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My Rahm Reunion
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The Current Crisis
Out of the Wilderness
Conservatism’s death has been greatly exaggerated. Remarks delivered at The American Spectator’s annual Robert L. Bartley Dinner on Tuesday.
The prepared text of remarks delivered at The American Spectator’s annual Robert L. Bartley Dinner in Washington, D.C. on November 9, 2010.
Well, I guess our Wilderness Years are over. They were very brief. I never even felt a chill. Conservatism’s undertakers had hardly finished their tales of Conservative Crack-Up and Conservative Demise when we were on the comeback trail. I think it began January 20, 2009. Soon we were firing up our Hummers and heading home. I had hoped my years in the Wilderness would last a bit longer. Out there with the chiggers and the poison ivy, I had hoped to find the pulchritudinous Sarah Palin. I understand that she has a terrific recipe for sautéed elk. Or perhaps I could catch a member of the World Wildlife Federation torturing butterflies.
But now we have returned to civilization, and I do not know what to do with all that stuff I bought from the L.L. Bean catalogue back in that dratted year ‘08. Maybe I can give the stuff to Sam Tanenhaus, the goofball editor of the New York Times Book Review. If there be justice in this world, Tanenhaus will be consigned to the Wilderness for the rest of his life after writing that exceptionally imbecilic The Death of Conservatism, first in the New Republic, which is understandable. Everything in the New Republic, at least on politics, is imbecilic. Then, as a book. That was a little over a year ago. A little over a year ago! The Death of Conservatism! If I ever write such a stupendously stupid book, burn it!
Tanenhaus’s theme was anticipated shortly after the ‘08 elections by David Frump and David Brooks. They are conservatism’s Branch Davidians, who occasionally attempt suicide in the newspapers, only to be saved from oblivion by Liberals who find their columns somehow wonderful. Let me remind you all of what David Brooks said on November 11, 2008. He was writing in his ongoing New York Times con-job. There he said a week after the ‘08 election that “the battle lines have already been drawn” between the Reformers for whom he had the utmost hope. And the rest of us, for whom he saw only gloom. “In one camp,” he wrote, “there are the Traditionalists, the people who believe that conservatives have lost elections because they have strayed from the true creed.”
“To regain power,” David went on “the Traditionalists argue, the G.O.P. should return to its core ideas: Cut government [boo!], cut taxes[shock!], restrict immigration[egads!]. “Rush Limbaugh,” he added, “and Sean Hannity are the most prominent voices in the Traditionalist camp but there is also….” Grover Norquist, Leonard Leo, Tony Perkins, and “the writer R. Emmett Tyrrell” whom David then proceeded to misquote.
“The other camp,” he wrote, “the Reformers, argue that the old G.O.P. priorities were fine for the 1970s but need to be modernized for new generations.” American voters will not support, “a party whose main idea is slashing government. The Reformers propose new policies to address inequality and middle-class economic anxiety.” And get this “They tend to take global warming seriously. They tend to be intrigued by David Cameron….” Who are these reformers? David Frump? Sam Tanenhaus? Brooks does not say.
He continued, “Moreover, the Reformers say, conservatives need to pay attention to the way the country has changed. Conservatives have to appeal more to Hispanics, independents and younger voters.” And I kid thee not; “They cannot continue to insult the sensibilities of the educated class and the entire East and West Coasts.” And in conclusion he averred: “…the Republican Party will probably veer right in the years ahead, and suffer more defeats.” How we have suffered! He has been all over National Public Radio this week ignoring that ‘08 column and dispensing the Liberal bilge of the present moment. But we remember, David.
In the months that followed ‘08 I attempted to answer our undertakers. I told them in After the Hangover: The Conservatives’ Road to Recovery that even as they were writing back in ‘08 and ‘09 conservatives outnumbered Liberals two to one, and even the Independents were more numerous than the Liberals. Liberalism has been a distinctly minority party for a long time. Take away their media support, and they are about as popular as the American Prohibition Party.
In Hangover I told them that we began in the 1950s as a tiny band of businessmen and intellectuals alarmed by the growth of government — an early Tea Party movement, if you will. But through the ensuing years, led by such scholars as Milton Friedman, we developed arguments about government being a threat to our personal freedoms. Moreover, government could do only do two things well: inflate the currency and wage war. The rest is best left to private entrepreneurs.
Now the Liberals boast of their diversity. They include feminists, gays, Latinos, Blacks, the underclass, Hollywood, California, and so forth. But this is merely playing Masked Politics. Behind the Mask, they have been Democrats all along. And a feminist or a career civil rights advocate does not, contrary to their boasts, speak for all women or all blacks or all Latinos.
In the meantime since the 1950s conservatives have practiced inclusion and steadily expanded, creating the most diverse political movement in the country. We took in ever more groups of voters alarmed by Big Government and by feckless Liberalism.
In the 1970s there were the wayward Liberals who became alarmed by Liberalism’s extravagant domestic policy and lack of resolve toward Communism. Our longtime Board member Jeane Kirkpatrick was one of them. They were called Neocons, and we welcomed them into the Big Tent. In the 1980s there were People of Faith who became concerned as Liberals threatened prayer in public places, pornography at the corner drug store, and legalized abortion. They were called the Christian Right, and we welcomed them into our Big Tent. When certain Democrats became Reagan Democrats under a man who talked about America as a City on a Hill — beacon for all the world — we welcomed them too, and they joined our Big Tent.
Now there is a new group we have welcomed into our Big Tent, the Tea Partiers. They really do want to slash government, balance the budget, and address the entitlements that are scheduled to bankrupt the U.S. Treasury. They are the latest addition to conservatism and we welcome them. Their arrival will finally allow us to do something about the enormous deficits that face Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare. They must keep the pressure on. We will keep the pressure on. We shall all bring the Republican Party, and the country back, to Constitutional values.
