politics: So you don't have to

I just keep getting those right-wing e-mails ... From the RNC, from Progress for America (of all the things they could've named themselves!), the American Family Association (because only right-wing Christian-approved groupings of relatives qualify as American Families), etc., etc., etc.

So what are they saying about Scalito?

Well, Progress for America wants your money to run their TV ad. As a bonus, too, you can download it for your video iPod! Snazzy!

What else do they say? "It is unprecedented for the Senate to oppose a nominee as qualified as Samuel Alito." So, in other words, advise and consent is dead. We own the country, they say, so get out of the way or you will rue the day you decided to oppose our iron fist. It's an unforgivable break with tradition, they say, to oppose their pet wingnut.

I remember a whole study we did in college of logical fallacies. One of the most common? 'Appeal to tradition.' In business, the appeal to tradition usually takes the form of 'Why change? This is how we've always done it.' This is usually followed by bankruptcy. Except in this case we're talking about moral bankruptcy.

How about the RNC?

Well, they want your money, too. But other than claiming that Scalito is a brilliant man out of whose ass the sun always shines, that under his influence America will turn into a land of milk and honey, where everyone joins hands and walks singing and smiling across the meadows, where your whites get whiter, your car never breaks down and money rains down from the heavens like a golden shower, offers up no substantive arguments for why their boy should get the job. But, as I've noted before, Kenny pretty much just expects that sending down his orders from on high should be enough to get the stormtroopers out in the streets smashing Democratic shop windows. And so on. And so on.

Of course, PFAW and MoveOn want my money, too. Frankly, I'm getting sick of all the money pitches, wherever they come from, but that's a side issue here.