WTF is Dave Neiwert Talking About?

Do you have any idea, because I sure don't.

Neiwert, amazingly, cannot distinguish a Randian from a Paulite from a Palinista from a lawn flamingo from a choo-choo train from a sock from a . . . well, you get the picture.

Congratulations, Dave! These are the three batshit craziest paragraphs I have ever read.

And with right-wing populism, it's the wealthy who stand to benefit, which is why they so willingly underwrite it. This is why Henry Ford -- the ultimate enabler of fascism -- is such a seminal figure for American right-wing populists. It's also why Ayn Rand and Atlas Wanked are so important in their mythology.

It might, in fact, more accurately be called "sucker populism."

We certainly saw an upsurge in right-wing populism in Republican ranks in the 2008 campaign, reflected both by Sarah "Evita" Palin's unmistakable right-wing populism, as well as Ron Paul's insurgency (there were a lot of Ron Paul supporters at these Tea Tantrums). There's been Glenn Beck's soaring popularity -- during which time, you'll also recall, he eagerly defended the AIG bonuses. And now the Tantrums.

. . . Say again?

Yessir, when you see Henry Ford, Atlas Shrugged, Sarah Palin, Eva Peron, Ron Paul, and Glenn Beck thrust together under one banner, you know there’s some awfully sloppy conflation and awfully brazen obfuscation going down.

Let's try'n sort these out.

Henry Ford was a mainly apolitical capitalist with vague and fleeting feelings for fascist Germany. ("Enabler"? Nah.) He harbored many of the standard prejudices of his day. He was a man interested in order, first and foremost, order and efficiency.

Atlas Shrugged is a book. It suggests a hyper-individualistic super-rational egoism as the ideal human disposition. It was written by a proud elitist and self-styled superwoman who rejected significant portions of 'Judeo-Christian' tradition and wished market relations to organize society.

Eva Peron was a social democrat with a passion for feminism and labor unionism.

Sarah Palin is an ideologically-confused Christian nationalist, maybe some kind of Jacksonian or neoconservative, ultimately a hack driven by an ornery, often senseless but plainly Middle American suspicion of cosmopolitan culture.

Ron Paul is a pretty standard libertarian with some ‘family values’ or traditionalist sympathies.

Glenn Beck is a sensationalist who prays upon lower class and white ethnic cultural anxieties. For cash money, lots of it.

So, what do these people have in common? Only that they were wrongly (if hilariously) clumped together for no apparent reason other than to sound all kinds of smart, and thus authoritative.

Dave imagines these are the ideological pillars and/or mythological figures of the new "right-wing populism."

In fact, they are not a uniform bunch in any important way. There's more difference than similarity. Ayn Rand would have hated Eva Peron, who would have laughed at Ron Paul, who is clearly at odds with Sarah Palin, and so on and so on.

They're not all right-wing and they're not all populists. Only Ron Paul and Glenn Beck have any true relevance to the Tea Parties, and in very different ways.

Try again, Dave?