"Wassup! Conservatism is inherent in the hizzouse!"

You really must see this. Here, from Michelle Malkin's outfit, is an instructional video for conservatives on how to win back the "youth vote" (that is, us). It entails:

1. All the insane bullshit they believe about Social Security, George Soros, and "individual responsibility," plus
2. The rockin' soundtrack and compelling presentational style with which Ashton Kutcher hosts Punk'd.

The result is just as hilarious as you expect:

I especially like how he thinks health care is a "remote topic" that doesn't "presently affect our lives," but what really gets our hackles raised is the government telling us what music we can buy. (For that matter: he thinks we buy music.) Ladies and gentlemen, the conservative leaders of tomorrow: in touch with YOUR needs!

(h/t TBogg)

Watching Out for the Business Lobby

RedState's Erick Erickson -- one of that august institution's only readable writers -- makes an interesting point on the dynamics of the GOP presidential race. Writing from the Family Research Council summit in Washington, (a.k.a. Religious-Right-O-Rama), he proposes a theory as to why Mike Huckabee is struggling to gain any traction among Republican elites:

The social conservatives do not want to rally around Huckabee because he is as distasteful to fiscalcons as Rudy is to socons. Even Tony Perkins, the head of FRC, said he hoped the social conservative candidate would be palatable to the fiscal conservatives out there. Huckabee is not.

That's putting it mildly. Mike Huckabee stands in direct opposition to the tenets of fiscal conservatism; he's a red-blooded Middle American populist, complete with a record of tax hikes and a healthy distate for Wall Street in his rhetoric. Additionally, he's a batshit-crazy religious fanatic who thinks the Declaration of Independence was written by ministers and abortions cause immigration. Neither of these two characterists are particularly appealing to your average CEO, who simply wants someone who'll balance the budget and won't make waves.

Thus the hesitance among religious-right leaders to throw their weight behind Huckabee, even though he's perfect for their constituency (see his remarkable strength at that FRC summit). After all, these people aren't stupid; the last thing they want to do is incite a GOP civil war with the Club for Growth types and all their party's money. Marc Ambinder, adding some thoughts of his own that I don't entirely agree with, nevertheless sums it up very well:

Huckabee has an independent streak. The establishment is threatened. Their interests are at stake and they want candidates who are beholden to them. Huckabee doesn't fit the bill.

At this point the reaction of the Democratic reader is probably some kind of schadenfreude -- but not so fast, this dynamic has consequences for us, too. Here's the scary part of Erick's analysis (emphasis added):

And here we arrive at the conundrum for the GOP and the Press. While the media has been filled with stories about the socons ready to bolt from the GOP if Rudy is the nominee, the real story and the untold story is that the business community is even more ready to bolt from the GOP. For the last eight years they've watched as the socons have scored every significant win on the right — stem cells, judges, etc. Only against Labor have the fiscal guys scored wins. But there have been no budget cuts, no culling of pork, steel subsidies, etc.

The fiscal guys see the writing on the wall. They see Hillary's position. And they are just about ready to cut a deal.

It's not by coincidence that corporate donations to Democrats have soared lately -- access to power is, after all, their driving motivation, and we look increasingly good since the '06 Republican implosion. As a recent example, look how the telecom companies put the otherwise decent Jay Rockefeller in their pockets; and I imagine that's the tip of the iceberg. Of course, business involvement in politics is nothing new, but it has unarguably ramped up on our side since 2006.

The risk here is that business interests will coopt the Democratic Party. Don't think they couldn't do it -- we are agreeable folk by nature, and in purely financial terms we come at a much lower price than Republicans. My God, look how close we are to nominating Hillary Clinton, a first-rate machine politician who fits neatly with their idea of "responsible" (read: malleable) leadership. (It could only be easier for them if we went with Bill Richardson, a Third Way stooge who actually believes the stuff; but thankfully his throwback campaign seems to have disappeared. Has anyone heard from Bill Richardson lately? Is he OK?) I give no credit to the rest of the field, either, save the fringe candidates and of course John Edwards (whose increasingly fiery populism has prompted what looks like a contract on his head among the media, not to mention serious trouble raising funds; whether grassroots support can propel him over these hurdles remains to be seen). The temptation to form such a coalition, with its promises of untold organizing resources and at least a few cycles of total electoral supremacy (until Republicans or a third party got their act together) would be difficult for most Democratic leaders to resist.

But there would be nothing more perverse and dangerous, of course, than an intrusion of the business lobby into our policymaking. For starters, you can kiss off any serious progress on energy and the environment, not to mention the minimum wage and workers' rights or any sort of progressive tax. In the long term, assuming the planet had not yet been fried to a crisp and the disenfranchised poor had not yet risen up in revolt, we'd face a return to the toothless Democratic Party of the pre-radical 1960s when placid status-quo liberalism ruled the day. Nobody, except Exxon and Wal-Mart, wins in this scenario.

I have no concrete proposals as to what we can do about this, except to humbly suggest a vote for John Edwards and a serious look at his government reform proposals; mostly we just need to watch out for the threat of co-optation, and keep our first principles in mind. And of course, keep an eye on the Republican race, specifically on how successful the business lobby is in keeping Mike Huckabee down. It may be an instructive test case for us.