And if you’re interested in reading some fine examples of Environmental Left blogging against the 241 in which the level of exaggeration, misinformation and confabulation is matched only by the certitude with which they are asserted, then visit anyone one of young Andrew Davey’s posts on his blog or lefty-blog Calitics. But he tries.

At first I saw Mr. Republican Insider’s latest diatribe against me and against this community, and I was pretty peeved. These folks at Red County/OC Blog can’t even offer up their own facts and engage in honest debate. I had once considered these folks to be rational individuals, and I used to like going there (believe it or not). Well, I guess I was wrong about that.

But then, I started thinking about this. I soon realized that Jubal/Matt Cunningham was actually doing us a favor. Follow me after the flip for more as I explain why we should be thanking Mr. Republican Insider for this…

It dawned on me last night: These folks really do reveal the emptiness of today’s “conservative” movement when they have nothing left but personal attacks and payola as policy. They don’t have any new ideas on how to govern. They don’t have any facts to back up their “vision” of what they want to see in government. They just seem to have lost their way. Now that I think of it, I’m starting to experience sorrow for people like Matt/Jubal. They must feel awfully terrible to be stuck in a “movement” that doesn’t know what it really stands for.

Matt/Jubal might be hurling attacks at me and at the site, but I know that’s not really what this is about. Now that I think of it, it’s about far more than just a toll road to Trestles or a failed war in the Middle East. It’s about the emptiness of today’s “conservatism”. They used to believe that government should stay out of people’s private lives. Now, they want to examine EVERYTHING we do in our homes and in our bedrooms. They used to believe in fiscal responsibility. Now, they don’t mind complete fiscal insanity. Is this what “conservatism” has become?

Maybe this is why even the traditional “Roosevelt Republicans”, “Eisenhower Republicans”, and “Goldwater Republicans” are leaving this party. Today’s Republicans just don’t stand for what people used to call “conservative”. The GOP truly has lost its way.

But in the meantime, look at what’s happened here. Look at all the activism happening here. Look at all the intelligent policy discussions that we have all the time. We progressives seem to have no problem coming up with great ideas, sound policy, and factual arguments to back them up. And yes, people are actually excited about what we have to say and about what we want to do.

I guess that’s why I should be thanking Mr. Republican Insider. He can call me whatever names he wants. I don’t care. I just like the fact that he’s only proving the point that today’s progressives are the ones with the sound policy and grassroots energy. : )

Here are today’s wild and wonderful OC stories that you just have to see to believe!

– TABOR for All? In yesterday’s OC Register, Rep. John Ken-doll Campbell offers us an “American Taxpayer Bill of Rights” to fix all the fiscal woes that those “tax and spend Democrats” are already creating:

The road back to fiscal sanity in Washington is likely to be a long slog, unless Republicans are willing to boldly recommit ourselves to the principles that earned us the reputation as the party of lower taxes and less government. Today the Republican Study Committee, a caucus of approximately 100 fiscal and social conservatives in the House, will do just that when we unveil the American Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

Unfortunately for Ken-doll Campbell, Dan Chmielewski ain’t buying any of this “TABOR talk”.

But Republicans are hardly the party of less government. The size of the California government rose under Ronald Reagan. It rose under Pete Wilson. And it’s risen under Arnold Schwarzenegger. The size of the Federal Government grew under Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.

The president who actually reduced government: Bill Clinton, under the RE-GO initiative led by then VP Al Gore shrunk the size of the Federal Government to the lowest point since the Kennedy Administration.

Read the rest of what he has to say at The Liberal OC.

– And you say only Iowa and New Hampshire have town hall meetings? Nope, not true… ‘Cuz we’ll be having a series of them in Santa Ana over the next month. OK, OK, we won’t have anyone “famous”… We’ll just be talking with our city leaders about youth issues, business development, neighborhood concerns, and more. Ryan Gene has more about it at Orange Juice.

– Advantage Janet? In case you forgot, our Special Election for County Supervisor is still in court. However, there was an interesting turn of events inside the courthouse yesterday. Peggy Lowe has the latest in Total Buzz. And finally…

– “Do I stay or do I go?” Ellyn Pak talks about that grueling decision that thousands of Anaheim Hills and East Orange residents had to face as the threat of fire loomed over their neighborhoods in today’s OC Register.