Ten Reasons for Conservatives to Be Thankful
Thanksgiving brings time for reflection and appreciation. We all have many reasons to be grateful for the blessings in our personal lives. But in a year in which so little has gone right politically for conservatives it is good to recall ten things which should engender gratitude — and indeed rejoicing — from conservatives.
First, President-elect Barack Obama won by assuring voters he would pursue tax cuts, victory in Afghanistan, prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and go “line by line” through the federal budget to eliminate waste and unneeded programs. We can doubt his sincerity or ability to achieve these ends, but he won by recognizing and espousing center-right principles. If he pursues some or all of them, the country will be the better for it. If he doesn’t, he is unlikely to succeed or maintain the broad-based popularity needed to keep Democrats in power.
Second, Hillary Clinton, James L. Jones, and Robert Gates are on tap to fill key national security roles. This is not the crew to bug out of Iraq before the job is done, repeal FISA, rush off to meet with Ahmadinejad, or support a 25% cut in defense spending. On national security, the president-elect in essence has conceded that the Left’s vision is impractical and dangerous. To echo Ronald Reagan on the Cold War, conservatives can rightly crow to the Left in the Democratic Party: “We win, you lose.”
Third, Congressional Republicans have not been a source of pride for the GOP, but the elevation of Eric Cantor to minority whip and Mike Pence to the Republican conference slot puts two of the more articulate and attractive Republicans in the spotlight. They won’t win very many votes, but they can paint stark differences and begin to restore intellectual vigor to Republicans inside the Beltway.
Fourth, Mitch McConnell. If your numbers are down, your morale is low, and you are facing a savvy Democratic president, there is no one better situated to prevent the worst and eke out small victories. And given his toughly contested Senate race, we can look forward to an equally vigorous race against Harry Reid in 2010.
Fifth, Republican governors make up a diverse, attractive, and effective group of leaders. From the ranks of Bobby Jindal, Sarah Palin, Jon Huntsman, Mitch Daniels, Haley Barbour, Tim Pawlenty, and Mark Sanford will come conservative ideas, articulate spokesmen, and a raft of contenders for 2012. If President Obama fails to bring about economic recovery with a reenactment of the New Deal, this group stands ready to present alternative plans for reviving the economy.
You are hopelessly mired in the red/blue, liberal/conservative, us/them mindset. Rather than look at the destruction and fear that ideological politics has rendered, you are once again waving the rebel flag and promising a ressurection of the old antebellum ideas. Your party lost, and will continue to lose, until you can appeal to a broader base, with new ideas. That means people other than, the rich, the white, and the angry. Until that happens, I suggest you buy a gun and hide in the closet waiting for the race war you see in your mind’s eye. The rest of the nation has moved on and we won’t be going back until your alternatives offer a truer picture of the goals and ideals of all Americans as they are, not what you think they should be.
Clyde,
Are you the same Clyde who hung out with Clint Eastwood in the “Every Which Way But Loose” movies? I ask because you exhibit the same level of analytical ability of an orangutan. Where on earth in Ms. Rubin’s excellent article do you find her talking about “antebellum ideas,” “race war” and such?
Thank you, Ms. Rubin, for making us conservatives feel a bit better on Thanksgiving (although you had to strain on a couple of those points–I’m not that wild about the House Leadership, for example).
Ah nothing like the smell of an upset troll in the morining.
It takes a leftist to define the concept of sore winner. Demonize your political opponents, try kicking them when they are down, and then be suprised when you face demons in 2010. There was a Democrat named Arthur Schlesinger Jr. that did an essay on why opposition parties are neccessary for a democracy. The power and the money in government can corrupt good men and it attracts the bad. Multiple parties keep each other in check.
Reason Number 11:
The size of the deflation and the length of time it wil take to recover from it. It isn’t just that the US subprime mess built up over the years is going to take time to recover from but also other developed countries have not only invested in US subprimes but did there own bad loans to developing countries. The amount of money that has and is going pooft beggars my imagination even with scientific notation.
A retention of the Bush tax cuts is not going to be enough. It going to take a big reduction corporate taxes and an elemination of the capital gains tax on investments. I don’t see that happening in the next couple of years.
This article is a breath of fresh air. I’m glad some of us can start looking on the bright side of things and start regrouping!
Clyde:
I am so thankful during this wonderful season of the year that I am not a gloom and doom democrat.
