Re: OT ~ The future of the GOP?


"Hunter Hampton" <airstreamingypsy@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:lv3mg4l121mi7q2ajec816shmm9gpo685b@xxxxxxxxxx
On Fri, 31 Oct 2008 09:24:21 -0400, "Carl A. in FL"
<chainfl@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Read the excellent column by Kim Strassel at

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122541628923186751.html
--
Carl A. in FL

Carl,

You spend hours digging up articles, which makes me wonder if you 1.
think none of us are capable of researching articles ourselves and 2.
if you think all this research is going to change anyone's mind about
who they support?

lol, "Hours digging"? Good one Hunter. <g> Carl eats that stuff up with
a spoon. He loves it. Just about all of it is coming from the Wall Street
Journal. I'm sure he finds it entertaining. He's just sharing something he
enjoys. It's all pretty much reptitions of the same thing: "Ugh, Obama bad."
OTOH Carl rarely shares the really fun stuff. This Peggy Noonan editorial
for example, is two weeks old and pretty much ancient history, but it's
still fun stuff:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122419210832542317.html?mod=special_page_campaign2008_mostpop

[snip]
"But we have seen Mrs. Palin on the national stage for seven weeks now, and
there is little sign that she has the tools, the equipment, the knowledge or
the philosophical grounding one hopes for, and expects, in a holder of high
office. She is a person of great ambition, but the question remains: What is
the purpose of the ambition? She wants to rise, but what for? For seven
weeks I've listened to her, trying to understand if she is Bushian or
Reaganite-a spender, to speak briefly, whose political decisions seem
untethered to a political philosophy, and whose foreign policy is shaped by
a certain emotionalism, or a conservative whose principles are rooted in
philosophy, and whose foreign policy leans more toward what might be called
romantic realism, and that is speak truth, know America, be America, move
diplomatically, respect public opinion, and move within an awareness and
appreciation of reality.
But it's unclear whether she is Bushian or Reaganite. She doesn't think
aloud. She just . . . says things.

Her supporters accuse her critics of snobbery: Maybe she's not a big
"egghead" but she has brilliant instincts and inner toughness. But what
instincts? "I'm Joe Six-Pack"? She does not speak seriously but attempts to
excite sensation-"palling around with terrorists." If the Ayers case is a
serious issue, treat it seriously. She is not as thoughtful or persuasive as
Joe the Plumber, who in an extended cable interview Thursday made a better
case for the Republican ticket than the Republican ticket has made. In the
past two weeks she has spent her time throwing out tinny lines to crowds she
doesn't, really, understand. This is not a leader, this is a follower, and
she follows what she imagines is the base, which is in fact a vast and
broken-hearted thing whose pain she cannot, actually, imagine. She could
reinspire and reinspirit; she chooses merely to excite. She doesn't seem to
understand the implications of her own thoughts.

No news conferences? Interviews now only with friendly journalists? You
can't be president or vice president and govern in that style, as a
sequestered figure. This has been Mr. Bush's style the past few years, and
see where it got us. You must address America in its entirety, not as a
sliver or a series of slivers but as a full and whole entity, a great nation
trying to hold together. When you don't, when you play only to your little
piece, you contribute to its fracturing.

In the end the Palin candidacy is a symptom and expression of a new
vulgarization in American politics. It's no good, not for conservatism and
not for the country. And yes, it is a mark against John McCain, against his
judgment and idealism.

I gather this week from conservative publications that those whose thoughts
lead them to criticism in this area are to be shunned, and accused of the
lowest motives. In one now-famous case, Christopher Buckley was shooed from
the great magazine his father invented. In all this, the conservative
intelligentsia are doing what they have done for five years. They bitterly
attacked those who came to stand against the Bush administration. This was
destructive. If they had stood for conservative principle and the full
expression of views, instead of attempting to silence those who opposed mere
party, their movement, and the party, would be in a better, and healthier,
position.

At any rate, come and get me, copper."

I wouldn't feel too sorry for Chris Buckely. Even though he's sort of
been chased from the National Review he still owns 1/7 of it. That was a fun
review of Palin and defection too. I don't know why Carl doesn't post more
fun stuff. We can expect a lot more Mooing and wailing between now and the
election and beyond.

We seem to have entered an extended "April Fools" period in which no
lie is too outrageous--as long as it's for a "good" cause. Part of the
problem is that some of these guys have been listening to and repeating the
same lies for so long that they've come to believe them. If you thought that
Satan was about to be elected you'd be mooing and wailing too.

TB


.

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