Some Country for Old Men

It’s hard to take Time magazine seriously. For the most part it’s a compilation of lists (Shows that overstayed their welcome! Time travel movies!), a smattering of quotes and the occasional incredibly-superficial story about something happening in the world. There are also hard-hitting stories about cute animals falling asleep and that latest facebook trend or Internet meme that anyone who has a computer already knows about, but we digress.

The point is, this one time, perhaps even by accident, Time managed to cut to the core of the conservative movement, the Republican Party, and why a vote for the GOP in November is a vote for TV punditry, bloviation, instigation and sound bites over substance. Here’s the poll that struck us as interesting (and frightening):

The question isn’t: Who’s the most influential non-elected conservative leader? It’s: Who’s the most influential? Period.

So who is it? Hillbilly grifter, Sarah Palin, who spends more time selling her own reality TV show and collecting loot in Hollywood than thinking about policy (unless you count her facebook posts); a drug-addicted, racist fat man with a history of saying he’ll leave the country, but never following through; a sexy head of hair with so little substance that Alan Colmes made him look bad; or a drug-addicted grown man who cries frequently, has paranoid delusions and may have raped and murdered a young girl in 1990?

Yes, conservatives, those are your choices. No former presidents, no current members of Congress, no governors. You get four people who make millions and millions of dollars every year by riling up the base. You get four people whose economic power is directly correlated to your fear. You get four people who are accountable to no one and believe in nothing.

So who is it? Who’s the leader of your movement?