And we come armed with a plan for recovery. Paul Ryan’s Roadmap for America’s Future is our beginning. It incorporates the policies that have been hammered out in our think tanks. Doubtless there will be more such plans. Yet the suicide watch continues, particularly at the New York Times. There the Davidians have a new sidekick to go along on the op-ed page with David Brooks. He is Ross Douthat. He simply makes thing up. Just the other day in explaining the impending Democratic defeat he said that Social Security was founded in a time of “strong economic growth.” He is talking about the Depression. He ended his column thus: “Obama seems as if he would have been a wonderful chief executive in an era of prosperity and consensus, when he could have given soaring speeches every week and made us all feel tingly about America.” Has Douthat heard the things Obama has actually said about America? About our arrogance and militarism?
Now President Obama has fled the country. It is too soon to say if he will return or not. Let us assume the worst. He returns. What kind of country is he returning to? Actually the same country he left. The country about which he knows very little. And Nancy Pelosi knows even less. It is a country in which American conservatism has been providing the bulk of political ideas since the 1980s. You do not run for high office in America and promise to raise taxes, not since Fritz Mondale in 1984. You do not run for office promising enormous deficits. The mainstream in this country was shaped by the Reagan Revolution. When a Liberal runs for national office he or she lies to you. When a conservative runs for office he or she has no trouble telling you honestly what he or she is going to do. It is not terribly controversial except in Massachusetts and how long that will be true is in question.
What this election has proved is that policy matters. Obama and Pelosi and Reid promised more government. Longer waits for healthcare. Large handouts. Money going into one pocket that was taken from another pocket. We cannot afford it. We want economic growth. The American people want growth. And we have come from the Wilderness to return the nation to the growth.
About the Author
R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. is the founder and editor in chief of The American Spectator. He is the author of The Death of Liberalism, published by Thomas Nelson Inc. His previous books include the New York Times bestseller Boy Clinton: the Political Biography; The Impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton; The Liberal Crack-Up; The Conservative Crack-Up; Public Nuisances; The Future that Doesn’t Work: Social Democracy’s Failure in Britain; Madame Hillary: The Dark Road to the White House; The Clinton Crack-Up; and After the Hangover: The Conservatives’ Road to Recovery.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (112) | Leave a comment
More Articles by R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.
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Kelly Staples| 11.12.10 @ 6:50AM
Mr. Tyrrell, thank you for having finally presented a piece that doesn't include the noxious phrase "mainstream media." It is refreshing.
Alan Brooks| 11.12.10 @ 11:30PM
The question remains: which GOP compromise candidate (Bush-type) will you run in '12?
Enquiring minds want to know.
bluecollarbytes| 11.14.10 @ 1:35PM
Every political candidate represents 'compromise' of some sort.
But on the issue of runaway govt, Republicans will be on the same general page in 2012.
Alan Brooks| 11.14.10 @ 11:50PM
"If you want to make a Conservative angry, tell him a lie.
If you want to get a Liberal mad, tell him the truth."
Rush Limbaugh 11-11-2010"
Run Rush for prez in '12, and Palin for veep, THEN you have a real chance. But instead it will be someone like Romney who appeals to hardworking, soft living, Mormons (and other of that sort)-- but they live TOO SOFT for today's wild world. Mormons don't even drink tea!
dchiro| 11.12.10 @ 11:14PM
victor!
The only thing conservative about Mc Cain was Palin, the real fraud is Mc cain . Why do you think he Lost!!
Occam's Tool| 11.12.10 @ 2:26PM
I'm sorry, Victor, for the idiots. Myself, I voted for Huckabee in the primaries, and then, faced with a choice between McCain and a terrorist supporting swine (Obama) voted for McCain. I see no reason to apologize; unlike Tim*, I don't support child mutilating molesters. If he feels comfortable with that, fine, but as it is said, "You may forget history, but history doesn't forget you." Tim*, the young girl on the Time magazine cover with the mutilated face---the guys who did that are Ron Paul's buddies.
SamAdams25| 11.12.10 @ 1:00PM
Marco Rubio was absolutely correct when he said that the GOP was not so much embraced, but given a second chance. The majority of the Tea Party Patriots will not accept "business as usual" form the establishment "old guard". We expect real reform of the party, including a return to constitutional principles. Senators McConnell and Inhofe are already fighting an earmark moratorium. They had better accept the fact that the support of the Tea Party is contingent upon real reform. Those who fight it trying to preserve the status quo will face strong primary challenges. We won't settle for lip service.
old white guy| 11.12.10 @ 4:38PM
it will be but a blip. we must be on guard always those following after us are poorly informed and we are doing nothing to change the education system which is currently inadequate. i don't want to rain on the parade but nothing has been changed as of yet.
Alan Brooks| 11.13.10 @ 12:25AM
What the hell did the two Bushes conserve in 12 years?
Dee Smith| 11.14.10 @ 8:58PM
I like the teaparty inside the GOP,congress, and senate. It is far better than what is in the Congress 83 Progressive(far far left leaning Libtards) and what is roaming the WH?
Grzmlyk| 11.15.10 @ 10:49AM
Let's hope they do seize the day, Tim.
I love Tyrrell's soaring rhetoric - it makes me feel optimistic.
But we shall see what happens in the sausage factory that lies within the Beltway, where principles go the way of wind-swept dandelion seeds faster than Ted Kennedy used to down his first shot of scotch in the morning.
We need to see what resolve actually coalesces in light of the Simpson-Bowles enshrinement of Big Government in the guise of restraint – not to mention the creeping fiscal gangrene that led to Simpson-Bowles: The health care debacle, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, subsidies, crony capitalism, the debasement of our currency, the dismantling of our sovereignty, and, beyond that, our increasing obeisance to the UN, and on and on and on.
Forget for a moment the simple matter of inertia: That Big Government is now a runaway juggernaut that cannot be stopped.
My true skepticism lies in the cultural weather: The winds of the zeitgeist blow ever more insistently leftward - and our feckless political class invariably follows.
It is our culture that is diseased; the political rot is merely a symptom. Every level of our educational system, from preschool through PhD, along with virtually every permutation of our mass media, local, state and federal government in general, along with the long-since corrupted scientific "community," remain firmly committed to indoctrination, ensconced as they are in the gossamer cocoon of "wouldn't it be pretty to think so,” the liberal's raison d’être.
