"Look at the poor little sick kid! Hahahahaha!"

Paul Krugman on the 'compassion' of conservatives. Shorter: Not. If you're poor or sick, they think it's funny.

Of course, minimizing and mocking the suffering of others is a natural strategy for political figures who advocate lower taxes on the rich and less help for the poor and unlucky. But I believe that the lack of empathy shown by Mr. Limbaugh, Mr. Kristol, and, yes, Mr. Bush is genuine, not feigned.

What’s happening, presumably, is that modern movement conservatism attracts a certain personality type. If you identify with the downtrodden, even a little, you don’t belong. If you think ridicule is an appropriate response to other peoples’ woes, you fit right in.

And Republican disillusionment with Mr. Bush does not appear to signal any change in that regard. On the contrary, the leading candidates for the Republican nomination have gone out of their way to condemn “socialism,” which is G.O.P.-speak for any attempt to help the less fortunate.

So once again, if you’re poor or you’re sick or you don’t have health insurance, remember this: these people think your problems are funny.

I like Mr. Krugman. He speaks great truths in the most polite way I can imagine. If it was left to the boorish likes of me to describe the Repugs' attitude toward everyone but themselves, it would be more on the order of: they're mean, cruel, heartless, greedy, selfish, elitist, clueless, hooray-for-me-and-fuck-you warmongering dickless motherfuckers and suckers of corporate cock who have deluded themselves into thinking they are morally superior because of their own propaganda. The Repug Masters know it's not true of course, but if they ever admitted their own lies and mistakes their house of rotten cards would collapse even more quickly than it's going to very soon anyway.