The idea of being grateful for what you have is wonderful, but when it is centered around politics it is a little sad. The Republican party needs to apologize for acting like Democrats and return to the middle with real ideas on how to pay off the national debt, pass a enforceable law on requiring balanced budgets, and work to solve the health care issue (because more industry is going to fail because of this burden). We need the Republicans to standup and say no to more bailouts and stop the fiscal hemorage. You should be thankful that you live in a country that changes power peacefully and that even though there was much racor during the elections there weren’t tanks in the streets. We are Americans first and foremost, we need to come together and fix this nations problems and stop the blame game. We need to roll up our sleeves and get the job done once again. If you have nothing to add then take care of your own house and then give of yourself to charity because there are going to be a lot of people that are going to need help. Happy Thanksgiving enjoy stuffing your face and watching football on your big screen, while people are freezing and being thrown out into the streets.
We should all be thankfull,but don’t hold your breath.
I think that ALL Americans should be grateful to live in the greatest country that G-d ever created. Thanksgiving in Canada means very little. I don’t recall being taught about it in school. It is just another day off. You guys at least celebrate your origins and your children know who their founders were and why they came to America. Canadian kids are taught that the French and fur traders basically founded this country. What a joke! Be thankful and pray to G-d that Obama doesn’t screw you all to hell.
Clyde, my goodness, you are projecting your own thoughts. Get a grip, man. Why don’t you just bask in your win and not worry about the possibility that someone may disagree with you.
Ms. Rubin’s comments are, once again, worth the trouble. The key to conservatives’ recovery will be making the facts known about the Democrats’ culpability in bringing about the financial meltdown. Their fingerprints are all over it, and they’re expending prodigious resources to keep that from becoming widely known. That’s the big kahuna here. If we can publicly remove the thick, multiple layers of cover-up from that truth, we win.
Whether the Republican party continues or not is immaterial. Far too many times it’s promised conservatives to take them to the prom, and then didn’t show up. That party will get absolutely no slack from me. If it broadens its tent, it’s doomed. It’s already broadened it to the point of indistinguishability from Democrats on key issues; that’s why it’s lost the last two national elections. If it returns to the core conservative principles held by the vast majority of Americans, it could be revived. Whether a revived Republican party is worth all that effort, however, is highly debatable.
thanks for the good news
I spent eight years looking for a Conservative in the Bush administration and never found one! Neo-Cons Galore; but No True Conservatives.
Maybe if the GOP returns to it’s roots they can win again? The problem is can they?
I have real concerns about that. When the Republican Party is out of power they do their best to force conservative measures on the Democrats but once they get back into power themselves expediency is the name of the game once again.
Newt Gingrich forced Clinton to have a balanced budget. The last one before that was the 1969 budget written by the Johnson administration under threats from Jerry Ford and Everett Dirkson after the GOP picked 66 seats in 1966 after Barry Goldwater went down in flames in 64.
This year I voted for Ron Paul because he made more sense then the rest of the pack. I also voted for him in 1988 when he ran against Bush {I}
“A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money!”
Everett Dirksen
Of all the hopeful reasons cited the most important is that Bush II and his Iraq War are history. Now it is Obama’s War and Republicans can stand on their own feet without the baggage of Bush II who destroyed the Republican Party singlehandedly as Congressional Republicans in a pig headed maneuver supported Bush II on the War until they went over the cliff. Republicans are not very bright at present. Hoping for a resurrection of the dead Republican congressional party.
Your list is all about politics. There are other things in life, some bad, many good. Personal happiness depends more on what happens in your house than in the White House (hat tip: Betsy Speicher.)
Ms Rubin is doomed to disappointment I fear inasmuch as just about everything Obama’s admin is going to do will be the reverse of the last eight years.
She’s not going to agree with much of it and worst of all it will be done highly competently. She and a lot of conservatives just don’t get that Obama is one of the best politicians in living memory. He’s going to toot his horn and say forward and no one is going to notice he’s leading them in a direction they don’t want to go. Think De Gaulle and Algeria.
The outline of what is going to happen is already apparent. He’s picked a bunch of left leaning Democrats, centrists and Republicans to run his administration. Many of them are highly respected technocrats like Gates, Geithner, Volcker and Orzag. The WSJ ed page prints numerous adulatory pieces about Volcker forgetting he was appointed by a Democrat and dropped by a Republican. Centrist Republicans will be eating out of their hands as they pull out of Iraq and introduce a universal healthcare system. Since a majority of voters want this it’s perhaps not surprising.
