David (Frum) Sleeps with Goliath
As practically every reader is already aware, Mr. Limbaugh is the most successful talk show host in America. In my personal opinion, he happens to be the most compelling defender of freedom alive.
Throughout the course of Limbaugh’s two-decade career, he has been a one-man siege engine when it comes to scaling back cultural Marxism and leftist political policies. His three daily hours of excellence in broadcasting enhance our civil liberties more than the labors of every conservative think tank put together.
Yet Frum has expressed nothing but disdain for the radio legend. He responded to Limbaugh’s address at the Conservative Political Action Conference with a withering blog post at his brand new website. Specifically, he juxtaposed the president with El Rushbo and found the minister of hope and change “soft-spoken and conciliatory, never angry.”
In turn, our guy is “aggressive and bombastic, cutting and sarcastic, who dismisses the concerned citizens in network news focus groups as ‘losers.’ With his private plane and his cigars, his history of drug dependency and his personal bulk, not to mention his tangled marital history, Rush is a walking stereotype of self-indulgence.”
Why Frum chose this bleak moment in history as the time in which to excoriate the strongest warrior in our ranks is not immediately apparent. It’s akin to character assassinating General Petraeus at the start of the surge under the pretense of feeling sorry for the troops.
Contextually, though, Frum is wrong at every level. When compared to Obama, Rush Limbaugh is the epitome of intellectual brilliance and courage, while the president is a glossy, cool, New Age deceiver.
Moreover, Frum’s observations are fallacious on their face. Obama is a politician whereas Limbaugh is a media analyst. In the words of Camille Paglia, “Limbaugh, like our own liberal culture hero Lenny Bruce, is a professional commentator who can be as rude and crude as he wants.” A pundit needs to be interesting whereas a “public servant” must be adroit at mouthing blarney, a skill at which President Obama excels.
My former senator’s entire life has been devoted to baritoning out vapid banalities while using jejune platitudes as a means to cloak his leftism. Without a teleprompter, he is more lost than Ira Hayes without an American flag.
On the other hand, Limbaugh’s ostentatious flaws and sins serve to humanize him. The president’s shiny, evasive, lean, and vacuous essence renders him as plastic as a Citibank Visa card. He has the splendid confidence of a college sophomore, which manages to hide his absolute bewilderment of worldly affairs. Deprived of his media applause track, Obama is a void of arrogance.
Sadly, merely pillorying Limbaugh on his blog was not enough for Frum. A week later he published a cover story at Newsweek entitled “Why Rush Is Wrong.” His choice of media outlets was suspicious. Newsweek does not present information; it sculpts, manipulates, and slants it.
Like the entity which owns it (The Washington Post Company), the weekly digest regularly propagandizes for the benefit of the Democratic Party. The publication is so open about its bias that it now is in business with left-wing radio entity Air America.
After all, not just any magazine would brazen its cover with the canard “We’re All Socialists Now,” as Newsweek did in February. Though we’re not all socialists, that their editors have always been sympathetic to the movement is a given.
As Jay Nordlinger illuminated, “Funny how eager publications such as Newsweek are to publish conservatives’ criticisms of conservatives! Would that they were as eager to publish conservatives’ criticisms of liberals. But that is an old, sad, irritating story.”
That Frum excoriated Limbaugh in the pages of a roach’s den of radicalism tells us much about his loyalties — he doesn’t have any. Like money deposited from the Reichsbank in the 1940s, there’s blood on the gold from which he was paid. His is a betrayal of biblical proportions: David slept with Goliath.
There is no point in being sensitive in regards to this fellow. He’s crossed the Oprahcon. Despite his Harvard education and bloated curriculum vitae, David Frum is not worthy of licking the tobacco from Limbaugh’s famously nicotine-stained fingers. In the foxhole that is contemporary politics, would you rather fight alongside a lion like Rush Limbaugh or a fop like David Frum? I’ll let readers decide for themselves.
Frum’s new organization aims for “the reform and renewal of the Republican party and the conservative movement.” Apparently, this can only be done by purging known heroes and replacing them with upper-class ninnies who are cherished by bloviating toadies like Chris Matthews.
The new millennium is not an era for milquetoasts. Only a turncoat bashes his own in the camp of the enemy. Traitors should not be mollycoddled.
If we want to build a new majority, Republicans should let David Frum go the way of Scott McClellan.
Apparently, the Dem’s attempt to vilify Rush only worked on weak-minded pseudo-Republicans like Frum. He has become another irrelevant has-been whose life’s savings is drying up because of Obama. He is trying desperately to make some money by doing what those that run the Media pay for — bashing Conservatives. It’s really a sad cautionary tale.
Frum just wants a dinner w/ Obama. He’s joined the dark side so he can get ink, publicity & fawning of the liberal elite. Let’s just see who will be right 4 yrs. down the road-Rush or Obama…
Here’s an interesting thought: Frum’s late mother was a broadcaster with the left life public broadcaster, CBC. She spent a lot of time undermining conservatives, albeit in that subtle fashion much favored by public broadcasting.
He’s got Rush on the cover of Newsweek? Wow! Rush is winning. No question.
Frum’s a bum.
