Everything you need to know about the descent of the conservative movement into a hypocritical caricature is illustrated by two of its proudest constituencies: Republican deficit hawks and so-called "born again virgins." Having already violated the moral strictures they claim to hold dearest, each now asks the American people to join them in pretending their sin never happened. But unlike a generation of Republican leaders who built a mountain of national debt for the United States, the secondary virgins only screwed themselves.

The Republicans' shameless cynicism was perfectly captured by Vice President Dick Cheney, who in 2002 proclaimed, "Reagan proved deficits don't matter."

Not, that is, if a Republican is in the White House. But when Barack Obama stepped into the Oval Office and the $1.2 trillion deficit George W. Bush left for him there, the GOP quickly changed its tune. While the national debt tripled under Ronald Reagan and doubled again under President Bush, House Minority Leader John Boehner in February decried the $787 billion emergency economic recovery spending as "one big down payment on a new American socialist experiment." By June, Boehner warned of the "crushing debt Washington Democrats are running up." And Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH), Obama's aborted choice for Commerce Secretary, slapped the President last month, "we're basically on the path to a banana-republic-type of financial situation in this country." And, Gregg added:

"You can't keep throwing debt on top of debt."

Of course, throwing debt on top of debt is precisely what Gregg and his GOP allies have done for over a generation.

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I went on Countdown last night to chat with Lawrence O'Donnell -- who was filling in for Keith Olbermann -- about Bill Clinton's remarks the other day about the never-ending bloodlust of the "vast right-wing conspiracy".

O'Donnell was critical of Clinton for suggesting that the power of the conspiracy was less today than what he faced -- and regarding that aspect of Clinton's remarks, I agree with him. The reality, as I explained in the segment, is that the spread and reach of the really virulent wingnuttery that plagued Clinton -- the black-helicopter conspiracy theories like Mena, or the Vince Foster suicide, or the Clinton Body Count -- was largely relegated, until later in his tenure, to the fringes of the militia movement.

Obama, by contrast, is not even through his first year as president and he's already being plagued by Birthers and Tenthers and Teabaggers and Death Panels (along with, of course, the obligatory "He's Going To Grab Our Guns" conspiracies).

And it's true, moreover, the Clinton is right that the country has changed demographically since he was president, which means they do not possess the actual political power they held during much of his tenure. But they've made up for the lack of power with a much deeper reach into the mainstream. I dunno about you, but it sure looks to me like the Teabaggers are the new Patriots -- and there's a hell of a lot more of them.

Perhaps more to the point, they've already demonstrated -- by at least temporarily derailing the debate over health-care reform with wingnutty distractions like the "death panels" and the gun-brandishing nutcases showing up at health-care town hall forums -- that they continue to have an outsize influence on the national discourse. Especially because of Fox News and the rest of the mainstream media's willingness to be bullied by them -- led, as always, by the wise media poobahs of the Beltway Village.

That is -- and you can file this under the L'esprit de l'escalier Dept., since I meant to say it in this segment -- what they lack in power they've more than made up for by continuing to pull the media reins and shape the national discourse. They're able to move the media needles still -- which is, of course, the problem. The Village gives movement conservatives far more respect than they deserve, especially at this juncture, with the movement fully in the hands of nutty populist demagogues.

Glenn Beck is as popular as he is because everyone in the "mainstream" is too busy running fawning puff pieces to point out his actual extremism. No one has the guts to explain that these people are driving the Republicans over a cliff into political oblivion.

In The Eliminationists, I do talk a lot about how vicious the campaign against Clinton got to be -- and how many bridges and alliances were built between the far right and mainstream conservatives during those years as a result, particularly in the way right-wing talkers started picking up and transmitting memes from the far right.

Finally, I should add that, while I disagree with Clinton on this point, I generally agreed with the overall thrust of his recent comments, particularly his warning that the "conspiracy" (as it were) remains a potent force, capable of undermining Obama's presidency in unexpected ways. One can't help but suspect that Obama has been naive on this front -- how many times does he have to reach out to Republicans and come back with a chewed-up hand to get it? -- and I suspect Clinton intended to point out the cold reality. To which I can only add: Hear! Hear!

