I go back and forth on this one. I know a few conservatives who genuinely care about uplifting the poor. They volunteer their time at local charities or with their church, and some even raise money to go on mission trips and do good work in other countries.
The only problem is they read a Milton Friedman or a Charles Murray book and now totally reject the idea of government programs aiding in social mobility. They think government programs breed dependency, and don't put a lot of faith in the good intentions and aspirations of others (or the more nuanced among them blame the government for destroying such ambition).
I think the way we succeed in destroying such a movement is to expose its failures and discredit it intellectually. We have to constantly question our own programs and beliefs to make sure we're doing the best thing. And let's face it--the conservatives haven't always been 100% wrong. Remember welfare to work? With the expansion of earned income tax credits, it ended up putting more money in people's pockets as well as getting them into the workforce. But there are still major problems: we need better access to early childhood education, better schools, better nutrition, better access to college, universal health care, etc.
We are in a place in the history of our nation where we have a chance to discredit conservativism much like we did with the New Deal and the Great Society. But the way to win isn't to whip out slurs at the people who disagree with us (it didn't work for the conservative hate-mongers like Rush, Anne, the GOP Congress, the Bush Administration, etc.). We have to demonstrate competency and build unity and consensus around our ideals, much like FDR did in the '30s and LBJ did in the '60s (before the Great Society was shot down over the battlefields of Vietnam).
I want to second your remarks. It is pointless and ineffective to demonize conservatives (I admit it is kind of fun) and treat them like the enemy (well, most of them). When people do this, they are acting like the worst of the right- and then where are you? You have to take them on argument by argument and by making a better case, you win the day with the American public. You will never destroy conservatism, but only marginalize it through by offering better ideas and selling them better to the public. The disastrous Bush Administration has given us a rare, clear opportunity to shift the country back to Democratic principles.
We the American public are responsible for Bush because we voted for him twice and we- the public and the press (Greenwald's focus)- are largely silent and apathetic by allowing their almost unparalleled arrogance. People skilled enough like Greenwald are able to push back a bit. IMO, Greenwald represents the best of progressive blogging and if he were to show an occasional sense of humor, he could eventually move on to a larger audience and more influence (Frank Rich's slot at the NYT?).