Of course, is he any worse than the chairman of the Republican party who agreed with a CNN dweeb that the GOP convention was like Nazi Germany? McCain ran a horrible campaign and one wonders how he managed to capture the nomination in the first place.
Rush Limbaugh had to fill a vacuum. The things Rush says need to be said. Very sad to say our Republican leaders aren’t saying them.
Frum, Peggy Noonan, Chris Buckley, George Will are all basically snobby elitist. Will tries to impress us with his knowledge of baseball so he can be one of the guys. Peel a layer back on all of those types and you’ll find hard core lefties.
I think he’s just trying to ride Rush’s coat tails, grabbing something from the man who has what (Frum) can’t get legitimately on his own…fame and fortune…oh yes, and popularity.
To Rush: “The dogs bark, but the caravan passes on…”
Many of us appreciate the insights you give, providing balance and fairness in media.
Mr. Limbaugh is a grown-up, a very successful grown-up. He can handle a little villification in the enemy camp from Mr. Frum.
Two things in Mr. Frum’s Newsweek article are interesting:
1) He doesn’t get Rush’s message. Mr. Limbaugh wants President Obama to fail not just because it’s provocative to say so and profitable to say so, but also because President Obama program is antithetical to liberty (in Rush’s view). Mr. Frum doesn’t seem to understand this point. Frum’s assessment that ideology needs to be complemented with new policies seems to have allowed him to turn a slightly deaf ear to ideology.
2) Mr. Frum’s criticisms of Rush are very cogent and accurate. The Republicans do need to explain that Rush is one voice among many, and the Republicans do need to emphasize policies such as free-market health-care reform. And Republicans do need to show that Republican policies are better at ameliorating economic pain than Democratic policies. Mr. Limbaugh, both at CPAC and on his show, sneered at “policies” as if it were a dirty word, and many conservative commentators have pointed out that this is a mistake on his part.
To summarize: Far from being traitorous, Mr. Frum’s cover story in Newsweek is a very important (although imperfect) contribution to the debate about what conservatives need to do next. I salute him, and Rush should too.
Barbara Frum was a pioneer on CBC Radio with As it Happens, a show that actually interviewed news makers instead of summarizing their views, which was so common with the MSM. As a Yankee immigrant in the ’70′s, I found it very refreshing. When she moved to CBC TV news anchor she seemed hostile to my party, the NDP (socialists). I thought she was a Tory. David Frum’s confusion is all his own, we can’t blame Mom.
Who cares if Obama is “soft-spoken and conciliatory, never angry.”, while he’s stabbing you in the chest.
Frum’s new organization is probably financed by George Soros.
The ad hominem attacks on Rush by Frum are disgusting. Can’t debate him, so mock his all-too human failings. Pundits like Frum should be required to reveal the details of their own personal lives before mocking anyone else. Typical wordsmith, schoolroom blather, designed to show who’s the smartest in the class.
The attacks on Rush have turned out to be yet another example of the Obamapeople not thinking things through. If we want to spend about 10 minutes on “important” things like who looks better in a suit, who can best display detachment and call it “calm coolness”, Barry’s the guy. And these important attributes deserve about 10 minutes, maybe less. This is what the Obamapeople do best, the politics of distraction.
Eventually we have to get to a debate of ideas, right? The love affair with The Won is just like any other crush each of us has experienced, after the first phase we get real, ask questions, and pay attention to what the other person is really about and what they say and do.
Some Americans may not want to move beyond the crush and in three years some will still be talking about who looks better in a suit, etc. The debate about ideas is getting through to some and thanks to Rush’s expanding audience, more are starting to focus on ideas. Even if you disagree with what you hear from him, at least you are thinking about why.
Since I always use the same name on this site, many of you know I love to poke fun at our President, mostly because he seems to have no sense of humor about himself. Make no mistake, I love this country and want better days ahead, for all of us. If the liberals believe their ideas are better, can they be content to leave the focus on that? I am happy to put aside my sharp humor and barbs when the party in power does the same. Let’s get to work on the problems we face and leave the junior high/middle school games behind.
David Frum is a conservative Uncle Tom. Watch out for Ross Douthat, the new columnist for the New York Times. He is also likely to be a great Stephen Fetchit imitator.
“David Frum is not worthy of licking the tobacco from Limbaugh’s famously nicotine-stained fingers”
Well said, I couldn’t agree more. He isn’t conservative or a Republican and despite how he named his new blog, he knows nothing about creating a majority. If you stand for nothing you will appeal to no one.
Perhaps he’s laying the groundwork to form a new party, The Milquetoast Party.
David, I was always under the impression it was Stepan (for “step and”) Fetchit.
Frum is an angry little man. Limbaugh has an audience, Frum does not.
Yes, David probably has the better credentials on paper. But in the real world, credentials are not a substitute for achievement.
I don’t understand elitists. My failings are mine alone. I earned them through sloth, or ignorance, or lack of ability, or bad decisions. My achievements, modest as they may be, are also mine.
I only started listening to Rush in 2003. I like Rush, he wants me to have the opportunity to be as prosperous as he is and I listen to him speak, the message I hear is:
Capitalism=Liberty
Socialism=Serfdom
Rush speaks fundamental American commonsense, so for one as sophisticated as Frum why does he have such a hard time understanding Rush’s commonsense America?