The political resistance to the agenda is going to come from folks like Cantor and Boehner. The first from conviction, he’s nothing if not a conviction Lord Cardigan, the second because he likes being leader. The wider resistance is going to come from the media and blogs, and the think tanks who feed the media their talking points. The form of the resistance, from both the politicians like Cantor, and the media folks like Limbaugh, is going to be strident and ill judged, and will just make Obama look more and more like the reasonable centrist who wants to run the country competently and efficiently. If you don’t believe me check out what’s already out there. When will the right get it into their skulls that Limbaugh maybe telling them what they like to hear but really IS regarded by a comfortable majority as a big, fat, hypocritical idiot. A fully paid up member of the gallery of national grotesques, a sort of ying to that other big fat idiot, Rosie Donnell’s yang.
I’ve been watching this guy closely now for two years and he’s an operator with all the intelligence and political savvy of Clinton, but 100 times the self discipline. Anyone see the evening news last night? Faultless presentation and presser with Volcker, as were the two previous economic pressers. The market went up after each of them. Then he does the obligatory turkey photo op but with a great spin, a food bank, and his very attractive family in tow. Then he tops it again by visiting on the fly a local kids school, behaves with his usual natural grace and gets a 1000 baby kissing pix to die for. I don’t think the GOP and conservatism generally is going to know whats hit it. The good new in all this is that neither do the enemies of the US.
Reason #11 for Conservatives to be Thankful: The American people have rescued Conservatives from themselves by electing a competent politician for POTUS. With Obama in the Whitehouse, the Conservative movement will (eventually) be forced to look inward. The Conservative Movement believes that the ideology represents perfection. They believe that any “yellow dog” can be President IF they adhere to the “core values” of Conservatism…POTUS 44 will show Conservatives why COMPETENCE trumps ideology..Smart people make decisions based on facts. They hire people who are smart. They listen to their counsel. They make decisions based on “what works”, rather than “what would Reagan do?”. The Conservatives will eventually be Thankful for Barack Obama and competent Government. Most of America, is already Thankful for that prospect.
That title reminded me of the old Ian Dury and the Blockheads song Reasons To Be Cheerful. And there are a few of those even in a country where Woolworths has just gone bankrupt.
Many of us will miss their Pick and Mix Candy Counter though, those concoctions of sugar and “glow-in-the-dark” toxic chemicals were deligiously addictive.
Hey Truth Hurts;
What are you going to do when Old Big Ear falls flat on his face? When “hope and change” means he has to make a tough call and screws it up? The Dems have been running some of the most corrupt and economically ruined states for years now people like you have given them the country to run. Well we will get to see how well that works out. And just to head you off at the pass, most of the stock market meltdown has been do to people like me cashing out of the market so the Old Big Ears and the rest of the Dems can’t steal our money. Hope you like double didgit unemployment the Dems are going to give it to us for the next few years.
Laura, what the heck is G-d? You can’t type God?
Rubin – Seventh, there is a rich — and sometimes contentious — intellectual community on the Right in think tanks, new media, and grassroots organizations which did not exist in other moments of crisis for conservatives (e.g., post-Watergate). Yes, they sometimes devolve into acrimonious bickering. But they also provide the potential for intellectual and political rebirth. There is no shortage of ideas or voices on the Right.
I’m not sure this is a strength. After 1972, the Democrats were riven into different ideological groups, each fanatically convinced they were right. The election of Carter only added to the divided nature of Democrats, especially on the Left, as Jewish Progressives, black radicals, UN pacifist-McGovernite types, bigger welfare state backers, teachers lobbies all warred openly for 20 years..
In the Republican camp you have the last of the cancerous Neocons, the Corporatists and Globalist faction for the Rich and supply side, the Religious Right (which now wishes to expand their “small tent is purer” war against Mormons and all the RINOs outside the Bible Belt), the Libertarians & gays that detest the Fundies, the Goddess Palin worshippers. The Christian Zionists that put Israel 1st. The modern technocratic wing typified by Romney and Pawlenty, and all the people wedded to 30-year old Reagan ideas as Gospel…
I think that Republicans recognize the grave difficulty they are in. Convincing people that believe people that don’t believe exactly like they do will have their souls go to Hell takes a lot of convincing. That is why so many pin their hopes on a charismatic – like the Goddess Palin – who will turn off the brains of various Republican factions and ignore the policy and ideological differences and let emotional enthusiasm – policies be scorned – win the day..
Pinning all Republican hopes on a single Charismatic or praying Obama falls flat on his face along with America under his Presidency isn’t a wise choice. Better to widen the tent, get rid of ideological baggage that was never part of Republicanism until recent years:
1. If you are a woman who is a moderate on abortion and contraception who wants certain restrictions, you are NOT morally unfit to be a Republican.