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From Meet the Press, when asked about whether President Obama is going to be able to get health care reform passed or not and about the "vast right wing conspiracy" Clinton faced and whether President Obama is facing similar opposition, former President Clinton decides to sing the praises of Olympia Snowe's horrid trigger option.

CLINTON: Oh, you bet. Sure it is. It's not as strong as it was, because America's changed demographically, but it's as virulent as it was. I mean, they're saying things about him--you know, it's like when they accused me of murder and all that stuff they did. He--but it's not really good for the Republicans and the country, what's going on now. I mean, they may be hurting President Obama. They can take his numbers down, they can run his opposition up. But fundamentally, he and his team have a positive agenda for America. Their agenda seems to be wanting him to fail, and that's not a prescription for a good America. We actually need a credible debate about what's the right balance between continuing to expand the economy through stimulus and beginning to move back to fiscal balance. We need a credible debate about what's the best way to get to universal coverage.

Now, the one Republican who's come up with a good idea is Senator Snowe. She deserves a lot of credit for saying when we did this Medicare prescription drug bill, instead of giving the government the power to negotiate for lower prices we gave the drug companies a chance to offer them, but we held the power in reserve. And if there was any state in America where there was no competition, you could do it. So let's do that for health care. That's a good idea. That's, that's the kind of debate the country needs, and I hope that the Republicans will come forward with it. These...

How many ways can I find to say... "Hell no!"? This is not a good idea and the trigger is meant to be something that is never pulled and instead kill any real reform of the insurance industry, just as it has never been pulled with the overpriced Medicare Part D drug plan that was nothing but a giveaway to the pharmaceutical industry, as slinkerwink over at FDL points out here- Why The “Trigger” Is A Con Job Pulled On Us By Lobbyists.

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President Bill Clinton told NBC's David Gregory that the vast, right-wing conspiracy that once targeted him is now focusing on President Barack Obama. "You bet. Sure it is. It's not as strong as it was because America has changed demographically but it's a virulent as it was," he said.

From The Colbert Report:

Prevent your valid criticisms of Barack Obama from being unfairly associated with racism by putting on a little blackwashing.

CNN/ Opinion Research Corporation poll out tonight shows a double-digit jump in support for the reform plan among viewers. Great results, Mr. President. Way to go!

Interviews with 427 adult Americans who watched the presidential speech conducted by telephone by Opinion Research Corporation on September 9, 2009. The margin of sampling error for results based on the total sample is plus or minus 5 percentage points.

Survey respondents were first interviewed as part of a random national sample on September 5-8, 2009. In those interviews, respondents indicated they planned to watch tonight's speech and were willing to be re-interviewed after the speech.

Some questions were asked of each respondent both in the pre-speech questionnaire on September 5-8 and on tonight's questionnaire. Where applicable, results for tonight's respondents from both the pre-speech survey and the post-speech survey are reported.

18% of the respondents who participated in tonight's survey identified themselves as Republicans, 45% identified themselves as Democrats, and 37% identified themselves as Independents.

About one in seven people who watched the speech changed their minds on Obama's health care plan. "Going into the speech, a bare majority of his audience — 53 percent — favored his proposals. Immediately after the speech, that figure rose to 67 percent," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "But the real question is whether those conversions will last. Bill Clinton got similar numbers after his 1993 address to Congress, but five months later a majority of the country no longer supported his plan."

Fifty-six percent of people questioned say they had a very positive reaction to the speech, with 21 percent indicating they had a somewhat positive reaction and a equal amount suggesting they had a negative reaction. The 56 percent who said they had a very positive reaction is lower than the 68 percent of speech watchers who had a similar reaction to the president's first address to a joint session of Congress in February.

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Isn't it wonderful that Raum Emanuel thought it was a great idea to get a bunch of Republicans to pretend they're Democrats? Who would have ever imagined that could have turned out badly? Bluedog Mike Ross decides to see just how many Republican talking points he can squeeze into a several minute segment on CNN's State of the Union.