Frum is a liberal who has temporarily thrown in his lot with Republicans because he has enemies on the far left, as opposed to most liberals, who have no enemies on the left, near or far. That said there is nothing conservative about him.
Mr Chapin,
I appreciate your evaluation of David Frum,but lets face it the man is a “has been” trying to become significant again.
However, you’re description of Barak Obama is right on.People who say he is brilliant and gifted are confusing basic talents with outstanding qualifications to run the highest office in the land. I do not consider the abilities of mimicking,memorizing and manipulating as qualifies to look for in a president.Not even if those talents make a person seem to be a great orator.The man is a complete phony!
I am interested to read what Americans think of Mr. Obama. Surely he can’t be worse than Gordon Brown over here in the UK?
Yes, David’s late mother Barbara Frum was an icon of the CBC when I lived in Canada years ago. She was famous for her evening live-interview news show “As It Happens”, which I used to enjoy. I cannot remember it being particularly left-leaning, but everything back there and back then (just post-Trudeau) was so pervasively lefty that it may have sounded “normal”. That was back in those days before the scales fell from my eyes, and I realized what insightful people my staunchly Republican parents had been after all!
Wow !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don’t agree with everything stated in this piece – it seems to have too much passion winds in its sails – but by gosh this is great writing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ben Chapin surely knows how to send someone up. And David Frum is certainly someone deserving of being sent up. Pajamas Media is the best site on the internet.
Here’s an interesting little little from Dana Perino . . . ” . . . the Bush administration, while presiding over the start of the current recession, nevertheless deserves some credit for the modest uptick that Wall Street experienced this past week.”
Wow, how’s that for gall? Little lady’s sporting a set of big brass ones, ain’t she? On one side you got Cheney saying, “You can’t blame Bush for the economy” and on the other side you got Dana Peroxide saying that if anything good happens with the economy, Bush deserves the credit.
Is it any wonder why all the smart, fair and progressive people turned away from that gang and toward Obama?
Maybe it’s time for all of you to rally around your new leader, whoever that might be. Right now it’s Rush . . . and don’t we lefties love that. You guys have huffed and puffed yourselves into a corner, and now you’re trying to get out of it by doing what you’ve always done – play the victim . . . “It’s the mean old Democrats who are manipulating American minds into thinking Rush is our leader.” What exactly, did the Democrats do to promote Rush to the head of the Republican party? The only person who said the things Rush said was Rush – attacking Michael Steele, calling himself the “last man standing,” taking it upon himself to define “true conservatism” and calling his CPAC belch “Rush’s first address to the nation.”
Are the Democrats taking advantage of that? Absolutely. And we’re going to have many more opportunities going forward, because as we have all seen, the only thing bigger that Rush’s audience of dittoheads is his ego.
You folks should really consider getting someone else out front to lead your way deeper into oblivion. There are so many options: the vacuity of Mitt the layoff king . . . the T&A of Miss Northern Nooky . . . the what and where and whoever of Mark Sanford . . . the third-grade forcefulness of Bobby Jindel . . . or trot out Fred Thompson again, the partially embalmed firebrand of the Right.
Then again, maybe you should stick with Rush.
I can’t wait to hear what Senator Al Franken is going to say about all this.
#7 Matthew said “. The Republicans do need to explain that Rush is one voice among many, and the Republicans do need to emphasize policies such as free-market health-care reform. And Republicans do need to show that Republican policies are better at ameliorating economic pain than Democratic policies. Mr. Limbaugh, both at CPAC and on his show, sneered at “policies” as if it were a dirty word, and many conservative commentators have pointed out that this is a mistake on his part.”
YOU don’t get it either. He sneered at policies because Conservatives act on their principles. Policies aren’t invented to please this or that (fleeting) constituency. Policies naturally fall out from a Conservatives principles. We know inherently that attempting to play Robin Hood is wrong (stealing from anyone is wrong for any reason) and thus we don’t think up policies which will do that. Did you even listen to Rush’s CPAC speech yourself? He explained it all quite clearly.
Read Harriet Beecher Stowe’s UNCLE TOM’S CABIN. Uncle Tom was a hero, a Christ figure. Why he has been thought to be a toady I do not know.
I can’t see that what Frum has done says ANYTHING about Rush. It says far more about Frum. Since this is the kind of person he is, it’s good to know it as soon as possible. Apparently, in terms of garnering potential exposure, he’s just like Rahm Emanuel–doesn’t want to waste a crisis that he can use for personal advantage.
One of the major hopes about conservatives is that we do not, in fact, need someone to tell us what to think. We are, of course, grateful when someone (such as Rush) says what we think.
If Rush went off the air today, 99.9% of his listeners would be very frustrated and concerned, but they wouldn’t change their mind about what they think. The idiots who think he is “telling us what to think” are clueless.
So Frum saying what he has doesn’t carry much influence that I can see. Where are his millions of listeners? I’d never heard of him before this happened.
Obama is truly the polarizing figure.
Not only that, all the poseurs around him, or that have been around him, are or try to be.
