The Continuing Exploits of Cattle Conservatism

Submitted by pmcarpenter on Mon, 05/17/2010 - 5:32am.

THE FIFTH COLUMNIST by P.M. Carpenter

I wish I could say the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll presented its uncomprehending majorities as the incomprehensible, but unfortunately they're all too familiar and all quite accountable.

Before getting to that, however, a few of the poll's horrifying highlights.

For instance, more Americans than not -- in actual fact, an absolute majority -- now say "they are willing," in the words of NBC News' deputy political director, Mark Murray, "to give up personal freedoms and civil liberties to prevent another terrorist attack." In short, the terrorists have won; they have corralled us into a nation of cowards and authoritarian enablers -- a superpower of poltroonery, a contradiction which cannot hold.