JONAH GOLDBERG: TEABAGGERS AREN'T HYPOCRITES, THEY JUST BASHED BUSH REALLY, REALLY SLOWLY

Jonah Goldberg attempts to defend teabaggers against charges of hypocrisy:

...One of the more widespread anti-tea party arguments goes like this: Republicans didn't protest very much when Bush ran up deficits and expanded government, so when Obama does the same thing (albeit on a far grander scale), Republican complaints can't be sincere....

I speak for many who have actually spoken to tea partyers when I say that is slanderous hogwash.

... here's an alternative explanation: Conservatives don't want to be fooled again....

Throughout his presidency, Bush's "compassionate conservatism" surrendered to the assumptions of welfare state liberalism....

Many conservatives disliked this whole mind-set and the policies behind it, from comprehensive immigration reform to Medicare Part D.

But given the charged climate after the 2000 Florida recount and 9/11, many conservatives muted their objections, in part because they liked the man personally or because they approved of his stances on tax cuts, judges, abortion and, most important, the war on terror. Conservatives didn't necessarily bite their tongues, but they did prioritize supporting Bush over fighting too hard for ideological purity....

Oh, right, Jonah -- that's why there were no tea parties in, say, 2006 and 2007 and 2008: because the people who really, really would have protested were still worried about sticking up for the administration after Bush v. Gore.

Explain this to me, Jonah: Why have I never seen an ugly, grotesque personal attack aimed at any Republican politician on a teabaggers' sign? Why have I never seen any Republican depicted as the Joker, or Hitler, or Stalin? If teabaggers are so damn nonpartisan, why are the personalized attacks directed only at Obama and Pelosi and Reid and whoever the local Democrats are? Why not Bush? Or why not, say, the Republicans who continue to take plenty of pork? The #1 porker in Congress this year was Republican senator Thad Cochran of Mississippi. Why aren't there tea party signs accusing him of leading us down "the road to serfdom"? Why isn't he name-checked in signs hung around the strollers of teabaggers' grandchildren that say, "Stop Spending My Inheritance"?

Oh, sure -- teabaggers have decided they won't be fooled again.

And they'll un-decide that as soon as Republicans are back in power.