2. Republicans can be the Party of small government while still wanting “enough” government to have a robust military, a national energy policy towards independence despite market forces dictating a continued reliability on Arab Oil, having great national parks and a good environment, and enough regulators to keep an eye on the greedy Wall Street, Corporatist outsources, and banker bastards.
3. Favoring small government does not entail “starving the beast” with 3 trillion in new debt. 40% growth in Fed Gov’t, and tax cuts for the wealthy. Or making people dislike gov’t by proving Republicans administer it in a corrupt and incompetent manner. There are major cognitive disconnects that Republicans have to straighten out.
4. Republicans can extoll “good traditional values” without turning that into religious bigotry against Mormons, native Catholics, and Hispanic-style Christian sects. They can say they do not share gay lifestyle beliefs without demonizing gays who are natural Republicans in other arenas. Younger voters and college educated people and those who are atheists and scientists should not be considered “insuitable to be Republicans” by those conditions.
5. Neocons and Israel Firsters are way outside the Republican tradition of war only in the last extreme, and Republicans backing war only in the US’s vital interest – to justify the bodies coming in to Dover, the maimed going home, and the opportunities to do other things squandered in war.
6. Republicans must be a Party working & middle class people see in their interests, or they will lose elections. Republicans will have to sometimes choose between failed promises of Free Trade! Unregulated Free Markets! Globalism! Heathcare through the genius of the free market! Trickledown economics! – and the pervasive failure of such ideology in recent years to keep or attract hispanics, Reagan Democrats.
7. Republicans have a real problem with the Religious Right…which repels people not in the rural, Southern evangelical tradition. Its efforts to exclude 80% of America from voting Republican as too much unlike them..evn fellow Republicans they are so fond of calling as RINOs, it’s efforts at theocracy as in the Terri Schiavo Fiasco.
My sense is that the Republicans need to rebuild and not sit in stasis waiting for a charismatic person to rescue them so they can avoid making difficult calls that will involve purging the Party in order to strengthen and broaden it in the future. The Neocons are not in the Republican tradition. They must go. The Corporatists and Fundies have accumulated too much clout and fostered free spending and corruption, as well as abandoning America outside swank neighborhoods or the Old South. They must be brought to heel or told they are welcome to leave – their most extreme zealots, that is – to found the Party of Outsourcing to China & Rapacious Greedy Folks. and the Party of Jesus on Earth.
Jennifer is a bright light.
I use to have 3 favorite columnists.
Thomas Sowell, Victor David Hanson and Ann the great.
Now i have five add Ms. Rubin and John Hawkings.
I am feeling better already.
I had a minor success yesterday. I played golf with a lefty. I hammered him so much he quit on the 9th hole. I may not be able to change their minds, but at least I can make them miserable.
Happy thanksgiving all.
Happy Thanksgiving to all patriots.
You read smart reasoned letters like cedarford and John and truthhurts and right around them is crap like ghengis and southdakotaboy and their ilk. RIP GOP.
Reason 7: Good point. The discussion is already beginning and the up and coming Republican governors are going to be a big part of it as well as the local Republican organizations and the development of an effective internet strategy. The big question is whether the RNC can be brought back to its conservative roots. The leadership there is still very much in question.
On another subject, I think it wonderful who Obama has picked for his cabinet so far. Talk about giving the far left a kick in the teeth! The appointment of Hilary for Secretary of State will be the icing on the cake. Looks like he used the “useful idiots” to get nominated and then elected and now it is under the bus time!
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By the way, I hope all you rich liberals out there are going to pay a bunch of taxes because Joe Biden said it’s your patriotic duty to do so and I am waiting for my share of the free stuff Obama promised me.
Rubin — “There is no shortage of ideas or voices on the Right.”
Possibly in theory, but in practice? Not really.
The elevation of the minority social conservatives via TV has both landed democrats the white house and doomed the party to marginal status for years. The MSM did this merely by quoting the opposition to a “reasonable” democrat position, where the opposition was never a rank and file republican but rather a far right wingnut (like some who post here.) The wingnut was then labeled as a “typical” republican. This could be seen in most reporting, but was probably a bit subtle for the more shallow minds. It should have been apparent however when the same technique was used to report absurd positions of school boards flouting the law and trying to get “Intelligent” Design put in school cirriculums. The MSM never failed to report that the ID supporters were unreasonable (“typical” republicans of course) and the board members who were protecting science were not. As long as the party embraces and/or endorses these fools, the republican party will continue to be associated with backwardness.
