Ideology vs. Real Life

MANIFESTO

Steve Benen states the obvious when he points out that

[C]onservatives ... don't mind restrictions on free speech, until they have something provocative to say. They want to restrict reproductive rights, until someone close to them has an unwanted pregnancy. They want to break down the church-state wall, until they feel like their faith is in the minority. They want to treat embryos as people, until they suffer from an ailment that could benefit from stem-cell research. And they balk at the idea of equal rights for gay people, until it's their daughter who is looking for equality.

The problem, of course, is that these mental midgets have so little real world experience (led by, of course, the let-them-eat-cake tyro in the White House) that they can hardly relate to anything until (you should pardon the metaphor) it hits them in the face.

You just don't find a lot of conservatives in South Philly, or South Los Angeles, or Bridgeport.