If you want to know why conservatism has collapsed, look no further than Andy McCarthy’s repugnant post at NRO. Sample quotes:

The fact is that, as a man of the hard Left, Obama is more comfortable with a totalitarian Islamic regime than he would be with a free Iranian society.

…

Because of obvious divergences (inequality for women and non-Muslims, hatred of homosexuals) radical Islam and radical Leftism are commonly mistaken to be incompatible. In fact, they have much more in common than not, especially when it comes to suppression of freedom, intrusiveness in all aspects of life, notions of “social justice,” and their economic programs.

…

The key to understanding Obama, on Iran as on other matters, is that he is a power-politician of the hard Left : He is steeped in Leftist ideology, fueled in anger and resentment over what he chooses to see in America’s history…

Later, he defends these remarks.

Look, I disagree with Obama on a lot. And there are parts of the left that not overly fond of freedom — the real freedom to live your life, not the phoney-baloney freedom of cradle-to-grave government subsidies.

But to equate that with the murderous evil regime in Iran that literally proclaims to rule by divine right? Where’s Godwin’s Law when you need it?

This is not limited to McCarthy. I’ve heard Limbaugh, Hannity and others say the same thing. Obama is an angry black man. Obama hates America. Obama gave me back acne.

It’s the tired exhausted rhetoric of those who are bereft of ideas. They know how to solve the problems of the 1980’s but have no idea what to do about the problems of the 2000’s. It’s the kind of shit we used to hear from the Left when they were bereft of ideas (“Republicans hate black people. Republicans want poor people to starve. Republicans want rivers to be polluted.”)

It rallies the base. But it turns off that middle third of the electorate that is actually paying attention and actually has an open mind. Anyone with half a brain can see that Obama does not hate America and is not an angry person. But, apparently, half-brains are in short supply at NRO.