Through this kind of thing where the left MSM has painted ALL republicans as anti-scientific halfwits using the willing participation of the social conservatives, it gives the appearance that social conservatives are “the base” and are the party majority. This is pure nonsense, although it seems to be a widely held belief by most of BOTH parties. Thus despite the social conservatives being a 20% minority these people have a disproportionate voice.
Getting the REAL voice of the party back isn’t going to happen without a lot of bloodletting. Many of the social conservatives have managed to acquire some power and aren’t about to let that power go. There’s no rational reason why the republican party should for a moment take a Huckabee or a Jindal seriously for national office. They represent the social conservative minority at the outside. They certainly don’t represent the 80% of the moderate majority. One of these may manage to get a large voting bloc, but this doesn’t mean that they have a mandate or are otherwise preferred — it means that moderate republicans will reluctantly vote for these rather than vote for the left. Running social conservative choices is a dangerous and stupid thing to do, mainly because in doing this the party loses a few percent on the edge, which is enough to lose an election to a moderate on the left.
There is no way the party can grow if it can’t even represent the interests of the majority of the constituents. In a two party system, the goal is to attract some from the other side. This is rather difficult if you can’t even attract those from YOUR side! So as long as you see the term “RINO” freely bandied about on PJM and other sites, you can rest assured that the current virtual stranglehold on ideas is still being perpetuated. That’s the metric you shoot for. Once you see that term being used infrequently, it means that the majority is getting a voice. THEN is when you can claim that there are lots of ideas to work with. Until then… no.
An excellent discussion from members a party that has failed to deliver on the potential of its best people – eg Reagan or my favorite Newt. It looks like a healthy rethink has begun. The extent to which Obama may successfully deliver a rethought out brand of liberalism will determine how deeply conservatives will have to reexamine their own thinking. I’m thinking of how shallow and slow the left’s response was to the collapse of communism and the Thatcher-Reagan revolution. Obama has to do better than Bubba or Blair to force the right to raise its game. However Obama turns out rest assured that in the fullness of time the Democrats will offer all the opportunity necessary for the Republicans to make a comeback.
“We can disagree about the wisdom of the decision to go to war in Iraq, but a victory with a stable Iraq allied with the U.S. and a humiliated al-Qaeda is now within our grasp.”
No wonder your tean lost the election. You live in some parallel universe.
Liberals and Leftists should be grateful that they are extended far more courtesy and sufferance here at PJM than we enjoy over at their blogs. It’s a fact and cannot be refuted, and this thread is proof of it. If we went over to HuffPost, Kos, DU, and MoveOn and posted the crap that they are indulged over here our posts would be deleted and we would be banned from the site. Preposterous you say? Think again. It happens all the time over there in their world.
Their participation here is nothing more than the wacky psy-ops of sore winners. They aren’t satisfied with victory. They want to completely demoralize us and it ‘aint gonna’ work.
“G-d” is an expression used by certain Orthodox Jews whose religious beliefs prohibit them from spelling out the full name of God. It is a mystery to me what the logic is behind this practice, but this is accurate information.
#32 “You live in some parallel universe.”
Agreed. It’s the one called “reality.”
The US gets 15% or less of its oil from the middle east. The mendacious accusation of “War For Oil” as claimed by the left was specious by definition. “War for stability” would have been more accurate: it’s the Europeans who consume middle eastern oil. The US could easily avoid ALL middle eastern oil from domestic sources. But… what makes international business work is buying and selling. What Bush decided to do was use Al Qaeda in a two pronged approach to establish some order in the region. Order means that the entire western world (this includes Europe) is energy secure. This is the concept that one can agree or disagree with.
The left meanwhile has been distracted, like a mindless parrot, on the shiny object: getting Bin Laden. Obama’s goal is to spend a great deal of lives and money doing little more than pissing off Pakistan (that’s where OBL is reputed to be) and getting the bad guy. No different than the calls of the left since the war began. Get OBL! The problem is of course that getting Bin Laden and going home doesn’t do anything: leadership in terrorist orgs isn’t a germane concept. It doesn’t destroy Al Qaeda, doesn’t deter other groups. There is no plan for longer term handling of terrorism, unless of course you have the IQ if broccoli and assume that they’ll leave you alone if you stay out of the region. That of course can’t work: the US exports cultural weapons weapons of mass destruction such as Coke, Levis, iPods, and Madonna, and this pisses these guys off more than Marines do. The best guess says that OBL could have been tracked down ages ago (and probably was) but getting him and going home was the opposite of what was needed. (Assuming this is true, it wouldn’t be the first time the left got things completely backwards.)
