and to even think Sarah Palin could fix any of them is a recipe for disaster. Her espoused views are far right of the mainstream and he intelligence is sorely lacking. I mean come on, Palin, Huckabee, Romney and Gingrich is the best the GOP can offer to their base? If I were a Republican, I would be shaking in my boots.

[Rogan]

It's all the result of that propaganda machine. If all the TV and radio stations you listen to, pour mis-information into your mind 24-7, while you refuse to discuss the actual content of that propaganda seriously with anyone "on the other side," you only get what you're paying for. (Republicans used to be sane about climate change, in 1997... funny, it seems like that's about when I first started hearing horror stories, about The Fat Man on The Radio.

[Sinick]

In retrospect, I think that we should have let the South secede. Things would've been a lot less messy over the last 150 years.