King: [A]t one of your recent town halls, there was actually a young man -- not quite ready to vote, I don't believe -- who got up and raised one of the big concerns about this bill, and that is spending.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(UNKNOWN): Mr. Ross, I want the same opportunity that you had. Please do not -- don't load me up with debt that I can't pay.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Now, you voted in committee to keep the process moving, to get the House bill moving along, to keep it moving after you got some concessions. If that bill were on the full House floor tomorrow, based on everything you have heard back home, including the concern there about deficit spending, would you vote yes or do you need additional changes?

ROSS: Well, I think -- I think we'd probably need to see a few more changes, too.

Let me say this, that I'm glad to see all people, young and old, starting to talk about the debt. I've been talking about the debt for nine years. Let's not forget here, it took George Washington to Bill Clinton to put this country $5 trillion in debt. It took the last president to double it. And so, I'm one of those that have said, one of my key principles is I will not support a health care reform bill that is not deficit-neutral, period.

KING: Not deficit-neutral, period. As you know, the president is not on the ballot next year, but all of you Blue Dog Democrats in the House are on the ballot, and the Republican National Committee is already after you on the radio, sir. I want you to listen to a snippet from this radio ad attacking you for voting to keep the process moving.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COMIC VOICE: He folded like a lawn chair.

ANNOUNCER: Mike Ross.

COMIC VOICE: He threw in the towel.

ANNOUNCER: Mike Ross did exactly what Nancy Pelosi wanted him to do.

COMIC VOICE: He caved in, he buckled.

ANNOUNCER: Mike Ross was one of just four congressmen who cast the deciding votes to advance Nancy Pelosi's radical big government health care plan. Ross backed a plan that will cost taxpayers billions, just days after talking like he wouldn't.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KING: Such an important policy question facing the country right now, Congressman, but also a very dicey political environment. Can you vote for anything along the lines of what is right now before the House of Representatives and survive next year?

ROSS: John, first, I've got a response ad that I'm running to that ad, and I hope at some point you all will play just as many seconds of it.

I read the newspaper this morning. $57 million has been spent in the last six months, most of it in the last 45 days, trying to scare folks. I saw an ad the other night on TV. It scared the living daylights out of me. But I went back and watched it again. It used the word "could" six times in 60 seconds.

I've laid out -- I've now done 37 town hall meetings on health care reform since April. I'm doing telephone town hall meetings. I'm doing roundtable discussions at hospitals, where we bring in small- business owners, the self-employed, the uninsured, doctors, hospital administrators, and we're listening to them.

I can tell you, I've laid down my set of principles, so I will not force government-run health care on anyone. If there ever is government-run health care, the first ones to sign up should be the president and every member of Congress, including myself. You should be able to keep the insurance you've got today, if you like it, and always choose your own doctor. No federal funding for illegal immigrants or for abortion, and no rationing of health care. I will never vote for a bill to kill old people, period.

KING: Congressman Ross, we appreciate your time today.

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Bill Clinton rallied the troops last night in Pittsburgh, giving the keynote address at Netroots Nation. The last few minutes of his nearly hour long speech.

You hold the seeds of a genuine revolution in our public life and you do it by mobilizing people and generating emotion but also by getting people to think.

This battle is not over. We have big-time responsibilities. It is an honor for all us to be alive and to carry this responsibility. We can’t be in the peanut gallery. We have to be actors. … Don’t lose your energy because things don’t work out the way you want. It won’t take you 40 years to get health care reform.... But we should realize that we have been given this staggering responsibility. I have been waiting 40 years for this. ”

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It made for a pretty long video -- even edited down -- but Bill Clinton's speech last night was not only pretty long but very compelling. His subject was the progressive movement and how it is moving forward with real momentum now -- something, he explained, that really is a product of the reality that America is changing dramatically.