The right may bicker amongst ourselves regarding whether or not Bush’s assessment was correct, whether or not it was wise to engage in nation building in Iraq, and so on. However, you aren’t qualified to speak to this: global realpolitik isn’t a game for children like you. Stick to what you can handle — bumper stickers.
Face it, pal — the left won this one because they were able to sell, P.T. Barnum style, a shallow philosophy that barely fits bumper stickers to both the young and the stupid. (No War For Oil. Get Bin Laden. Bring Home Troops. Save The Planet. No Nukes. Blah Blah Blah.) But even that wasn’t quite enough — the right helped via some strategic campaign message mistakes which confused the less vapid voters. It was only an accident of history that allowed Obama to win, so don’t get ahead of yourself.
Thank you Fred. Any honest person reading this thread will agree with the truth of your post. How ironic that the party of diversity is anything but.
The Republican party’s abandonment of traditional conservative principles – low taxes, smaller government, an originalist judiciary, strong defense, free trade and markets, no pork-barrel, borders that exist – is what brought it to its current status. Returning to those principles is its only hope of recovery, and even that is quite problematic. There’s abundant and well-founded skepticism that the Republican party will EVER faithfully embrace conservative principles, as it has repeatedly promised and subsequently failed to do precisely that. Republicans have the next two years to persuade its traditional base that it’s learned something from the 2006 & 2008 elections. If it fails again to represent the values that are shared by the majority of the population, a third party will emerge to fill that void. While the Republican party’s existing infrastructure could facilitate conservatism’s return to the national arena, its history of unreliability suggests it’s not worth the effort it would require to wrest control of it from the may-as-well-be-Democrat-milquetoasts that currently run it. The sense that there’s no conservative leadership, the boiling emotions at not being represented, a desire for clear direction, and the Left’s threat to America’s very fabric – all of that is what’s going to coalesce into a new conservative front. Those voices haven’t been represented, at all, in over a decade, and those voices resonate in a majority of Americans. The Republican party is no longer the most likely outlet for them. A new organization will emerge, and will do so within the next two years.
The media’s bias in support of the Left has been an enormous obstacle and disadvantage to the Right. The media’s fortunes, however, have been declining steadily for the past 25 years, and declining precipitously of late. Their readers/viewers have dropped by over one-half, their revenues have diminished to the point of being life-threatening, long-standing publications are struggling to survive, and disenchantment with them, if not sheer disbelief of them, continues to rise. These are not coincidences. This occurred simultaneously with conservatism and alternative media’s rise. The MSM shot the works in 2008, abandoning all pretense of objectivity. Nearly 80% of Americans believe the media are strongly biased toward Democrats. The internet is now viewed as the most reliable source of information. The MSM will not retain their remaining influence, even in the face of the Left’s efforts to muzzle alternative media. The technical and philosophical landscapes are very different from those that existed 25 years ago, when the MSM’s stranglehold on information was nearly complete. The case against a renewed Fairness Doctrine has never been stronger. And even if it’s pushed through by the Democrats, its effect will be a pale imitation of what it was before Reagan killed it. There are simply too many information outlets, too many alternative sources of news and opinion, and too much awareness of the MSM’s seemingly innate bias. They will never recapture their former dominance and will continue to decline. As this happens, the facts about our financial crisis will come out, and the Left’s culpability in it will become known. The real history and nature of the man who will occupy the White House in 2009 will also become known, despite the MSM’s sustained efforts to prevent that happening. As inevitably as night follows day, popular sentiment will turn against him.
It’s a near-certainty that BH0′s leadership will threaten the nation’s viability. Those who voted for him in the hope he would govern from the center will be badly disappointed. He will attempt to impose the Left’s ideas onto a populace that, while greatly dissatisfied with Republicans, remains elementally center-Right. The nation’s core values are inconsistent with those that have dominated BH0′s personal and political history. To the extent that he tries to alter things to favor his radical, anti-American beliefs, he will alienate the majority of the people. This will occur at the same time that economic reality will prevent him from fulfilling even one of the grandiose promises he made to the various extremist perspectives that brought him to power. There is nothing in U.S. politics so intolerant and vindictive as a betrayed Leftist interest group. Even now there are ominous rumblings among them about being double-crossed by cabinet selections and abandonment of the change that was central to BH0′s campaign. By the end of his term, BH0′s dog is likely to be his only friend.
It’s very probable that two years from now, and certainly four years from now, the nation willhave seen the essential hollowness of BH0′s ideas, and understand the true nature of his goals. It will be infinitely more receptive to ideas that do not fly in the face of logic or challenge long-held cultural values, ideas that already resonate in the majority of the American people. Traditional American conservatism will fill that bill.