Our culture is now a wholly owned subsidiary of a false collective consciousness. Overused totemic words like "sustainable" and "diversity" and "tolerance" and "justice” (be it social, racial, economic, energy, food or some other flavor) have become the shoddy support beams that hold this counterfeit construct up; our recent history of avaricious consumerism, combined with increasing sloth, has only served to whet our appetites for the ultimate luxurious, decadent confection: the exquisite taste of that delicious liberal delicacy, moral superiority.
Not until we begin turning the ship of American culture back toward a humble, reality-based sanity will I believe that this conservative resurgence is anything more than the natural swing of the political pendulum. It is a swing whose kinetic energy – fueled by foolish youth, fickle independents and self-flattering fops - foreordains it to swing back leftward in two years with a sickening, metronomic predictability.
Am I happy we scored a historic victory in the elections? Yes. But we haven't won the day yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will be different. After all, every journey starts with a single step.
And so, when it comes to the newly minted congress, I say this: Trust but verify.
uncle curmudgeon| 11.12.10 @ 7:35AM
Very well put, Mr. T. You have been a long-time inspiration for me. Regarding where we go from here, how about this: we put Tom Paine up on the shelf and take down Capt. J. P. Jones as our new inspiration. When progressives look up in horror from their sinking vessel we say (drum-roll, please), "We have not yet begun to fight!" Roll on, Americans!
Alan Brooks| 11.13.10 @ 12:29AM
Yeah, for two years; then it's back to the Bush-league.
You want bush? go to a singles bar!
martin j smith| 11.12.10 @ 7:47AM
To continue in the Right direction the 2010 capaign must continue on. There are multiple challenges ahead. One is to politically out maneuver the Socialist Democrats and second, to keep the voters informed. Both are difficult. Voters who continue to support the Left do include people who are not ideological, what I call knee jerk Democrat supporters. Can this group be "won over" and is it worth trying to do that ?
There are also those who are "soft" in their Party support. They do not grasp what the stakes are in this political season--which will last years by the way. And, of course there are those ( you know who I mean ) who are serving or have been elected ) who are still "don't get it ). For the conservative ascendancy to gain these issues must be addressed. The Left had a tremendous advantage in our society and government o all levels. There is a lot of "catch up". This election I would say is the first time in my adult life that I am proud of the behavior of those Americans ( a majority of them ) who " get it" and that our political system still allows the possibility of changing course. It has to stay that way.
jennifer hardy| 11.12.10 @ 9:29AM
Mr. Smith, very well said. The advantage the Left holds is substantial. Those who have not "gotten it" yet really worry me because the problems and the solutions seem so clear to me. Will they ever wake up? I hope so.
Caroline| 11.12.10 @ 11:58AM
Both Mr. Smith and Ms. Hardy make good points with which I agree. Let me add a further one. So many of the Tea Partiers (they have done a terrific job in helping rout the progressive offenders) are former Dems who have "seen the light" for many reasons, one of which is the way Obama stole the nomination from Hillary.
They are new to the conservative movement, and a number of them are not rooted and grounded. Some even wish for Hillary to be president someday. I have discovered this in the blog world over the last several months.
Therefore, although the movement is tremendous, it will be up to the leaders to instill true conservative principles in the rank and file. It is like a teenager that needs guidance.
Wanda King| 11.12.10 @ 1:15PM
Oh, the Left has "gotten it" alright. They just don't want to verbalize it, because they're in denial. (Claiming they just didn't do ENOUGH of the things they were bounced out for.) They're like cats who hide their heads under the couch, while their rear ends are exposed - thinking as long as they can't see us, we can't see them. They live in a dream world that bears little resemblance to reality. That's a lot of it - immaturity.
the rifleman| 11.12.10 @ 5:27PM
The Tea parties need to involve more than just politics, and expand beyond financial matters. there are the media and academia that need to be addressed also. The media gave us Obama, and the academics gave us the unqualified electorate that voted for the marxist moslem moron. there are all kinds of folks associated with the tea party movement. Let them play to there strengths. the 2010 midterms were a fine start, it will take several election cycles and about a decade to start to turn around the institutional problem.
Alan Brooks| 11.13.10 @ 12:31AM
Nearer My Bush To Thee
(only two years to go)
Get out the red white 'n' blue bunting, boys!
Eric Cartman| 11.12.10 @ 7:47AM
Just remember, Mr. Tyrrell, on the way out of the wilderness there will be snipers. Perched atop giant, crumbling edifices stuffed with the bloated bodies emitting the stench of rotting carcass, squats the elite media whores with itchy trigger fingers. All these new conservatives (along with many of the old ones) need to learn about the linguistic traps and fallacies Liberals love to spring on conservatives.
For example, when Lauer asks "Who will feed the children of D.C. dinner if not the schools" answer " The parents." It's not necessary to launch into a long, drawn out explanation of how programs COULD be designed if we just did this or expected that. Don't accept the premise, don't fall for the bait. Common sense kills Liberalism every time. Like a bug. Use it.
I hope people like you will have a mandatory boot-camp on dealing with the treacherous scum. If not, I fear we will be back in the wilderness come 2012. We shouldn't have to fight for the same ground twice.
Seek| 11.12.10 @ 12:02PM
Mandatory political boot camp. Great! I thought that sort of arrangement existed in Siberia during the Soviet years. Until conservatives stop adopting the language and tactics of radicalism of the Left, we will remain despised by a great many of our fellow Americans.
Eric Cartman| 11.12.10 @ 12:10PM
That's right, mandatory political boot camp - run by R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. That would be mandatory language/logic boot-camp. And I want a law mandating it! Or there will be heavy penalties. Say, listening to Barney Frank read Moby Dick. Putz.
Eric Cartman| 11.12.10 @ 12:19PM
Wait, wait , wait! I take that back. If the penalty was listening to Barney Frank read Moby Dick, no one would attend just to receive the punishment. I mean, who would pass up a chance to hear Barney exclaim "Thar she blows!"
Okay, so, um, listening to Barney Frank read the entire Health Care bill. There. Punishment fits the crime.
