Are you agreeing with Marcotte? While it is very true that there is a significant number of “compassionate conservatives” here, it’s ridiculous to call them sadists.
I’m sorry for not making it clearer that I am not agreeing with Miss Marcotte, but was commenting on other points made in the thread. As you imply, “compassionate conservatism” often does not separate itself from Nanny-Statism, and so anti-sadism doesn’t always mean true conservatism...and many who claim to be conservative are not.