If conservatives want to take back the Republican party, I am all for that.
However, this article is still in denial. There hadn’t been a terrorist attack on the scale of 9/11 here for hundreds of years before Bush, he is to be given credit because there was only ONE on his watch???? Wasn’t he warned of the attack a month earlier and chose to do nothing to prevent it?
In the case of smaller earlier attacks, like the first World Trade Center attack, those responsible were caught – how about trying that rather than invading random countries?
The real disaster of the Iraq policy is that there was no possible good outcome. If there were no resistance and a perfect democracy set up, the result would be a Shiite majority electing a regime more friendly to Iran, greatly increasing Iran’s power in the region. That is the BEST case, we removed Iran’s archenemy while doing nothing about Bin Laden.
The conservatives have lost credibility because they did nothing to oppose this nonsense. The president claimed to be on their team, and they went along without a whimper. Articles like this one, still defending Bush, will do nothing to restore their credibility.
This article is spot on to remind us that we have much to be thankful for as conservatives. Public opinion polls, referenda and the election victories of many conservative candidates suggest that voters did not necessarily reject conservative ideas. Indeed, a disturbing number of voters were not even aware of Obama’s radical proposals or even that the Democrats were in the majority in Congress. If the Democrats govern as radical liberals, we conservatives will enjoy electoral success. However, for the good of the Republic, we must try to force compromises, even if it is poliltically beneficial or Obama, just as we did under Clinton (e.g. tax and spending cuts, welfare reform, increased defense spending). We just need to do a better job of claiming the credit than we did then.
We should claim credit better for the lack of terrorist attacks, as Jennifer Rubin does, which even Bush’s harshest critics have to admit was unexpected and not by accident. She is right to infer the link between our success in the War on Terrorism to our success in Iraq. The advantage that the Liberation of Iraq has given us is becoming ever clearer: not only have we removed Sadaam Hussein’s terrorist-sponsoring regime from power (a regime that harbored and financed terrorists who targeted and killed Americans), but al-Qaeda made a strategic blunder by taking its eye off of Afghanistan so that we have captured or killed them by the thousands in Iraq. In addition to defeating these Muslim militants, which suggests to other Muslims that Allah is not on their side, as a result of removing Hussein we have been able to withdraw our troops from Saudi Arabia, which was the supposed main irritation bin Laden used against us in the first place.
To BobD:
Can you please provide a link to where President Bush was warned of a terrorists hijacking planes and flying them into buildings?
Just having a warning of a “possible” attacks is essentially no warning at all. What exact steps should have been taken? For example, the far left has been screaming about the basic common sense action of FISA, which is just listening in on overseas calls with suspected terrorists.
What could have the executive branch done that would not have been blocked by the far left? Even the common sense action of accessing the terrorists computer was blocked by Clinton’s Jamie Gorelick’s policies.
Wingnuts really do create their own reality, don’t they? Try joining the real of us here in Reality Land. The scare wears off, and it’s a lot more fun.
The Conservatives can get back on track, not by trying to reach out to the illiterates who voted for Obama, but to use every means possible to educate the electorate what the principles are that made America as great as it once was.
Our Founding Fathers must be held up as men who drew up the Constitution and Bill of Rights as a guide for all people who desire freedom, prosperity and peace.
America is great because people who are truly Americans know and understand what made it great and want to be a part of keeping it great. Let us return to American Exceptionalism rather than being devisive for the purpose of gaining political expediency. This whole debate between Red States vs Blue States, black vs white, rich vs poor takes us from who we are as a nation.
We only have one flag, one national song, one people. It is the only way we can survive.
As it was once said, “We can all hang together, for if we don’t, we will surely hang separately”.
Social conservatives don’t believe that anyone who is not a social conservative is worth voting for. Get it through your heads, fiscal conservatives. We will happily vote for a fiscal conservative if and only if he/she is also a social conservative. Human lives outweigh any amount of money. What would a good ticket look like in 2012?
President/Vice President: Huckabee/Jindal
Treasury Secretary: Ron Paul
Defense Secretary: Gen. Patreaus (who will probably retire in the next four years)
Secretary of Energy: Sarah Palin
And to shut up a hostile press, Press Secretary: Chuck Norris
Ten Reasons for Conservatives to Be Thankful:
1)Justice Clarence Thomas
2)Jeff Flake R-AZ
3)Rush Limbaugh
4)DeMint R-SC
5)Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights
6)Pajamas Media
7)National Taxpayers Union
8)Michael Savage
9)Rudy Giuliani
10)YOU!
