Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Conservatives exist in reaction to the left. Pelosi fills the role that Obama and Kerry and Clinton all played, and none were so hated once they left power. Once Pelosi is gone, it will be someone else who prompts the visceral reaction, and the wingers will all say it's about the person.
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The "boogeyman" needs of the right are pathological, and the line goes back long before your list: Ted Kennedy played the role for a whole generation, and let's not forget the group boogeymen (currently "immigrants" but historically the gays, the blacks, the commies, etc...).
Ideologies motivated by boogeymen had had some currency on the left, but I can't think of any time when it motivated the dominant wing of the party on the left. Sometimes Democrats have even adopted the right's boogeymen as a way of grabbing the center (as with the Commies during JFK's time).
I think this comes, fundamentally, from a lack of ideas and a desire to play to the easily swayed.
