How (Some) Conservatives Think

Two pieces of evidence - first, an anecdote:

One of my friends is a very Conservative, very crotchety old man. When I say Conservative, I mean partisan and ideological - extremely so. But even I was surprised when he said high gas prices were a "Liberal Socialist government conspiracy." His evidence, such as it was, was that prices had stayed high despite the reopening of refineries in the South.

Now, I was about to go in to a long discussion about how oil doesn't travel quickly, and how prices in Canada didn't spike in the same way they did in the US, so the prices were going to stay about where they were until all of the refineries were up and running.

Then I remembered that this friend of mine just bought himself a Ford F150 pickup truck. His old 30mpg car died on him, and he replaced it with something that (generously) gets 16 mpg.

But in his world, his high gas bill is the government's fault. Because this is how conservatives think.

Now, you might not believe me, or you may think he's not representative of most conservatives. Both are valid concerns. Therefore, I present a second piece of evidence(via Pandagon):

William Kristol, the conservative publisher of The Weekly Standard, said of Mr. Bush: "I do think people think he could have showed stronger leadership." But Mr. Kristol expressed doubt that the hurricane would have much lasting effect on the president's personal and political fortunes, because "people are capable of saying, 'The president kind of screwed this one up, but I still basically agree with him.'"

Mr. Kristol added, "I think the Clinton administration would have done a better job in handling Hurricane Katrina, but I'm also glad Bush is president and not a Democrat."

You see, Mr. Kristol is fine with the fact that (poor, black) people have died unnecessarily, so long as those dirty taxnspendlibruls aren't in charge!

To be blunt, Kristol would prefer more (poor, black) people die, rather than competent leaders be in charge. Because this is how conservatives think.

If you're capable of holding these two thoughts in your head - that Clinton-era competence would have saved lives, but you're still happy with W - then you are a psychopath. Please seek help.