As we become more and more multicultural, he observed, the nation naturally will become more communitarian in how it approaches problems and will increasingly as a result adopt real progressive solutions, while discarding the old fake divisions -- particularly the racial ones -- that have plagued us since our beginnnings. And he offered some thoughts on not only the necessity of keeping that momentum but how we do it.

At one point he was challenged by an audience member who shouted out in protest about Clinton's adoption of the "don't ask don't tell" policy for the military, and Clinton answered sharply and compellingly. It was a reminder of just how strong Clinton can be when dealing with critics.

I'd hoped edit it down to a normal-length video but just couldn't. But the message is well worth the length.

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Our friend Digby was on an excellent panel today at Netroots Nation in Pittsburgh discussing how we find ways to talk about economic issues in America going forward, especially since we have to confront such an endless deluge of right-wing BS framing.

She points out, adroitly, that for some reasons, deficits and federal spending are only a problem when a Democrat occupies the White House. Moreover, that deficit spending in support of an illegitimate overseas war is never questioned, while deficit spending to stop the USA from falling into an economic depression or to help Americans with their health care is readily attacked without raising an eyebrow.

As usual with Digby, it's entertaining and enlightening.

Amato and I are having fun hanging out with our blogging friends. Bill Clinton is speaking tonight, and we'll have video from that in the morning.

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Rachel Maddow talks to whistleblower Wendell Potter about the health care industry's rising profits while more and more Americans lose their health care insurance.

MADDOW: Are you by any chance a health insurance company executive? No? Me neither. And you and I, therefore, even though I know nothing else about you, you and I have one thing in common for sure. We are both in the wrong line of work.

SEC filings show that between the year 2000 and the year 2007, profit of the country‘s 10 largest health insurance companies rose 428 percent. In 2000, they had $2.4 billion in profit. By 2007, it was $12.9 billion.

Now, of course, this is America, we are capital C “Capitalists,” nobody begrudges anyone a ginormous profit, particularly if they‘re serving an important national need, like providing health insurance to the American people.

So, while the 10 biggest health insurance companies were seeing their profits rise over 400 percent between 2000 and 2007, how were they doing at serving that important national need? How were they doing at the whole providing health insurance to the American people thing? Eww! Apparently, while they quadrupled their profits between 2000 and 2007, the number of Americans without health insurance grew by 19 percent.

That seems bad. But not for everyone - also by 2007, the CEOs of the 10 largest health insurance companies were taking home an average compensation of $11.9 million each every year, while the number of Americans without health insurance for whom a burst appendix can mean bankruptcy has gone through the roof.

It was the insurance industry that bankrolled efforts to kill the last effort of health care reform in Bill Clinton‘s first term. And now, the industry says they‘re OK with reform of a sort. They just want to make sure that they don‘t get any competition from a non-profit government-run insurance plan that patients could opt into if they didn‘t like what the private sector was dishing out. You know, if I was a health insurance company executive, I‘m sure I would want that, too.

Joining us now is a former health insurance executive-turned-whistle blower, his name is Wendell Potter, and he was the head of public relations for CIGNA, one of the nation‘s largest insurers. He‘s now a senior fellow on health care at the Center for Media and Democracy.

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During the Meet the Press panel discussion on the return of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, for some reason, Jon Meacham felt the need to compare a hug between Al Gore and Bill Clinton after the journalists were returned home to Brokeback Mountain. WTF Jon?

He actually went on to make some good points about jailed journalists in other countries that we should care about being freed as well, but his statement about Gore and Clinton frankly left me scratching my head as to why he felt it necessary to blurt something like that out.

GREGORY: Well, I, I would be remiss if we didn't spend a little bit of time on one of the images of the week, and it's such a great political story, and here it was in Burbank, California. You had a former president and a former vice president, Clinton and Gore, with the two journalists from North Korea coming home. And there was the much commented on lingering hug between the two.

Jon Meacham, a fascinating political story.

MEACHAM: Oh.

GREGORY: They were together in the '90s, after the 2000 race they were estranged for a while. They seem to be back together again.

