Q.E.D.

The first time (out of a total of oh, two) that I ever entered a 'chat room' I was called a 'conserv-o-phobe' within about 5 minutes.

I have always thought that I am simply a stupid-o-phobe and even more importantly, a fascist-o-phobe.

As you know, I have repeatedly pointed out over the last few years that The Right, particularly the 'values voter' / Capital 'C' christian right, is not about the teachings of Jesus. Nor the Constitution. They are about authoritarianism.

I have asserted that the teachings of an unemployed (an-unmarried) hippie communist from Nazareth has no bearing on what they actually believe. Nor does the Constitution.

I have said that Authoritarians use ideology simply as a frame work upon which they hang justifications for their desire to bully and control.

I have expressed my concern about the similarities between Jesus' and Elvis' fan clubs.

So?

Joe Klein attended a focus group of Republican voters as they watched the debate this week. the Focus Group was conducted by Frank Luntz, the mad genius behind coining the term "Healthy Forests Initiative" for policies by the Bush administration that favor expanded logging by the logging industry, the term, "Death tax," and "energy exploration" (oil drilling).

In the next segment--the debate between Romney and Mike Huckabee over Huckabee's college scholarships for the deserving children of illegal immigrants--I noticed something really distressing: When Huckabee said, "After all, these are children of God," the dials plummeted. And that happened time and again through the evening: Any time any candidate proposed doing anything nice for anyone poor, the dials plummeted (30s). These Republicans were hard.

But there was worse to come: When John McCain started talking about torture--specifically, about waterboarding--the dials plummeted again. Lower even than for the illegal Children of God. Down to the low 20s, which, given the natural averaging of a focus group, is about as low as you can go. Afterwards, Luntz asked the group why they seemed to be in favor of torture. "I don't have any problem pouring water on the face of a man who killed 3000 Americans on 9/11," said John Shevlin, a retired federal law enforcement officer. The group applauded, appallingly.

They also hated anything that Ron Paul said (high 30s to low 20s), especially on the war in Iraq.

They tended to like Huckabee a lot (60s to 80s anytime he opened his mouth), but afterwards most said he was too extreme, religiously, to be President. Really, they did.

OK, was I being too nice? Too understanding?