Bill Clarkson| 11.12.10 @ 3:53PM
Since I have failed to find a 100% true copy of the Obama-care law, at least not certified as such, A strong rumor and questions from my health-care providers, VA and private physician about whether I own or posess firearms, says that This upcoming April 15, 2011, will see those posessing firearms required to pay $50 to the IRS for each firearm in our residences. In 2012, the tab will increase by $50 for each one to $100 for each. 2013 adds another $50, making it $150 each. The question is inserted within the group of questions relating to the medications you are taking and any pets in the house. Hopefully when you seek this can be found and then we can express our anger to our newly elected representatives and senators and request that at a minimum that this requirement can be excised from the law and repealed post haste. The Liberal dems and RINOs responsible for its inclusion in Obamas pet oppressive attack on us need to hear our roars of disgust and anger. The evasive SOBs!!
the rifleman| 11.12.10 @ 5:30PM
Only problem is I doubt the backdoor pervert can read. Im quite sure hes proven how much he blows though.
victor| 11.12.10 @ 2:04PM
Or Jesse Jackson reading "Pride and Predjudice"?
Eric Cartman| 11.12.10 @ 2:08PM
Or "Cat in the Hat".
victor| 11.12.10 @ 2:14PM
By Doctor Thooth?
Alan Brooks| 11.13.10 @ 12:32AM
Memoir-Writer Uber Alles
Ken (Old Texican)| 11.12.10 @ 7:58AM
Mr. Tyrrell,
Great article...except I choked on my coffee laughing at this line:
"Now President Obama has fled the country. It is too soon to say if he will return or not. Let us assume the worst. He returns. ""
And then the funny turned into serious reflection, which splendid writing often does to one.
He really did "flee" didn't he? Wow, talk about an "acted out"demonstration of denial !!
I hope you will buy and download my new E-novel.
It's fictional time-line begins next week.
www.texassaidno.com
Al Adab| 11.12.10 @ 10:54AM
He indeed fled. Which put him out of the Country on Veteran's Day a national holidy honoring those who serve to keep our nation free. Is Al Naqis perhaps afraid of the military of which he is commander in chief? Or does he, like the Leftist he is, abhor (to use a Clinton word) the military?
Jerrod Kloetzer | 11.12.10 @ 11:58AM
My coffee went down the wrong tube at exactly the same line. My iPad doesn't like funny lines like that ... tends to get a bath.
Gary| 11.12.10 @ 8:18AM
If you want to witness the last gasp of Liberalism, sit back, grab a bag of popcorn and watch California. It shouldn’t take long.
Eric| 11.12.10 @ 9:52AM
Please don't enjoy CA's troubles too much - try to remember the 40% of us who are suffering the consequences here.
JmsA| 11.12.10 @ 10:42AM
Thank you, Eric. That needed to be said. We're not all stupefied leftists out here.
Eric Cartman| 11.12.10 @ 11:27AM
We feel for ya, guys. It's not glee, it's anger. Detroit was once a great city, but Liberal Aholes destroyed it. It's maddening to watch a once great city, state, or nation fall into the garbage heap of civilization. We hope your fellow surfer-heads change, but it looks like they are too stoned to notice.
Margie| 11.12.10 @ 12:00PM
And just remember guys~ Chris Christie in NJ!
We lived there for decades, most of our lives, in fact, and never thought it would turn around.
So, never say never, there is always hope!!
Occam's Tool| 11.12.10 @ 2:31PM
I know and sympathise, Eric---I left CA in 1993 because I foresaw the problems with incredible accuracy.
Nunya| 11.12.10 @ 7:50PM
I used to live in CA, still have two brothers that do. Althought it's beautiful, I wouldn't move back to that communist state if you quadrupled my salary--I'd end up paying most of it in taxes, anyway.
A shout-out to Eric Cartman, your statement "It's maddening to watch a once great city, state, or nation fall into the garbage heap of civilization" is spot on, and it's what's going to happen to us as a country, if we don't turn this ship around.
Eric Cartman| 11.13.10 @ 2:56PM
Hey guys. I used to live there, too. In Capistrano. Bummed around, surfed, went to school for a bit - ahhh, the wild years. But I had to grow up and didn't want to pay the taxes my brother was being hit with. He was working at SONGS II (San Onofre ) at the time and was making a killing (Union Master Electrician) but the taxes were taking over 50%! He came home one day after working something like 15 hours overtime the past week - all of it - plus some - went to taxes! You should have heard him LOL.
I was there this past Jan. Everything seems normal on the surface, but it is going to come apart. You can feel it. Too bad - I had some wonderful times there.
Here's what may be one reason the budget is so screwed up out there - their priorities are a little outta whack : I was watching the news when I was out there. It was raining like hell and there was a dog stuck in the aquifer that was flooded and the water was raging down the way. The dog was probably going to die. It's sad but it happens. Then I saw the fire department, helicopter and all, come roaring up. 12 - 13 guys, equipment, cops directing traffic, etc. They saved the dog. How much did that cost? It's a dog. Granted, it was a nice thing to do, but it's a dog. All the people in the hospital waiting area I was watching from applauded. I just shook my head. No wonder they are billions in debt.
Louis Jenkins| 11.12.10 @ 9:10AM
It is too soon to cast aside the trappings of LL Beam catalogues. Always be prepared. The GOP is alive and well, and we can rest better at night, but not too much better. And don't forget, now more than ever, pray for our national leaders, they'll need it in the coming storm.
Anita| 11.12.10 @ 9:26AM
The opinions of the "Branch Davidians" are heralded by the same media types that consistently misrepresent hard news through their Hard Left Lens. Yet respected conservatives appear compelled to bestow even more creedence to these Hacks by disputing them. These men are agents of The Left, no matter what they call themselves. It's no different than comparing NBC News and MSNBC. It's time to dismiss the rhetorical diatribes and focus on the issues. IF ever you decide to compare GOP presidencies, then don't conveniently forget to slam the expansion of bureaucracy and debt under those administrations, even though Obama has surmounted their thresholds.
F.R. Duplantier | 11.12.10 @ 9:51AM
POSTMORTEM
“The election was pure devastation
And necessitates recalculation:
All my programs got panned
‘Cause folks don’t understand
How I’m trying to transform the nation.”
PerryM| 11.12.10 @ 10:04AM
Americans now know what Liberalism/socialism/Marxism/Obamaism looks like and they don't like it.
