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Tag: Conservatives (Page 8 of 8)

GOP losing support . . . even in Kansas

October 13, 2006 /

The Republican Party has been taken over by the religious right. This is not a controversial statement when speaking to Democrats, but most Republicans would have strenously argued this point in the past. Not so much any more.

This editorial from a Kansas newspaper’s editorial board is fascinating. In it the writer explains why the paper is reversing over 100 years of supporting mostly Republican candidates.

The Republican Party has changed, and it has changed monumentally.

You almost cannot be a victorious traditional Republican candidate with mainstream values in Johnson County or in Kansas anymore, because these candidates never get on the ballot in the general election. They lose in low turnout primaries, where the far right shows up to vote in disproportionate numbers.

To win a Republican primary, the candidate must move to the right.

What does to-the-right mean?

It means anti-public education, though claiming to support it.

It means weak support of our universities, while praising them.

It means anti-stem cell research.

It means ridiculing global warming.

It means gay bashing. Not so much gay marriage, but just bashing gays.

It means immigrant bashing. I’m talking about the viciousness.

It means putting religion in public schools. Not just prayer.

It means mocking evolution and claiming it is not science.

It means denigrating even abstinence-based sex education.

Note, I did not say it means “anti-abortion,” because I do not find that position repugnant, at all. I respect that position.

But everything else adds up to priorities that have nothing to do with the Republican Party I once knew.

That’s why, in the absence of so-called traditional Republican candidates, the choice comes down to right-wing Republicans or conservative Democrats.

And now you know why we have been forced to move left.

Hat tip to mcjoan at DailyKos.

Moderates are fleeing the Republican Party and are finding a welcome home in the Democratic Party. Fiscal conservatives and libertarian conservatives tolerated the religious right for years because they helped them form a winning coalition in the GOP. Moderate Republicans went along for the ride, even if moderate Republicans stopped getting on the ballot. Hopefully this unholy alliance is coming to an end.

Conservatives, Culture War, Moderates, Republicans

Chris Matthews sucks up to Tom Delay

April 4, 2006 /

Now I know why Tom Delay wanted to go on Hardball tonight. Chris Matthews treated Delay as if he were one of our greatest statesmen who was retiring after a long and distinguished career. Of course Delay, like any guest, deserves civility, but Matthews should be embarrassed by his “softball” interview. Delay is under indictment in Texas, and now federal prosecutors may be closing in on him as well. Matthews mentioned this, but he certainly didn’t ask any tough questions about it.

Matthews kept harping on the very talking points that Delay and the Republicans are trying to promote – that somehow the Democrats will act irresponsibly with the subpoena power (and possible impeachment) if they regain the House. It took Bob Schrum to point out to clueless Chris that the Democrats would be foolish to impeach Bush and elevate Cheney to the Presidency. Absent a significant smoking gun uncovered by real investigations, impeachment is not on the table for most Democrats.

Matthews let Delay get away with claims that the GOP changed the culture in Washington, without pointing out that the new culture was one of corruption that went far beyond what the Democrats had done. No mention of the abuse of earmarks, the explosion of spending or the complete abandonment by Republicans of many of the principles they ran on in 1994 when the took over the House.

Larry King could have done a tougher interview. Chris Matthews has his moments – he has been all over the Plame and Abramoff stories and he’s been very tough on Bush and Cheney (at least lately) on the pre-war deceptions. But interviews like this make him look like a fool.

Conservatives, House 2006, Republicans

James Taranto – Blinded by the Right

March 21, 2006 /

While many conservatives are waking up and recognizing that the Iraq war is a complete fiasco, others like James Taranto are sticking to their guns. His latest post is both hilarious and bizarre. He starts things off with this whopper:

We’ve long been convinced that history will eventually come to regard George W. Bush as a near-great president, or possibly even a great one, chiefly for his bold foreign-policy vision.

This might be the dumbest comment I’ve read about Bush in months (other than most of the drivel coming from Fred Barnes). Bush’s “bold vision” has been exposed as pie-in-the-sky Wilsonian utopianism. Thinking you can turn Iraq into a Jeffersonian democracy simply by toppling Saddam will go down as one of the biggest foreign policy blunders in American history. The two biggest beneficiaries of this strategy are Iraq and al Qaeda. Good grief.

Taranto, however, is just getting started. He follows that line up with this:

Call us Polyannaish, but although we are annoyed by the incessant drumbeat of defeatism over Iraq, we find it hard to get worried about it. Will it lead to another Vietnam–i.e., an ignominious withdrawal? It seems unlikely. It certainly won’t happen on President Bush’s watch. And who, faced with the responsibility of actually making the decision, would pull out of Iraq, leaving behind a potential base for terrorists who could one day attack America again?

The thing to keep in mind is that the people who complain about how terrible the war is, or who take the weaselly position that they’re for the war but it’s all gone wrong because the Bush administration is irredeemably “incompetent,” are doing so for reasons that have little to do with the actual war. Some have always opposed it on ideological grounds. Others are seeking partisan advantage. Still others–and many of our fellow pundits fall into this category–are simply succumbing to peer pressure. They feel as though they have to gang up on President Bush because that’s what all the cool kids inside the Beltway are doing right now. Perhaps one day they will be mature enough to make up their own minds about things.

Polls suggest that public opinion has of late turned decisively against the war. But it strikes us that these feelings do not run very deep, and indeed may be partly the result of the same sort of peer pressure.

The man is showing he’s completely blinded by partisanship. Are conservatives like George Will and William F. Buckley succumbing to peer pressure? Of course, Taranto doesn’t bother to address the countless examples of incompetence. He can’t. Instead he resorts to lame attempts at ridicule, not realizing that he’s the one that looks like a fool.

Conservatives, Iraq War, Republicans

Reality check

March 2, 2006 /

The drumbeat is growing louder against the war in Iraq. Why? Because most people, even conservative intellectuals, have some common sense.

To his credit, George Will was one of the first conservatives to express doubt about Bush’s Iraq folly, and he continues to point out the absurdity of the administration’s case. Money quote:

Last week, in the latest iteration of a familiar speech (the enemy is “brutal,” “we’re on the offensive,” “freedom is on the march”) that should be retired, the president said, “This is a moment of choosing for the Iraqi people.” Meaning what? Who is to choose, and by what mechanism? Most Iraqis already “chose” — meaning prefer — peace. But in 1917 there were only a few thousand Bolsheviks among 150 million Russians — and the Bolsheviks succeeded in hijacking the country for seven decades.

This quote summarizes the problem with Bush’s utopian fantasy that freedom and democracy can flourish in Iraq and the Middle East. Of course most people want to be free and have some form of self-governance. Yet humans are also susceptable to tribalism and religious fanaticism. Too often throughout human history those forces have trumped the desires of good people to be free.

Bush doesn’t see this. He has faith in his position, despite the evidence that his policies are leading to disaster.

Conservatives, Iraq War

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