It’s just that people like Katie Couric, and Oprah, don’t tell you THE ONE is, or his friends are polarizing.
It is not about Rush Limbaugh who champions freedom and liberty… It is about the reckless arrogant polarizing freedom stealing policies of Obama.
http://strongerthandeathhq.wordpress.com/2009/03/07/why-is-the-radio-host-the-great-polarizer/
So, now to set the record straight!
We now refer to B. Hussein Obama as “President B. Hussein Obama who is a polarizing figure………..” Anytime his name is mentioned, or written about, it will start that way.
http://strongerthandeathhq.wordpress.com/2009/03/12/in-one-day/
I used to like and respect Frum, who is a wellmeaning and intelligent man. I like some of his policy ideas. So why doesn´t Frum focus on his ideas, instead of going out of his way to throw stones at other conservatives?
If he is such a great moderate, why couldn´t he make his case to them in the tone that he demands from conservatives, all nice and friendly-like?
To 90 % of the people who have taken notice of him at all, Frum is now known as the conservative who agrees that conservatives are embarrassing. And that´s it. He hasn´t advanced his case one bit.
How did that help? Whom did that help? And why exactly should conservatives not be peeved?
Don´t forget that Frum couldn´t even stick with McCain, who is supposedly the kind of moderate people like Frum want. The truth is: a guy who panics so easily over the pro-lifers and people like Limbaugh is unlikely to stick with any conservative position as soon as it´s sufficiently demonized by liberals.
Closing remark: Limbaugh is a smart polemicist. There is nothing wrong with that. Intellectually he stands far above truly embarrassing left-wing mudslingers like Moore, Sullivan, Olbermann or Stewart.
Frum is typical of conservatives who are focused on policy rather than principle, which means he isn’t conservative at all: he’s a republican. And like all republicans in the chattering classes, he is depsperate to be loved by people who hate him and will hate him till he dies.
He also strikes me as one of those people who looks down his nose at Sarah Palin and doesn’t listen to Rush Limbaugh but only comments on what others say about him.
He’s weak and unprincipled and he can only hurt us.
Hy, “one of my own”, could you attribute a link for Perino’s and Cheney’s statements? I’d like to take a look at it.
Of course, have you noticed the almost reflexive “blame Bush” backhanded comments almost every time your exalted leader speaks? Even Reagan didn’t lessen himself by bringing up Jimmy Carter’s failures. It’s one of those polite things Presidents do for each other, except this one didn’t get the memo. I thought you people were all into the whole “move on” idea, but I guess that only counts when you can use it as a cudgel.
Also, the whole Rush this is passe – David Plouffe says so. http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090314/pl_politico/20007. So on to the next thing. Of course the irony of this is that that the Democrats and the White house are going to try to accuse the Republicans a playing politics by…playing politics. I hope you cherished your text messages during the campaign, because now you’re graduating from footsoldier for the campaign to footsoldier for the administration!
Of course both of these campaigns, and they WERE campaigns hatched in the White House – the President went after him by name, and and his COS, Rahm Emmanuel hatched it with Carville, Begala, and Stephanopolous in their infamous “morning chats”.
Of course the greater irony illuminated by all this politicking is this: remember when ANY criticism of Obama’s policies and personnel picks (and their problems!) was nothing more than a “distraction” keeping the administration from “doing the people’s work”? Please tell me why, then, are they now engineering political red-meat distractions?
Could it be to “distract” from the seemingly utter incompetence this administration has shown so far in every thing they have attempted? I mean, really, a tax evader at Treasury? Are they going to fill the rest of the positions there? The old bait-and-switch at Commerce (let’s give it to a Republican, but take away the most important thing he would do in the next two years)? A stimulus bill with so many restrictions on the money that states and localities can’t figure out what they would get, if anything? Giving a $39.99 pack of DVDs and $30 toy helicopters to a staunch ally’s foreign head of state? BTW, who is blind in one eye, sees poorly in the other, and thus doesn’t watch movies.
And BTW, troll, Rush is a Conservative, not necessarily a Republican. You can be a Conservative and NOT be Republican – ask Victor Davis Hanson, he’s a Democrat.
One final thing. I challenge you, nay, I DARE you to listen to Rush Limbaugh instead of repeating merely what you have heard other people say he said. He’s on every day, not hiding anywhere.
David Frum, Colin Powell, Scott McClellan are all cut from the same cloth. These people aren’t Real Conservatives or Republicans and are part of the reason why the Republican Party has lost its direction.
All of the people like Frum need to be kicked to the curb and told to go lie in the Democratic Party beds that they’ve eagerly been wanting to get into. They are essentially Democrats.
Rush Limbaugh is right. Frum is an idiot and wrong. The Republican Party needs to follow the CONSERVATIVE principles that Limbaugh so eloquently communicated at CPAC and anyone not in agreement with these principles needs to be marginalized and removed from the Party. It’s time to do a long overdue housecleaning.
Also, no conservative should be buying or listening to the following media:
The New York Times
The Washington Post
Newsweek
Time
CNN
MSNBC
ABC
CBS
NBC
If you buy them or watch them, you’re helping to keep them alive and why keep alive left-wing news groups who perpetuate liberal propaganda. They are heavily-weighted to the left and are partly to blame for the problems the country is having now.