Sadly there are more Americans in the wagon, pulled by hard working Americans, and those folks want more and more freebies.
Who will win? The smart Americans know what is coming and we will shelter our wealth against the lynch mobs that will run after us.
American is on the way to bottoming out and many more years of turmoil lie ahead.
martin j smith| 11.12.10 @ 10:06AM
I believe the reason for the blowout was ONE basic reason ( for this past election ) A large number of people who voted voted against rather than for--Against Socialism. But, what are they for ? This is Tricky because for example there are many who voted Obama and seeing the real product said: "its not for me". In my case, I am a "mut" or hybrid politcally but I would say my concern is about the way this country is governed--I believe in Freemarkets and I believe in American exceptionalism among other things. I am NOT a social conservative however. Never the less freedom and democracy trump ( along with strong national defense ) most other issues for me. Because without these, all other matters are meaningless. So it is important to work with an electorate which is not necessarily "pure" in their conservative views, yet are crucial to defeat the "greater enemy" which is the Left,Marxist,Socialist.
Margie| 11.12.10 @ 12:11PM
Dear martin j. smith,
I have been reading your posts for a long time. I really think you are a genuine conservative. "By your posts do we know ye."
Do not underestimate yourself!
After all, being conservative means you are for limited government, more individual freedom, less taxation, pro-free market enterprise, and a strong and proud military defense at a minimum.
You fit the bill quite nicely, IMHO!
Nunya| 11.12.10 @ 7:59PM
I once had a friend describe my political stance as "a fiscal conservative and a social libertarian"-- as in cut my taxes, shrink the size of government, and leave me the hell alone. I really don't care what people do in their own homes on their own time, behind closed doors, as it doesn't affect me. However, having an idiot like Obozo spending money like there is no tomorrow affects all of us--and our future families--negatively. W was certainly not a conservative when it came to spending either, so it's not just the current Idiot-in-chief's fault--it's just that he's taken printing and spending money to a zen level.
Margie| 11.13.10 @ 11:23AM
A zen level is a good way of putting it.
And so many have woken up to the reality that is Obama.
I don't care what people do in their own lives either, well I care in so much as I'm Christian and I hate seeing people destroy themselves and person to person I would appeal to their better natures, but just because I'm a Christian doesn't mean I want to force anything on anyone.. God doesn't. He lets people destroy them selves IF that's what they want to do.. but it's between them and their Maker.
What you describe in your post ~cut my taxes, shrink the size of government, and leave me the hell alone." That IS conservativism!
I just want to keep this same exact form of government that our Founding Fathers gave to us. I really am a Raegan conservative and welcome all to vote Republican, that's what he did, and was.
Rabid anti-semites who try and co-opt Reagan are despicable though, as this is exactly what he was against, and the extreme type of Libertarianism that is creeping in. In the likes of the Tim*s and Toddards and others. (I actually wonder if Tim* is Toddard, God knows, heh.)
Anyhow~ Reagan conservatives welcome ALL Americans to the Big Tent, like this article says.
Rabid anti-semites need not apply... but we'll be happy to take their votes.
davelnaf| 11.12.10 @ 10:35AM
The reasons why Obama got elected have been analyzed down to the bone. The severe downturn just before the election was the big one and it panicked enough people to put the Bamster over the top. There were other factors that helped him. But if the downturn had not happened he would be a footnote in American history by now.
ThomasBeach| 11.12.10 @ 11:01AM
Seriously, Tea Party folks need to call themselves what they really are.
Constitutional Conservatives
Howard| 11.12.10 @ 11:02AM
I always enjoy Bob Tyrrell's writings. Unfortunately I live in deep Blue Massachusetts. There were several GOP candidates, specifically; Auditor and Treasurer who were far superior to the Democrats who won. Wasn't it Barry Goldwater who suggested sawing off the Eastern Seaboard?
Nunya| 11.12.10 @ 8:00PM
Take Kalifornia with 'em...
Al Adab| 11.12.10 @ 11:04AM
Unless the GOP realizes that this election was in effect a spinal transplant and begins to act with courage and commitment (we can dream can't we?) the future is no better than the past. Twice before in 1994 and 2000 we citizens turned to the GOP and both times they failed us. The message here is simple: DO NOT FAIL US AGAIN.
It fall to each of us individually and to our several states to pursue actions designed to Preserve and Protect our Constitutional government. The price of failure is beyond conprehension. All our voices and our organizations need to be firm and of one voice. Right the ship.
McGehee | 11.12.10 @ 11:43AM
David Brooks wrote:
American voters will not support, "a party whose main idea is slashing government. The Reformers propose new policies to address inequality and middle-class economic anxiety."
Economic "anxiety," he says. Of course he wrote this before a single-dip recession threatened to morph into a triple-dip depression. Oddly, honest-to-goodness economic dread focuses the mind of the typical voter in ways that nothing else short of war can ever do.
William W. Wexler | 11.12.10 @ 11:43AM
The "conservative" movement died.
What came slithering out of its ashes is the hate-based initiative. Hate blacks, hate poor, hate sick, hate old, hate different.
That's what you're all about. Bill Buckley is puking in his grave.
-Wexler
PS I never, ever post more than once in a thread on this sub-standard website. Other posting sites have a policy against people posting trash under your name; it figures that a site as dumbed-down as this one wouldn't have such a policy. So any further posts in this thread with my name on them are some jerk who is likely wearing his mom's underwear while she's at the 3rd of her jobs trying to support his lazy "conservative" ass.
John| 11.12.10 @ 11:57AM
Wexler,...My guess would be that Buckley is actually smiling. Tyrrell is usually "spot on" in his analysis. His intellectual honesty is really refreshing.
helen pariza| 11.12.10 @ 12:04PM
My son the Chef says "you can stuff just so much into your mouth and eventually you choke" which is what the Democrats and Liberals hae done............finally they are choking on their
own words............thank you thank you for your clear and good writings.
rigdum funidos| 11.12.10 @ 12:17PM
is there really a William W. Wexler? maybe he didn't take his meds this morning, since the only 'hate' I see on the site is his own.
