Q: How many progressives does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Wait! how are you defining "change"?
That's an original joke and I'm very proud of it - inspired by hours spent listening to liberal friends debating the minutia of their planned revolution, and never actually getting anywhere.
The Democrats' failure to gain any momentum when they had the the House, the Presidency and a 60-vote majority in the Senate underscores the well-known fact that the Left just can't agree on anything.
The right on the other hand, specializes in falling in line behind their leaders. If there's dissent, it never hits the public eye... until now. It would appear that we're seeing the first signs of a real division in the new Republican party, pitting old-line conservatives against the freedom-loving libertarian Tea Partiers.
Check out these three clips just from today.
In defeat for Boehner, House votes to eliminate funding for second F-35 jet engine - 110 Republicans, along with 123 Democrats, voted to cut an expensive defense project, over the objections of the Speaker of the House. This was a rare vote that didn't go along party lines, with deficit-hawk Republicans joining Democrats who've sought to cut defense spending for years.
Student Response to a Fox News Bash on Libertarians - When the CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, was dominated this year by Tea Party members and Libertarians, a Fox News commentator said "libertarians are the worst form of political affiliation in the nation." Then Students for Liberty, an organization funded by Tea Party leaders (previously featured on the HeadCount blog), struck back.
Uncovered: Fox News deceptively used old CPAC footage to smear Ron Paul - When Tea Party patron saint Ron Paul won the straw poll for the Presidential nomination at CPAC, Fox news allegedly reported it while using old footage of Paul getting booed. A liberal blog "uncovered" this with great glee.
So what's happening? Is the right actually becoming as argumentative as the left? Is there a real ideological split brewing that could be conservatives' undoing?
My new joke is...
Q: How many Conservatives does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Wait. How are you defining "Conservative?"