Cut the Taxes. Cut the Spending. Cut the Jesus.

So, what can we learn from the three two and a half electoral contests of note last night?

The gubernatorial victories for the GOP in Virginia and New Jersey showcased explicitly free market conservatism with a muted tinge of social conservatism. That, I think, is a good thing.

As for the NY-23 election, the Tea Partiers and talk radio yahoos put all their chips in against a Republican in favor of a guy whose first issue on his website is "Gay Marriage." He lost, and thus another Democrat holds a seat in the House. The nation's two newest governors-elect did have social conservative messages on their sites, but they certainly weren't highlighted and considerably down the list of priorities.

Lesson: Cut the taxes. Cut the spending. Cut the Jesus.

Jesus is all well and good for emulating his life and taking his lessons to heart. But until he starts feeding the unemployed with fishes and loaves, best leave him at home and at church on Sunday. Whether you think Jesus was just a wise man, a prophet, or the Savior of mankind, a politician he was not. Keep him in your heart, if that's your thing, but leave him out of politics.

The pundits will say what the Dems need to learn from yesterday and what it means to the president and health care and all that, but I think the Republicans should take heed as well. Last night's victors were decidedly not Huckabee and Palin Christian populists, yet all signs point to those two in leading the GOP in 2012.

Let's hope the Republicans get the message from yesterday too.

With Friends Like These...

Ugh.

So, the lineup for CPAC--think of it as a Conservative Yearly Kos/Netroots Nation with less patchouli and more Brylcreem--is coming together. Let's have a look, shall we?

The latest schedule for the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. late February: Possible presidential candidates include Rep. Paul Ryan (WI), speaking Thursday, Rep. Mike Pence (IN), speaking Thursday -- he's invited, not confirmed -- Gov. Mike Huckabee, on Thursday, Gov. Sarah Palin, on Thursday -- invited, not confirmed, and Rep. John Shadegg (AZ). On Friday, Sen. John Cornyn speaks in the early morning; Newt Gingrich hosts a screening of a movie about Ronald Reagan. Ron Paul and Mitt Romney speak in the afternoon. On Saturday, Rick Santorum begins the day and Gov. Tim Palwenty is an invites speaker. The lovely [sic] Ann Coulter speaks at noon. And Rush Limbaugh finishes the conference.

Huckabee. Palin. Cornyn. Santorum. Coulter. Limbaugh. [I originally wrote one-word summaries of each of their respective contributions here, but prudence inspires me to delete it before publishing.] Individually, they are each loathesome in their own special way, providing nothing but inanity and fueling self-righteous rage of conservatives and liberals alike. Collectively, they represent a holy war on decency and rationality that makes me wonder if it is even worth it to fight any more. As much as I cannot stand the pomposity of Chuck Schumer, the political hackery of Nancy Pelosi, the incompetence of Harry Reid and the unbearable triteness of being that is Dick Durbin, I'm at a loss when I look across the ideological aisle and see these cross-weilding populist asses and their attack dogs.

If these are really the politcal stars of our times, on both sides, we're all pretty much fucked.

Huckabee Fears American Minorities, Not Actual Terrorists

Now, I've already discussed less credible charges of veiled racism from within the McCain campaign, but here is an example I think deserves a closer look:

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, mentioned as a possible running mate for presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain, yesterday said he feels safer in Israel than in American cities.

...

"I have no fear to go to Israel," Huckabee said before boarding a plane at Kennedy Airport.

"I felt more fear in American cities. I can walk down the streets of Tel Aviv at night without a problem. But I, of course, have the knowledge of which places not to go at night, just like any other city in America."

Uh huh. And how do you know that, governor? Oh yes, when black and brown people are standing outside....

Make no mistake, America has some very terrible neighborhoods (most of which are heavily dependent on the government dole, might I add). But poor and black (or Hispanic) does not mean dangerous.

I'm not saying Huckabee is a racist, but what he said is certainly more likely to be construed as such than the now notorious "Celeb" ad. (That said, coming from a Baptist good ol' boy it strikes me as entirely plausible that it is.) Statistically speaking, he may very well be right to say he's safer in Tel Aviv than he is in New York City or Washington,DC, but the added "where not to go at night" comment was questionable, at best.

It will be interesting to see what kind of attention the media gives the comments.

UPDATE: A friend emailed me to disagree with what I wrote in this post. I think her criticisms are fair, although I stand by what I wrote. In response to her, however, I wrote the following which I probably should have included in the original:

Euphemisms and political correctness have replaced overt racism in the broader American lexicon...The language is benign, often masking a more malicious or callous intent. He would never say "I know better than to go into poor black neighborhoods" -- but in fact, he just did.

UPDATE II: It should also be noted that I don't mean to pick on Israel as a particularly dangerous country. It was the characterization of US cities and the implications of certain sections of them which offended me, not the comparison to Israel. My headline is admittedly overstated, but in no way to dispute that there are places more dangerous in the US to live than Israel.