Paul in Colorado| 11.12.10 @ 12:22PM
Emmett is right. The Republicans should welcome the Tea Party, and should also reach out to the Blue Dogs who are being abandoned and marginalized by their party. Ronald Reagan – a former Democrat and long-time union president - used to say that someone who votes with you 80% of the time is your friend, and needs to be taken care of politically. Talk of casting so-called RINOs out of the party, because we don't agree on every single issue of the day, is both juvenile and self-destructive, and leads to the box canyon the Liberals now occupy.
Independent voters have no interest in replacing left-wing busybodies with right-wing busybodies who are equally eager to use the power of government to force their values on their neighbors. The broad themes of personal freedom coupled with personal responsibility ring true with most Americans and draw them to the Republicans. Bickering over gays and abortions offends their sense of fairness and drives them away.
A Conservative Teacher | 11.12.10 @ 12:25PM
Don't underestimate the power of the Dark Side of the Force, Luke. Being able to lie, pretend you are things you are not, use force lightning, control the media, or threaten folks with loss of pork are all very powerful, enough to at times win elections.
Margie| 11.12.10 @ 12:39PM
Dear Mr. Tyrrell,
So I'm not a Neo-con, after all. It's settled.
Thank you.
Now, all you Libertarians and Paleos ~ quit calling me same. LOL.
I am a conservative from birth.. the new birth. (Jn. 3:3).
unclefred| 11.12.10 @ 1:01PM
A couple of points. The people whose values are expressed by the TEA party have always been where the core of the republican party was supposed to be. Most of them had lives and failed to pay attention to how far the republican party strayed from those values. Overtime, especially when viewed through the prism of college educators and media talking heads, young people grew to believe that either their was not much difference, or that republican were not willing to walk the walk. Consider what it means when someone dismisses an argument as a "talking point". The underlying sentiment is that it is not serious.
Suddenly people looked up and realized that while they were busy wrestling with the reality of life, BOTH parties had created a governmental disaster, that in a very few short years would become a crisis that would likely destroy the lives of the next several generations, if not actually bring the country down. So now, citizens rise to the defense of America. Some of us have been trying for decades to get the average normally non-political american to look around. At last they have.
The tent to which the GOP laid claim is the tent for regular hard working americans who've never gone to any level of government with their hand out. We never left. It's OUR tent not yours and, given how far you have drifted from the things that you promised us you were doing , you'll find the GOP has very provisional membership. Business as usual is over. If you want to keep your label on our tent you'd best start doing the job we've sent you to do.
1 :Shrink government (not slow its growth cut it back way back).
2: Restore the states their appropriate powers and get the federal government out of our day to day lives. In the modern era, with the very real security concerns that we face, there are some areas where we may have to alter the original intended relationship between the states and the federal government. But not many.
3: Stop 90% of the payments from the federal government to the states, and any other local institution.
4: End unfunded mandates. Since the you won't be funding the states, except in very narrow areas, that means ending virtually ALL mandates on the states.
Thats a start - but far from enough
Peter McGrath| 11.12.10 @ 1:06PM
Given the tidal wave that has completely rearranged the furniture in D.C., the Governors' mansions, and nearly every State Legislature, we can all find comfort in knowing that the likes of the absurd Douthat, obsequious Brooks, and nitwit Tannenaus, along with their fellow-travelers strewn among the organs of today's broadcast and print media, have been rendered irrelevant for time being.
Their leader, the CMC (Chief Moral Coward), has been fully and completely exposed as an ill-prepared incompetent who has alienated even his own base. His recent failure abroad can be added to a growing "can't do" list and one wonders if he'll manage to bungle his way out of finishing even his first term.
Now that a resolute Conservative Republican Party has taken the reigns, one wonders when, if ever, today's Left will regain its legs. As Republicans cleave to principle, through thick and thin, the Left will inevitably diminish.
cary loos| 11.12.10 @ 1:17PM
"I agree with what Gaby Johnson said about what Howard Johnson said."
martin j smith| 11.12.10 @ 1:21PM
It will be necessary to monitor and watch every move the Socialists make --every utterance and action--full time-to make sure that the American People are not betrayed after the big defeat of the Obama Left agenda. Obamacare should be voted NO
even if Obama vetoes any such bill. The Democrat Socialists will try to misinform voters.
It will be necessary to set the agenda refelcting America's desire for smaller government and challenge the Democrat Left to defend themselves.
That is what is to be done.
Lou Filliger| 11.12.10 @ 1:28PM
Like the general idea of the article, but the fact is that the Republicans could have gained even more seats had they been a bit less tone-deaf to the rising hispanic population (and problems relating to epidemic illegal immigration.) There's always room to do better. Also, I think that the mention of religion hurt Sharron Angle's chances. It's not a question of swing right/swing left, it's a question of stop shooting yourselves in the foot by venturing into dangerous social waters for no reason at all.
Paul in Colorado| 11.12.10 @ 2:12PM
I agree Lou. Ken Buck was doing pretty well in Colorado and appeared to be on his way to victory until his interview on Meet the Press. David Gregory teed him up perfectly with a question about gays and nature vs nurture, he took the bait and sunk himself in 30 seconds. I'm no fan of Michael Bennett, but in all honesty, if Ken can't recognise a bean-ball question and knock the premises of a biased interviewer out of the park, he's clearly not ready for prime time. Worse, though, was his inability to keep his religious views off the table.
Nose Hit| 11.12.10 @ 2:04PM
I've enjoyed what Mr. Tyrell has had to say for years, and he offers us here did not disappoint. I wish I could have been in person when he gave his speech!
As for the future, given the way the election just ended, I’m very chastened, since the mood of the country sure indicated to me that there should have been a much greater landslide victory---like a 100 seat swing in the House.
I think Dick Morris might have nailed it, when he noted that a lot of the late-deciding voters were young and undereducated, which means they were recent “graduates” of the left-wing programming factories known as public schools. And, of course, they went for the jackass party by a huge margin.
Does anyone think that the “youth vote” will be much different in 2012? I don’t, so their existence will remain as a sure fire pool of idiotic voters always reliable for leftists to tap. As Anne Coulter just wittily put it, repeal the 26th amendment, and make 21 not 18 the age at which one can vote. This will NEVER happen!