MEACHAM: Yeah. It, it's the new--it's like the Bush-Clinton "Brokeback Mountain." You know, we're back, we're back to that. I, I think the--what's so terrific, in a way, is Clinton was able to get these reporters out. That's a very serious matter. We are--North Korea is a, a, a foe of almost epic--possibly epic dimensions, and anything that gets us in there to get a sense of who these people really are is a good thing. Sending the--sending Bill Clinton, whose emotional intelligence is off the charts, was really lucky for us. If anyone can come back and paint a character sketch of what's going on with those people, it'll be Bill Clinton. And I just want to say, if, if it's all right...

GREGORY: Sure.

MEACHAM: ...there are two places where this is going on right now. Newsweek has a correspondent, Maziar Bahari, who is being held in custody without access to a lawyer and without a formal charge in Iran. There are a number of show trials going on in Iran as that regime, like the North Korean regime, tries to hold onto power. And would urge all of us to pay attention to the situation in Iran, in that we have people who are being held without due process, which is personally tragic but also a significant political story, because it's about a regime trying to fight history.

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Good little GOP water carrier John King asks Susan Rice what she thinks about disgraced ex-UN Ambassador John Bolton's statement that "It comes perilously close to negotiating with terrorists" sending Bill Clinton to North Korea to free the two journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee. Gee John, why didn't you just ask her if Clinton was "palling around with terrorists" while you were at it?

Rice appropriately said that the statement was ridiculous. I have a question for John King. Why do you think anyone should care what John Bolton thinks about anything? The man never found a country out there he didn't want to deal with in any manner other than with threats and intimidation. Bush had to put him in there as a recess appointment since he'd have never been confirmed by the Senate, but you're going to ask the new Ambassador who did make it through the confirmation process what she thinks of war monger Bolton's statement? Spare me King.

KING: Another dramatic international story this past week was former President Bill Clinton coming back from North Korea. A president you served at the State Department and in the White House. He came back with the journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who had been kept prisoner in North Korea.

There are those very critical of this. While they're applauding the release of these two journalists, they say essentially that the United States gave up too much. A man who once held your job at the United Nations, John Bolton, saying, "It comes perilously close to negotiating with terrorists," sending Bill Clinton over there and giving North Korea certainly a propaganda victory with those photographs. Perilously close to negotiating with terrorists?

RICE: Absolutely not. That's, in fact, a ridiculous statement. We don't negotiate with terrorists. That's the policy of the United States, but this was a unique opportunity for the former president, on a private humanitarian mission, to obtain the release of two American women who have been held for many months.

It would have been disgraceful for the United States, having verified that this was a real opportunity to obtain their release, to leave them in captivity.

KING: He's not just...

RICE: This was a private humanitarian mission. It accomplished the release of these two women. We're relieved and delighted to see them reunited with their families. It in no ways changes our policy or approach to North Korea, and we are quite pleased with the outcome.

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Real Time's New Rules for Aug. 7, 2009.

Maher: Now, before I go about demonstrating how easy it is to prove the dumbness that is dragging us down, let me just say that ignorance has life and death consequences. On the eve of the Iraq war, 70% of Americans thought Saddam Hussein was personally involved in 9-11. Six years later, 34% still do. Or look at the health care debate going on now. At a recent town hall meeting in South Caronlina a man stood up and told the Congressman to "keep your government hands off my Medicare!".

Which is kind of like driving cross country to protest highways. This country is like a college chick after two Long Island iced teas. We can be talked into anything, like wars. And we can be talked out of anything, like health care. We should forget the town halls, and replace them with study halls.

Listen to some of these statistics. A majority of Americans cannot name a single branch of government, or explain what the Bill of Rights is. 24% could not name the country America fought in the Revolutionary War. More than 2/3 of Americans don't know what's in Roe vs Wade. 2/3 don't know what the Food and Drug Administration does.

Some of this stuff you should be able to pick up by simply being alive.

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Apparently not too friggin' much, at least as far as him being an objective critic of the Obama administration.

Hillary Clinton: If President Obama walked on water, he'd [Bolton] say he couldn't swim.

The dismissive, totally spontaneous laugh said it all.