you've pretty much said it all about the subject at hand. I just want to use the opportunity to talk about how galling it is every time I see or hear these scumbags referred to as "conservative" or even "ultra-conservative." I recognize that it's shorthand, but words mean something, especially when they're used as often and in as many places as this particular designation.

"conservatism" IS an actual philosophy. it's one I've never had much use for (although I consider myself to be pretty "conservative" in most cultural matters), but it IS (or WAS) an actual school of thought. most of it is based on nasty, deeply flawed assumptions (the American Dream is alive and kicking, there are moral hazards associated with "entitlements," God speaks through the open market....one could go on but everybody knows what I'm saying), but there IS some philosophy involved. what the people in question embrace is something else altogether. for something like the third day in a row, I'm gonna say "nihilism." when this is referred to as "conservatism," it's given a level of credibility it simply does not possess. I'm not sure what the necessary semantic adjustment should be, but there are plenty of available terms to investigate. you've done plenty of the heavy lifting already. "seditionists," "reactionaries," "obstructionists," "nihilists" (there I go again), "scumbags" (probably too general, but it's so much fun to say or type). but "conservatives" is just flat-out wrong. what's being conserved? all I see is chaos.