I don’t get the point of the article. So Frum spewed some bilge for Newsweek. That’s where spewed bilge belongs, doesn’t it? It’s not like anyone really reads that rag. Who cares?
I like Ann Coulter’s general view. Could you please single me out next? I have a book I’m trying to sell! Just spell my name right.
Reading these comments, one might think the Rushpublican party is coming apart at the seams.
Haven’t we learned during the Bush administration, contrary thoughts are not allowed.
Frum is a narcissist crying “love me, please, anybody”. If we withdraw attention he will up the ante for a while, but will eventually vanish or take up self-mutilating for attention.
David Frum, David Brooks, Christopher Hitchens,Chris Buckley,… all psudo-conservative , Ivy league pansies. The first three aren’t even American born, and probably have dual citizenship to match there duplicity of values. It makes me nausious to watch them on TV, sucking up to liberal pundits(as Im sure they do at NY cocktail parties) They are the epitome of the old Rockafeller Republicans.
They can all join Sen. Jim Webb(D-VA), on the other side of the feild, and quit saying you repesent Conservative thought.
In the foxhole that is contemporary politics, would you rather fight alongside a lion like Rush Limbaugh or a fop like David Frum? I’ll let readers decide for themselves.
An apt question. Frum is the LAST person I want to share a foxhole with.
Haven’t we learned during the Bush administration, contrary thoughts are not allowed.
No one said anything about contrary thoughts, Ed. You have this confused with Obama’s den.
Edward,
If you look at the blog above, the Conservatives seem very centered and sure of their principals. It is the Dems who are acting like the Borg without the Queen. Attacking Rush and other private citizens, then canceling those orders (Who will shamefacedly remove the Billboard put up by the Dems?), signing legislation they don’t even read, punishing those who make the jobs, then screaming “Make more Jobs!”. The implosion is the Dems and after only 50 Days…wow.
32. Edward A:
Reading these comments, one might think the Rushpublican party is coming apart at the seams.
Haven’t we learned during the Bush administration, contrary thoughts are not allowed.
Apparently you were woefully uninformed, but have now seen the truth of the matter. Although from some comments by our lefty friends in various postings around PJM it seems that during THIS administration they wish it were the case. http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/chuck-norris-vs-the-leftist-blogosphere/#comment-8
There’s only enough kobe beef and hoity toity cocktails to go around. Nothing to see here. Move along.
Chapin’s article is really the leading cause of what is killing the conservative movement- it has become everything the liberals were in the 1970′s- thin-skinned, fixated on “traitors” and “backstabbers”, and driven by rigid doctrinare ideology.
Lets look at a few facts-
1. After 8 years of Reagan, 4 years of Bush Sr., 12 years of GOP control of Congress, and 8 years of Bush Jr….the size and scope of government has not shrunk one bit…not one bit! Not once, did any GOP politician even propose a balanced budget! Not one- not once!
The “conservatives” have lost the right to claim they are “fiscally responsible”.
2. The current “conservative” leaders have applauded and encouraged the most massive enlargement ever of government power and intrusiveness into the lives of Americans via the warrantless wiretapping, suspension of habeas corpus, and drug related property seizures.
The “conservatives” have lost the right to call themselves the party of limited government.
3. The movement that prides itself on Christian morality has discraced itself with scandal after scandal, and has shown that it is a “Big Nanny”, fixated on bedroom habits and creationist superstition than advancing bold rational scientific thought.
The “conservatives” have lost the right to call themselves the party of individual liberty.
Who is to blame for this? Not David Frum, not Barack Obama. The death of the conservative movement is entirely self-inflicted.
A lot of the problem with many conservative politicians in high places is that they are connected to social networks that include liberals in high places. Too often it seems they would rather compromise their principles rather than to offend the social network.
The Sarah Palins and Rush Limbaughs of the world offend the Wise not because of their message but because they have a blend of three qualities that when mixed together are especially noxious to the Wise: (1) they are not part of our social network and (2) they are successful and popular, and (3) they don’t really give a f**k about the Wise or their social network.
Anyone who thinks David Frum is interested in promoting anyone or anything other than David Frum is a fool.
Just prior to the election Frum wrote an article in which he said that he had more in common with Obama than with McCain.
After his projected 1.35 trillion dollar deficit, which will likely exceed 2 trillion dollars, those who are not now excoriating Obama have a very poor understanding of economics.
“In the foxhole that is contemporary politics, would you rather fight alongside a lion like Rush Limbaugh or a fop like David Frum?”
Love it. Brilliant article that hits all the right notes. Going to war with Frum and his fellow “upper-class ninnies” would be time spent watching your own back to make sure they don’t stick a knife in it. They’re as bad as Democrats.
Who’s Frum?
29 Jeff W
Here’s the Perino link.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/15/perino-bush-deserves-cred_n_175062.html
I listen to Limbaugh every day, so I know exactly what he’s done to promote himself in this thing.
You say, “The President went after him by name, and and his COS, Rahm Emmanuel hatched it with Carville, Begala, and Stephanopolous in their infamous “morning chats”.