Also, the other elastic pool of “voters” can always be stretched to help keep liberals in power---the whole panoply of ways to commit fraud.
Add those two secure cohorts together, and America faces a stiff task to return to Constitutional government.
To lighten up the perilous state of our country, as well as to provide a humorous and historical lesson, read and enjoy the following “joke” I read in 2002---
The US standard railroad gauge (the distance between rails) is 4 ‘ 8.5”, an exceedingly odd number.
Why was that gauge used?
Because that’s the way they built them in England, and the English built the US railroads.
Why did the English build them like that?
Because the first railroad lines were built by people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that is the gauge they used.
Why did they use that particular gauge?
Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used the same wheel spacing.
Why did the wagons have that particular odd spacing?
Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on the old long distance roads in England, because that’s the spacing of the wheel ruts in the granite roads.
So, who built those old rutted roads?
Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (and England) for their legions. Their roads have been used ever since.
And, the ruts in the road?
Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone had to match for fear of destroying the wagon wheels. Since wheels were made for (or by) Imperial Rome, they all had the same wheel spacing.
The US standard railroad gauge of 4’ 8.5” is derived from the specs for an Imperial Roman war chariot.
The Imperial Roman war chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two war horses.
Cut to the present.
The space shuttle sitting on its launch pad has two booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are two solid rocket boosters, or SRB’s. Thiokol makes the SRB’s at its factory in Utah.
The engineers who designed the SRB’s wanted to make them a bit fatter, but the SRB’s had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site.
The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains. The SRB’s had to fit through the tunnel which is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track is about as wide as two horse’s behinds.
So---a major design feature of what is arguably the world’s most advanced transportation system was determined 2,000 years ago by a horses ass.
Which is pretty much how government decisions are made.
ONTIME| 11.12.10 @ 2:16PM
Puuuuulease, can you not find someone other than sissy boy David the Frump to quote....like maybe something from the communist manifesto?
Derek Leaberry| 11.12.10 @ 2:25PM
Although conservatives might hail some victories like the collapse of the USSR, the success of the Reagan presidency, and a general lowering of taxes, in most other goals conservatives have failed, especially with the social issues. Conservatives have conserved little since the 1950s, sorry to say to Mr. Tyrrell. Witness the military's abject surrender on "Don't ask, don't tell", which was the liberal position twenty years ago. The conservative position on homosexuals in the military during the Reagan-Weinberger years was to root them out as cancers. Fast forward to 2010 and "conservatives" are fighting to retain the Clinton position of "Don't ask, don't tell." And worse, the military now has become institutionally left-wing, part of the left phalanx of trial lawyers, government workers, blacks, homosexuals, Latinos and school teachers.
Lou Filliger| 11.12.10 @ 2:56PM
Derek, Dems have both houses of Congress and a "progressive" President for two years, and can't do away with DADT? And you blame the conservatives?
Derek Leaberry| 11.12.10 @ 3:09PM
It will become law by next year and there is nothing the Republicans will do to prevent it. Instead, the Republicans will continue to schmooze General Petreaus, a man outspoken in his support for homosexualizing the military. If the Republicans had any guts or any fight in them, they would ask for the resignations of Admiral Mullen and General Petreaus. But they won't.
Lou Filliger| 11.12.10 @ 3:25PM
I would argue that that's precisely the kind of thing Republicans must avoid. I don't care if the entire army dresses up like Frank N. Furter if we could have a maximum 20% income tax bracket and no estate taxes.
Derek Leaberry| 11.12.10 @ 4:08PM
So you would show social conservatives the door? Don't be surprised if we sit out 2012.
Lou Filliger| 11.12.10 @ 4:19PM
I'm a libertarian, not a Republican. I'm for open borders, legalized drugs, abolishing the income tax, etc. I believe in letting people do what they want as long as they don't do it on my nickel. However, I've been able to hold my nose (this time) and vote Republican because I believe if ObamaCare isn't repealed, there will soon come a time when there are no more elections to "sit out". In general, I'm a fairly conservative person socially as well. I'm not crazy about gay marriage, for example. But homosexuality has always been around and will always be around. Rather than go on a fool's errand of trying to quash it, I'd rather vote myself a nice fat tax cut, thank you.
Chris| 11.12.10 @ 2:28PM
Hey here in Kansas City we have Shramm and he points out the Chinese have grown their economy at double digit click for the last 30 years under Supply Side (KennedyOReagyanomics) and we are in trouble unless someone gives the Republicans a more fleshed descriptive sat to sat what they are ineptly trying to say. Grow the economy out from under the deficits while defunding the still born O'Commie Care and look to Indiana, Indiana, Indiana for the health plan.
Tom Johnson| 11.12.10 @ 4:09PM
Here is my comment that I posted on every column that I could get into during the Midterms:
1 Nov 2010
Folks,
Obama’s GAME (Great American Marxist Experiment) is over, a failure. Marxism goes against the basic human instincts that freedom is a natural, God-given right, that what you make (or earn) is yours to keep, that family, not government, is the basic social unit. Democrats have historically been the party to raise taxes and increase the size of government, but Obama, Reid, and Pelosi have taken these mistaken policies to the extreme. Republicans, Independents, and Tea Party members will now be forever vigilant of the Left and we will vote.
Tom Johnson, Largo, Florida
Lou Filliger| 11.12.10 @ 4:24PM
Amen! We can only hope you're right. I'm afraid that once the economy starts chugging along again the Tea Party movement will lose steam. Hope I'm wrong and you're right.
martin j smith| 11.12.10 @ 4:51PM
Tom Johnson you are on my page exactly. Voters who know what is going on are now really on top of what Democrat Socialist games are and will act accordingly. The gig is up. The lies exposed for those who want to see and many have seen it. We naw know that the Left are liars,Socialists and cannot be trusted even with toilet paper.
M. Simon | 11.12.10 @ 6:59PM
But the American Prohibition Party is still quite popular. They have just given up on alcohol.
RedneckWhiteskinBluecollar| 11.12.10 @ 9:10PM
Tyrrell's dinner speech is all very well and good; certainly got some laughs and some cheers; doesn't go out on any limbs. He strikes the right chords for after-dinner.
