The moral hypocrisy of conservative leaders is stunning

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-moral-hypocrisy-of-conservative-leaders-is- stunning/2020/12/14/35e62f16-3e2d-11eb-8bc0-ae155bee4aff_story.html

 

Another great column from Michael Gerson. A sample:

 

The intellectual bankruptcy and moral hypocrisy of many conservative leaders is stunning. People who claimed to favor limited government now applaud Trump’s use of the executive branch to undermine an election. … People who claimed to be patriots now spread false claims about their country’s fundamental corruption. People who talked of honoring the rule of law now jerk and gyrate according to the whims of a lawless leader.

 

These conservative leaders no longer deserve the assumption of sincerity. They are spreading conspiratorial lies so unlikely and irrational, they must know them to be lies. …

 

Perhaps the assertion of obvious falsehoods about the election has become an entry-level commitment of conservative relevance. Perhaps the base has become so disconnected from reality that sanity is viewed as a betrayal. Perhaps affirming the simple truth would result in declining fundraising, listenership and standing within the conservative community.

 

This fear is understandable but hardly admirable. It is the main justification of political cowards throughout history. How could the world survive, the coward calculates, without my influence?

 

What Are the Greatest 2,020 Songs Ever? Philadelphia Is Deciding

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/14/arts/music/greatest- songs-WXPN.html

 

Nice story in the New York Times on WXPN’s ongoing countdown.

The dirty little secret pollsters need to own up to

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/11/19/why-were-polls-wrong-ignore-calls/

 

[emphasis added]

“To complete 1,510 interviews over several weeks [for our 2020 Florida election tracking polls], we had to call 136,688 voters. In hard-to-interview Florida, only 1 in 90-odd voters would speak with our interviewers. Most calls to voters went unanswered or rolled over to answering machines or voicemail, never to be interviewed despite multiple attempts.

 

“The final wave of polling, conducted Oct. 25-27 to complete 500 interviews, was the worst for cooperation. We could finish interviews with only four-tenths of one percent from our pool of potential respondents.”

 

…

 

“After the election, I noted wide variations in completion rates across different categories of voters, but nearly all were still too low for any actual randomness to be assumed or implied.”