“Went after him” consists of Obama saying to Republicans, “You can’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh and expect to get things done.” That’s it. As for the grand conspiracy, what exactly did they hatch? . . . “Hey, I got a great idea . . . a VERY intricate strategy . . . Let’s let Limbaugh make a fool of himself and then he can take the Republican party down with him.”
Yeah, that’s evil all right.
Face it, you guys don’t know which end of the stick to point with. it’s absolutely comical. By the way, whatever happened to McConnell and Boehner? And where HAS Steele been this week? The party of “no” has disintegrated into the party of “nobody home.”
Win in 2010? You’ll be lucky to get anybody on the ballot.
Can anything good come out Harvard University?
I’m just a graduate of a state university, and since I graduated in ’82 I’ve met dozens of Ivy League grads. Some of them I liked and was impressed by. Others I did not, especially the most recent grads. Arrogant and insolent in a snarky way. They think too highly of themselves, including our president.
“I listen to Limbaugh every day, so I know exactly what he’s done to promote himself in this thing.”
You hear him, but you don’t listen. Obviously you don’t agree with the philosophy of our founders. You don’t like capitalism and free markets. You are a hard core Lefty.
Yep, it seems that Perino statement is pretty lame, there’s no way to tell right now if anything either President has done is helping. But really, your guy HAS to stop ducking his responsibilities at every opportunity. It’s getting unseemly.
But the Huffpo? They’ve NEVER twisted anyone’s words, especially on the right, right?. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/06/limbaugh-kennedy-will-be_n_172595.html, even when the other side agrees. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/01/13/senate-lion-kennedy-roars-national-healthcare/
Ah, you’re already talking the points for the next “distraction”. Problem is, the Republicans have plenty of ideas that were responded by “I won” and “I’ll trump you on that” in that very same conversation. It also didn’t help that reid and Pelosi completely shut them (and most of her party) out of any negotiation on the stimulus bill. Of course they said no.
And the going after Rush thing was the brainchild of Carville, who polled and saw his deeply negative numbers. He and his cronies decided to try to pin him as the leader of the Republican party. This was their opportunity. Apparently it worked – you believe it, and you listen to Rush. BTW, since you do, you already know they distorted his statement as you no-doubt heard the whole context.
Speaking of nobody home, ask the Brits if they’ve found anyone at Treasury to talk to about the upcoming G20 meeting.
Amen and amen. I wonder if the frumites would even hold on to any ideals before the liberal onslaught. I just don’t trust them with the future of any republican organization, after the battle rinos had since about 2000 against conservatives, in the primaries, etc.
Frum, a David Brock wannabe.
“…his Harvard education and bloated curriculum vitae…”
To this state U edumacated redneck, I think that anyone who calls themselves conservative and from Hahvaad has lots of ‘splainin’ to do. They have lots and lots of bones to make.
Most of us in flyover country are tired of being told what dolts we are by the elitist wankers from either coast. You have to prove to us your bonnafides rather than the other way around. This “Big Tent” conservatism has landed the GoP back in the bush leagues. Time to get back to basics of god, guns, family and country.
Notice nobody in the liberal media (or in the case, the conservative turncoats) actually tries to refute any of Rush’s statements, they just try to assassinate his character. They all think we lack the critical reasoning skills to see that just slapping a label on someone, accurately or inaccurately, has nothing to do with whether they are correct or not.
Or let’s put it another way – even though the Democrats are the party that supported slavery, segregation, socialism, and surrender, I will still do them the courtesy of discussing their policy proposals on the individual merits or lack thereof rather than just making assumptions based upon their past reputation.
45. Anonymous:
You listen to Rush. What, no Air America?
45. Anonymous:
Have you tried calling the Treasury Department lately? The Brits don’t seem to be having much luck getting anyone there.
Talk about “nobody home.” Your party shouldn’t be allowed to run the corner grocery store let alone the country.
Go back to Daily Kos.
47. fred: . . . on my listen to Rush, writes, “You hear him, but you don’t listen. Obviously you don’t agree with the philosophy of our founders. You don’t like capitalism and free markets. You are a hard core Lefty.”
Well Fred, what can I say, like a true conservative hack, you get everything backwards. What you meant was, “You listen to him, but you don’t hear him.” That’s the Republican problem, you refuse to master the fundamentals. You’re too busy tea bagging your fascist friends.
48 Jeff W . . . “And the going after Rush thing was the brainchild of Carville, who polled and saw his deeply negative numbers. He and his cronies decided to try to pin him as the leader of the Republican party.”
But what did they DO? What did they actually DO?
Actually the lefty media is starting to agree with Rush… they are just trying to pretend his ideas are theirs. Of course they state them couched in their adoration for the ONE.
Frum is only getting his 15 minutes on MSM because he’s attacking his own, sort of like a McCain light except nobody knows who this guy is.
Its well past time to dump the whole punchbowl full of these inside the beltway liberal pet RINO turds who keep appearing all over the media “Speaking for us” – they’ve shown time and time again just who they are – they stink and they’ve fouled the brand!
When good compromises with evil, evil wins every time.
We will vigorously fight to defeat these socialist enablers – or mankind’s one experiment with freedom has already been lost. . .