Mandy, try bringing a real argument. Name calling and smugness just don’t quite measure up.
BobD
1) The important part is that there hasn’t been any since 9/11, get it? the plan to do it was hatched, planned, and partially executed (flight schools, etc.) before he was even elected, so to imply he’s at fault due to accident of timing is disingenuous. There were plenty of isolated warnings of SOMETHING, but the “wall” put up, incidentally, by Jamie Gorelick, kept the data from being properly put together until it was too late.
2) How we dealt with the first WTC bombing (and subsequent police/legal reactions to Khobar, USS Cole, African Embassies, et al) RESULTED in 9/11. It showed to them we didn’t have the stomach to even try to deal with what they were, terrorists. We myopically satisfied ourselves by treating them as common criminals, and they were emboldened.
3) As Rubin said, we can debate entering into Iraq in the first place, I have my doubts. BUT, once we did it, we had to see it through or our “standing” in the international community would have been even worse. IF we would have left without victory, there would have been further proof we are a country who doesn’t keep it’s promises – just like after Vietnam. And the jihadist terrorists would have even more proof we’re a paper tiger that can be brought down with a thousand little cuts. As for the scenario you cite, it may very well still end up that way, but with this new SOFA, we’ll still have a presence there for the next three years, and a renegotiation may allow us there for a long time after that – and that will give Iran pause no matter what. Ultimately, we will have to let Iraq be Iraq and hope for the best. However, leaving early would have almost certainly resulted in that scenario and possibly left the country open for a full scale invasion by Iran. Bin Laden is only the most notorious – we should be more than happy, if not truly satisfied, with nearly ruining his organization to the point of ineffectiveness as it stands now.
Supporting the President was a bipartisan affair. He couldn’t have done it without support of people like Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. Counterpoint – how many on the left are cheering Obama’s cabinet picks, even though they are not “progressive” just because he picked them? Even further back, how many followed Bill Clinton into Kosovo, nee helped justify it, even though it had (and has – we’re still sending troops there) less national interest than Iraq. Fun fact – we came into Kosovo on the side of the Muslims and that got us where with the muslim world, exactly?
“Your party lost, and will continue to lose, until you can appeal to a broader base, with new ideas. That means people other than, the rich, the white, and the angry.”
Clyde, I have read comments here for nearly four years and this may be the most INANE comment yet.
YOUR candidate was the most liberal senator in America and your party is run by George Soros and the far left. Who does that appeal to? The enemies of America and brainwashed people who wrongly hate the president who kept them safe for 7 years?
New ideas? What are the Dems “new ideas”? Lose the war, bash the troops and religious folks, while appealing to the blacks, the homeless and the collegians?
And in terms of anger, go to any left leaning city and feel the anger from the rich and privileged.
Clyde, you sir, are a breathtakingly misguided fool.
I’ll pray for you.
I agree on all counts. In fact, from assessments over the past week in WSJ, there appears to be reason for considerable optimism: Obama seems to be abandoning many left-leaning positions and promises, thanks, perhaps, to his own raw native intelligence or the “intelligence” now available to him.
AJ — “YOUR candidate was the most liberal senator in America and your party is run by George Soros and the far left. Who does that appeal to?”
I’d say about 54% of the voting public.
Is this difficult? Bueller? Anyone?
this is Good…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/world_news_america/7749748.stm
and it will really annoy the right wing nut jobs here.
westlake
Please stop suggesting that there is anything positive about Eric Cantor. He has been in the House GOP leadership since 2002. Thus he is partly responsible for all of our legislative debacles since then — namely the betrayal of conservative values and the promotion of the largest entitlement expansion in 40 years.
And articulate? When asked if we should use nuclear weapons against Iran, he said it should be left up to the commanders on the ground. When explaining why the GOP voted against the bailout package that he backed, he blamed it on Nancy Pelosi’s speech. Horrible as her speech was, using it as a scapegoat for his inability to do his job was blazen cowardice. This guy can’t say anything that isn’t a talking-point programmed into his head.
He cannot begin to compete with the REAL future of the GOP: Palin, Jindal, Ryan, and Steele.
BIG MEDIA NOW DEAD ON ARRIVAL
Big electronic and print media has committed suicide by bias. As noted at this link, the old king is dead:
http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2008/12/web-authentic-news-opinion.html
You forgot reason #11: Ted Stevens, the man who did more to give the GOP a bad name than anyone other than George W. Bush, is about to check out of Congress and into the Gray Bar Hotel.
You say the Reps went 7 years without a major terriorist attack on our soil. Yeah, but the first one was on the Reps watch. Does that count?