YOU'RE NOT A TRUE CONSERVATIVE UNLESS YOU THINK AMERICA IS ROTTEN TO THE CORE

Interesting contrast between the left and right reactions to a segment on yesterday's Meet the Press: on the left, Think Progress notes that a top Mitt Romney adviser agrees with what Romney said in his secret fundraiser video about the level of dependency in America:

Mitt Romney adviser Bay Buchanan reiterated the Republican campaign's belief that half of Americans are dependent upon government, during an appearance on Meet Thee Press on Sunday. "We are in perilous times in this country. We are looking at financial ruin. We are looking at dependency. We're a nation of people dependent on their government, and that is what Barack Obama gives us," she said....

But over on the right, NewsBusters focuses on the fact that Buchanan attacked fellow panelists David Brooks and Joe Scarborough for being inadequately conservative, apparently because they don't think America is rotting from within, or at least don't think that it's appropriate for a presidential candidate to say that half of voters are lazy, irredeemable scum in the middle of a campaign.

Brooks wonders why Romney isn't running as a "compassionate conservative":

DAVID BROOKS: Look at the people he's helped. He's helped alcoholic Mormons. He's helped immigrants -- frankly, illegal immigrants. He's helped a lot of people. He's nursed kids who are dying. If you look at his private life -- he gave four million dollars to charity in one year! ... He has the perfect life story for a compassionate conservative campaign, 'cause he's lived that life.... The problem is, he's running a different campaign. George Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jack Kemp, they looked at people in the community colleges and they said, "OK, maybe there aren't they're on food stamps, but they're taking two buses, they're working two jobs, they're going to school, and conservatism is how those people rise."

Scarborough thinks the 47% comment was appalling:

JOE SCARBOROUGH: ... I believe a rising tide lifts all boats. I believe you unshackle individuals and they can prosper in this country. What's so disturbing about that video is like you said, David, Mitt Romney doesn't get it. He doesn't believe it. And that's what comes through. Margaret Thatcher, shopkeeper's daughter, would have never said that in a million years.

(I'm ignoring the rosy way Brooks and Scarborough describe their conservative heroes. Thatcher would never have said anything like that? Nonsense.)

In response to all this, Buchanan says:

And, you know, this-- this is-- this is just like four to one....

(The four are Brooks, Scarborough, Dee Dee Myers, and host David Gregory.) Later, Buchanan says to Scarborough:

The key here is which side are you on?

On one level, she's saying that every Republican should circle the wagons and stop criticizing Romney. On another level, she seems to be saying that if you don't agree that half the country is slipping into a decadent wallow in dependency, you're not a true conservative.

And maybe that's the real right-wing message right now: that perhaps America isn't worthy of a Romney presidency, or a Republican presidency, or a conservative presidency, because it's already just too decadent.

That's certainly the message of one right-winger quoted in a New York Times story today about the conservative hope that the Romney campaign will unleash Paul Ryan:

Mr. Ryan still has high-profile moments of combativeness and takes on fights that Mr. Romney does not. On Friday, he appeared at the annual AARP convention and drew boos as he called for repeal of Mr. Obama's health care law and laid out the approach that he and Mr. Romney would take to address Medicare's financial troubles, which would encourage more private-sector competition in the government-run program.

It was a classic example of what Chris Chocola, president of the conservative political action committee Club for Growth, admiringly called Mr. Ryan's "'You're damned right' answer" to critics.

"If someone says you're going to change Medicare as we know it, you say, 'You're damned right.' Paul Ryan can give that answer," Mr. Chocola said, adding, "The Romney ticket would be well served to let Paul Ryan be Paul Ryan."

Let me summarize that: Ryan went before the AARP, attacked the health care law, and got booed -- and Chocola thinks that's an excellent approach for the campaign. If you don't agree with us, screw you welfare bum! Vote Romney/Ryan!

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Oh, and here's the Meet the Press clip, via Raw Story:

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