It seems the right wing nuts that populate today’s GOP are terrified of the Girl Scouts.GOP Rep. Bob Morris of the Indiana legislatures just sent his colleagues a letter urging them not to honor the Girl Scouts on their 100th anniversary because, he claims, the Scouts are part of the agenda of Planned Parenthood or something to subvert our children. Cookies, anyone?

Well, that was pointless. After shifting rationales, unreliable claims of bravado and the resignation of top staffers, the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure has reversed its decision to de-fund Planned Parenthood, reinstating its donation to support breast cancer screenings at the organization’s clinics.

When the Susan G. Komen for the Cure charity dropped its support for breast cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood, they did enormous damage to themselves just to appease conservatives. They’ve just set in motion a backlash that will hurt a lot.

I wrote previously about Ron Paul’s newsletters, and I still think there’s reason to condemn not only the writings but the worldview they espouse, one which Paul embraces even as he disavows some of the finer points of the newsletters. But I think there’s more to say about this incident and what it means about American politics.

What Cain has done on taxes and economic policy is similar to what John Edwards did on health care in 2008. He came out of the box first with a comprehensive plan, and it drew his competition entirely to his left. Even though Cain is being savaged for his wealth redistribution scheme, he’s drawing everyone to his right. Rick Perry’s introducing a flat tax. Mitt Romney endorsed a version of the Paul Ryan plan for Medicare vouchers. It’s become follow-the-leader in the Republican Party, and Cain is the leader. Regressive taxes and wealth distribution upward is the order of the day.

EPI is a small, respected economic policy think tank focusing on progressive economic issues. They do good work, so naturally, James O’Keefe tried to discredit them by conning them into a phony effort to pay for favorable findings — but EPI’s folks saw the ruse.

Frank Gaffney, who is Pam Geller without the boob job and paint-peeling voice, thinks the Norway terrorist Tea Partier might very well have been some kind of Double Super Secret Muslim Brotherhood plant (the Muqdadiyah Candidate? why not?) inserted to make people like Frank Gaffney look stupid.

Atlas Shrugged! The Movie! opened yesterday. I considered seeing it, because I am a scientist, and certain phenomena ought to be studied. (Some people make a nice living investigating ringworms, you know.) And also I figured it just might be good for a laugh.

This may seem like the right wing — in both Israel and the U.S. — is in a pickle, caught between defending freedom and defending dictatorship. But I think they’re just working to define the new reality, and getting an early start on denouncing whatever following Mubarak in Egypt as a radical Islamist puppet government. I think this could play in the US media – we’re already seeing some of that – but worldwide it can and should be met with total condemnation. If we had smart Democrats they’d highlight this as well.

Republicans have pulled off a neat trick with respect to Jared Loughner. They have worked very hard to characterize him as a “whacko” and a “nutjob” (inadvertently hurting the prospect of a successful prosecution, by the way), going so far as to use the shooting as an opportunity to revamp the nation’s mental health system. I’m all for that, but the ulterior motive from the right is to absolve themselves of blame and marginalize the voices talking about overheated political rhetoric.