I think perhaps you should read this Steele article and consider that demographic evolution predicts caucasian will be a minority in the US by 2020.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123716282469235861.html?mod=rss_opinion_main
I don’t quite think that conservatives are coming back from this anytime soon.
It’s good to see the collaborators expose themselves;it will make the job of purging this trash from the GOP, that much easier.
Conservatives are NOT a demo of skin color, sex or ethnic background.
Conservative ideology will come about in anyone when they take an honest look at how good or bad their life is when they decide how to spend their hard earned money on what they they need versus having the Government take it and squander it. Liberty wins every time.
We have to CHAMPION conservative ideals NOT TRY TO BE the more sensible socialists – or fail trying.
Yes, there are conservative minorities – its simply racists to believe people are born to only think a certain political philosophy based on a demo and will never grow or change! The left converts so called rich, christen white kids in college to their cause. If they don’t give up based on demos why should we?
Joining the enemy, just so you will not end up on the losing side is not an option.
Just a little warning to all you Frummers / triangulators; THE FACTS ARE ON OUR SIDE – PANSIES!
NOW GET OUT OF OUR FACES WHILE THE GOINGS GOOD!
Exactly. Conservatism is an educational process.
Is it just me or did it seems highly curious that Frum comes out after Rush right on Carville’s cue?
I guess its just an odd coincidence, he probably had a piece on something else that got pushed back a few weeks and he went with the hit on Rush EXACTLY at the same time as the White House plot. . .
Not like he was scheming and plotting with the enemy or anything like that. . .
I Lived in Toronto for several years where David frum lived as well and know his past life and Liberals friends quite well …….He Is more of a Academic big city , George Will , Newt G. , North Eastern Limo Rockerfellow RePub. , The Two Bush’s , David Brooks , Bill Krystol ……” Centrist” to half leftist and not a Devout Conservative among them . David Frum is hell bent on moving the the party away from The Reagan winning by two landslide elections models .
McCain was the Centrist model as got his Arse whipped .
The only thing Rush knows how to do is ad hominem attacks. He is quite good at it. I think he is great as the leader of the Republicans and we Democrats hope he continues to be thought of as the leader, because he is only popular with the wingnuts and is wildly unpopular with independents
65 Robert Hurley :
You about as Much a grass root Democrat as is Obama’s mentors Saul Alinsky , James Cone , Rev Wright , The Black Communist that schooled him in Hawaii as a kid and Bill Ayers . .
You are both mindless racial Socialist and want a be Marxist .
You love Castro and Hugo Chevez .
You Blogs read like Karl Marx and Lien wrote and moronically though .
Rush plays but he is a man of facts and about five times as smart as any Marxist including you and Obama .
Obama would drag the ground with Obama in a head to head debate .
Your Boy is way over his head since this is about economics in AMERICA not Being a ACORN Organizer and street activist .
Your Boy is a huge Lier as well …… those 20 % swing voters are greatly disillusioned with his sorry arse now we are hearing and reading everywhere . The Markets have dropped 20 % since he brough us No Hope and Worse Change .
He is screwing the middle class, small and large business and you well know it .Carbon Credits taxes now ??? b/s !
Drop you act ..Ok !
Another right-winger, schooled in the art of dramatic over-writing.
Proud to join your voice in the conservative commentariat. Just wish more would call openly for Obama’s resignation on the grounds of fraud. The guy needs to go. http://www.brushfires-of-freedom.com/resign.html …more essays at http://www.brushfires-of-freedom.com/essays.html
#39 ChipD – You’re flat-out wrong. Every single one of Reagan’s proposed budgets was balanced. The Dem-majority Congress then added the pork. The pub Congress under Gingrich balanced the budget for four years straight, causing the economy to boom. They had to force the first ones past Clinton. Of course, Clinton took credit. So, 12 of those years had balanced budgets or proposals for such by Pubs.
Bush II had a major war to deal with. We will always run a deficit in such times. Furthermore, we will also always curtail indivual rights during such. Oh, and Obama is continuing the Bush policies regarding the Rights issues you raised.
As for scandals, um, what scandals? Shall we compare scandals between the parties, or will you concede the point? Let’s compare Reagan’s, or either Bush’s, morals and behavior with the Clintons’, shall we? Remember Whitewater? Lewinsky? Impeachment? Pardoning terrorists? The carpetbagging Mrs. Clinton? How about the plethora of tax cheats and conflicted appointments? Sen. Edwards’ sordid affair? Obama’s thug tactics at the caucuses? Playing the race card constantly? Endless pork? Special exceptions for certain lobbyists? “No earmarks”? Constant lies by Obama?
Yours was an ignorant post! Truly uninformed.
#65 Robby:Some one infinitely greater than you(admittedly not hard to be), once said that the truths of a little man wereless importanmt and fruitful that the mistakes of a great man. That sort of describes you and Rush,little robby.
68:Xantiphas: Another libtard interloper, badlyschooled in the”art” of ignorant condescension.
You too ? He did you too? That faithless gringo!!@#@!%Porque PIG, Mexico.
HE did us too ! The chickens, Tyson’s poultry farm, Arkansas.
