"values voter" crap

* wolcott:

"Confronted with a serial plagiarist, commentators often attempt a jackknife dive into the murky motives of the offender, trying to untangle the nagging compulsions that made the copycat risk his or her career by taking a heaping helping of other people's work. (Thomas Mallon's Stolen Words is probably the definitive book on the psychodynamics of plagiarism.) In Coulter's case, no dive is necessary, no onion-peeling of motives required. She is so devoid of character and psychology that any investigation would be superfluous. She's swiping other people's work not because she's trying to slip something past us but because she's sloppy, lazy, and arrogant. She just doesn't give a fuck. She's learned that the rules of journalism and public discourse don't apply to her, having cheerfully violated them so many times before only to be rewarded with the cover of Time, countless cable-news appearances, and bestselling success. Pisspoor Media will quote her sliming hyperbole no matter how much of a subliterary parasite she is revealed to be. She knows this. Her shampoo with its special conditioning agents knows this. Her spot in the green room is secure."

(wolcott gives a shoutout to rudepundit, but not to Ron.)

* billmon channels emptywheel:

A war crimes trial may not be in the cards – although you never know, I’m sure Pinochet thought the same thing – but the entire jury-rigged legal structure of the Cheney gang’s miniature Gulag Archipelago has just been condemned, leaving them with a politically excruciating choice: Bulldoze it, and concede their policies were illegal all along, or defy the Supreme Court and bring on a full-blown Constitutional crisis.

* jiminy cricket:

"Yes, a nice slice of the voters for the Republican party is made of conservative evangelicals. But again why do we concede support to Republicans when it is not true. Who do you think all the other Christians (and other faiths) vote for? (hint: not republicans ; )). Since only like 9% of Americans do not identify with any religion, the Republican party would very much like us to illogically believe that the other 91% of religious Americans are ALL Republicans.
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This is important because we need to dispell that meme, in case the election is close enough to steal and the "values voter" crap is trotted out again to explain it all away."

(jiminy has more)