I don't know exactly how or why compassionate conservatism died, but it appears to have done so. Even though George W. Bush could hardly be considered compassionate after his response (or lack thereof) to Hurricane Katrina, he did at least try to talk the talk. There was some recognition on his part that conservative economic policies needed some measure of sugar-coating in order to be palatable to the poor and middle-class. Today's conservatives do not seem to agree.

I'd always suspected that the compassionate thing was a scam because a compassionate individual simply does not implement the sort of economic policies for which Republicans are infamous. But I was a bit surprised that they decided to stop pretending.

Remember when Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court and Republicans came out against empathy? And now we've got Gingrich telling Occupy Wall Street demonstrators to "take a bath and get a job" while Bachmann insists that LGBT persons should marry individuals of the opposite sex (like she herself presumably did). The message is clear: do not expect even the pretense of empathy, compassion, or kindness from today's Republican Party.

Newt Gingrich seems to want to become the poster boy for this lack of compassion. When he is not telling people to "get a job," he's campaigning to roll back child labor protections.

It is too early to know if this strategy will appeal to voters or if they will be willing to overlook the many skeleton's in Gingrich's closet. I cannot imagine that it would have 10 years ago, but we are living in the age of Fox "News." It seems at least possible that they have been successful enough in demonizing everyone who disagrees with the conservative point of view that they've made inroads toward helping people overcome their discomfort with unbridled contempt for the less fortunate.

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