I am in SHOCK! You lied to me David, you two timing pig! (sorry Porque); I,m sending you back the ring: David you #!!%$.That’s what I get for sleeping with humans!– Dolly the sheep(berkshire England)
He likes doing it in the manure pile! Old Macdonald-at his farm.
Frum rhymes with scum;BTW he did me too.- Petie the parrot’RINO’s Pet store,Washington,DC
He did me also,while on a trip to Africa!My little heart is broken!-Lumumba the Rhinoceros,Zambia
ONE OF MY OWN
#22
You’re a fine one to talk about “playing the victim” Your people (the Usurper included) have refined it into a science. Perhaps next time your group can find someone with just a bit more substance than a third rate hack Chicago politician who is incapable of expressing himself with any degree of literacy once the teleprompter is shut down (or is “uh, uh, um, uh, uh ) Try to develop some of the gray matter that may still be functional inside youe skull (if, indeed, any still exists !) Perhaps that paragon of virtue, elegance, wit, humor and intelligence can instruct you !!
Sorry Topsy, you’ll just have to do a bit better next time.
S.M.
That @!!#% Shrum, he said I was the only Goliath in his life!- Goliath-the gay circus strong man-Ringling&Brothers Circus,New York City.
COL.MORAN:RE VIVO: Don’t worry colonel, wait till OOMO reads the above posts;It seems Frum cheated on him as well!
correction:re OOMO,sorry,but Shrum probably did him too.
Wow! You people need to get laid. You too, Colonel Moron.
No Shrum needs to do something about his bestiality.It’s clearly out of control!
In comment 23, Kirly said,
[Rush] sneered at policies because Conservatives act on their principles. Policies aren’t invented to please this or that (fleeting) constituency. Policies naturally fall out from a Conservatives principles.
Yes, I agree. Principles first, then policies — the why they’re called “principles”. Mr. Limbaugh was saying that we can’t abandon conservative principles by dickering over liberal policies, since that allows liberals to set the agenda.
But by mocking both the word and the idea of “policies”, he seemed to be saying that principles alone should carry the day. In other words, “we don’t need no stinkin’ policies”, or “let them eat principles”, if you will.
Now if he really meant that, he would be making a poor recommendation to both conservatives/Republicans and to the country at large. But I think he was just being inarticulate, perhaps a bit intellectually lazy and arrogant as well. On his radio show he does mock “policies” as he did in his CPAC speech, but he also provides policy alternatives based on conservative principles. In any case, David Frum (among others) was correct to note this failing in his speech to CPAC.
We know inherently that attempting to play Robin Hood is wrong (stealing from anyone is wrong for any reason) and thus we don’t think up policies which will do that.
Government redistribution is not exactly stealing if the taxpayers have representation in Washington and agree through their representatives to have some of their income/wealth redistributed.
I admit that it is similar to stealing in some respects, especially when it is done at levels that no one could justify, or when it is done under false pretenses. But the consent that we give to the process through the ballot box makes government redistribution truly distinct from real stealing, at least in this country.
If the taxpayers have had enough, and hopefully they have, then they should support and campaign for politicians who are willing to heed their complaints.
Did you even listen to Rush’s CPAC speech yourself? He explained it all quite clearly.
I listened to every last minute of it. He does explain it clearly in the context of what he’s been saying on the radio for the past twenty years. But as a self-contained primer on conservatism, I don’t think the speech was as clear as you to seem to believe.
I can especially understand why someone could misinterpret his CPAC speech given the controversy over his “I hope he fails” comments. He seems to be saying that no policy is better than a socialist policy (and he’s probably right about that), when he should be saying that conservative policy is much, much more than a rejection of socialist policy.
Thanks, Kirly, for responding to my comment.
@#69 Malone-
Well, perhaps I am reading a different history than you are:
Mine comes from the following source-
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reagan/timeline/index_4.html
Where it lays out the exact timeline of the Reagan presidency-
1981- He submits a budget to Congress that contains a deficit;
1984- He sends another budget to Congress, with a $184 billion deficit;
1986- Another proposed budget, another deficit- $186 billion;
1987- Submits a trillion dollar budget, with $149 billion in deficits;
This isn’t an exhaustive list, since it was a short Google search;
I really do wish it was the nefarious Dems who did this, but but facts are stubborn, and one fact is that Reagan chose not to balance the budget, stating ” I didn’t come here to balance the budget. I was elected to reduce Government intrusion in the economy.”
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,953168,00.html
Feel free to find sources that contradict this and I will cheerfully read them.
David is just probably feeling nostalgic about
his original roots as a member and worker for
the NDP. This is a Canadian socialist party.
It is a Michael Moore type of party. However,
Canada is a very small pond for the ambitious.
If you want a Canadian ex-pat stick to Mark
Steyn. Whoops-he does the Rush show sometimes
does he not? Maybe David is feeling a bit
jealous. Frum does like the spotlight.
David: You awful cad! I thought you loved only me! You don’t care that I got my black eye trying out that new toy you bought me. I hate you!, I hate you ! ,I hate you! PINCH SULZBERGER NYSLIMES, New York City.
I was too late on this covnersation.