by:
Mike Lofgren, Truthout | News Analysis
Retired Republican House and Senate staffer Mike Lofgren spoke with Truthout in Washington, DC, this fall. Lofgren's first commentary for Truthout, "Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult," went viral, drawing over a million unique views.
Although Mitt Romney
used the word "conservative" 19 times in a short speech at the February
10, 2012, Conservative Political Action Conference, the audience he
used this word to appeal to was not conservative by any traditional
definition. It was right wing. Despite the common American practice of
using "conservative" and "right wing" interchangeably, right wing is not
a synonym for conservative and not even a true variant of conservatism -
although the right wing will opportunistically borrow conservative
themes as required.
Right-wingers have occasioned much recent comment. Their behavior in the Republican debates has caused even jaded observers to react
like an Oxford don stumbling upon a tribe of headhunting cannibals. In
those debates where the moderators did not enforce decorum, these
right-wingers, the Republican base, behaved with a single lack of
dignity. For a group that displays its supposed pro-life credentials
like a neon sign, the biggest applause lines resulted from their hearing
about executions or the prospect of someone dying without health
insurance.
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