The ensuing posts are a bit lame. Lots of name-calling by lots of posters. And yes of course we all want to lay claim to true conservatism.
But if we're really coming out of the wilderness, why not get down to business? Brass tacks, specifics. Unclefred at 11/12, 1:01 pm is one of the very few to offer anything both constructive and specific. Thank you unclefred.
Let's get constructive and specific, shall we? How about this: Newt Gingrich for president, Sarah Palin for vp.
Bruce | 11.13.10 @ 2:54PM
Gingrich the sellout? No. Never. Won't happen. Negative. Uh-uhhh. Nope. Not a chance in hell.
He had his shot in 1994 and drank the DC kool-aid. Then he cavorts around with the likes of Al Sharpton?
NO.
LibertyAtStake | 11.13.10 @ 8:27AM
I wouldn't know if youeven know the dfinition of "snark" - but you are surely its' original master. (That's a compliment, just to avoid any communication barriers).
http://libertyatstake.blogspot.com/
"Because the Only Good Progressive is a Failed Progressive"
W.P.Koch| 11.13.10 @ 10:36AM
WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN
Congress and the White House should stop squandering the people’s money and use savings to improve quality of basic invested entitlements. Preserve the 2010 tax schedule. Congress should improve basic Medicare. Vote opponents to this “out”. Citizens come first.
It is time the U.S. reduces its human rites and police activities for the World by lobbying the United Nations, NATO and Interpol to “take on more”. 800 bases in 63 countries across the world should be reduced. Starting with Iraq, continue training for self reliance. After a surge in Afghanistan repeat above and remove corruption starting with monitoring accounts, substituting minerals mining and food crops for drugs.
If we train make them pay. Decrease forces in selected areas such as Germany, Bosnia and Okinawa.
Cut bloated federal bureaucracy. Combine CDC, EPA and FDA. Combine the FAA, NHTSA and Transportation Department. Combine GAO and CBO. Phase in outsourcing. Departments should eliminate “must spend all”. Return “unused” yearly budget to the treasury. Cut consolidated department budgets (other than entitlements) on an average of 10%.
Eliminate all 32 CZARS Mr. president. Reduce your 469 member staff which makes nearly 39 million per year! Halt first lady $180,000 air force one vacation trips. Cancel $ 20,000,000 executive order (HB 1388) to relocate key Hamas members to U.S... Stop “$200 million per day” presidential foreign trips.
Contribute to only one of: The World Bank or International Monetary Fund or U.S. Agency for International Development.
Reduce foreign aid bribery. For example, no aid to oil rich -Iraq. $37 billion and increasing with $8.7 billion of Iraq development funds not accounted for. Halt $150 million aid to Palestinians.
Charge bailed companies (TARP) for their huge executive bonuses at taxpayer expense. Government should sell its shares to recoup for taxpayer. About $154 billion owed.
Congress should reduce the “stimulus” and monetary expenditures by halting: over budget projects, non relevant earmarks for vote bribery. Do not pay student loans for congressional staff. Please- no private or military jets for congress including Pelosi’s family of $2.1 million for over 2 years. Congress should set commercial travel cost standards and controls.
Reduce medical cost by: allowing purchasing anywhere in U.S., “tort reform”, and reducing “red tape”. Trace funds to local medical groups for expediting billing cost speed, doctor/patient verification and fraud reduction.
Federal government should enforce existing immigration laws. Complete the improved fence. Entitlements or benefits should be for only citizens. Deport criminal “illegals”. Only workers on a Visa Program qualify for needed medical benefits
Improve medical expense tax deduction for citizens reaching age 65. Provide corporations tax reduction incentives for hiring with healthcare.
The savings will improve funding for:” Medicare”, “Medicaid, and “Veteran’s Affairs”.
Healthcare quality should be at least that for Congress or the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP). Additional benefits are: dental coverage, improved visual coverage, no drug “donut hole”, no deductibles and co-pays except for extended skilled level nursing.
These actions will allow aid for unemployment compensation and Social Security with reinstated cost of living increases.
fubar| 11.13.10 @ 10:38AM
re: Jonathon @ 11.13.10 @ 5:48AM
I'm a transpartisan independent, and am tired of the hate rhetoric from extremists on both the right and left.
There are truths, including "spiritual" truths on both right and left that should be honored, and used as the basis for a social project to discover common ground.
The current disaster is mainly a result of opportunistic/predatory "leaders" of all ideologies pushing hate buttons and pandering to the people's (various) lowest instincts.
Much conservative hate rhetoric is mere agitprop - style over substance, backwardness and tribalism. Conservative leaders are pandering to your lowest instincts.
dadfly| 11.13.10 @ 1:53PM
"truths" huh? even "spiritual truths". wow. i'm way into those. how about stating a few of those truths so i can learn.
Lou Filliger| 11.13.10 @ 3:51PM
Message starts off innocuously enough, but I smell a rat when we get to "social project". Because the one truth all liberals hold dear is that society is just one big science project for the government. A conservative, even a moderate conservative, just doesn't think in terms of "social projects". Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, here.
W.P.Koch| 11.13.10 @ 11:32AM
Dear Mr. fubar. You sound frustrated. I suggest for your comfort to change direction and concentrate on protecting your WALLET. Try to be objective and search out the facts regardless who is in the majority. Government waist transends all parties-- For just a beginning read: "What Should Happen".
Ken (Old Texican)| 11.13.10 @ 11:34AM
fubar.
Yes you are. and it even rhymes.
There are very few "righties" on this site, and they don't stay long.
Most of us here are "center" on the constitution.
No hate of people here except for one person to my knowledge.
Most of us "hate sin, but love the sinners".
...We do have a little fun with know-it-alls though I must admit.
Lou Filliger| 11.13.10 @ 3:56PM
One thing that I find most offensive in any political debate is the idea that "You only think the way you do because (Rush, Glenn, Sean, Larry or Rachel, Katrina, Chris, Keith) told you to." I think if somebody says that, it can be taken as probable that they mean it to be intentionally offensive and rage-provoking. I've voted straight-ticket Libertarian for over 30 years now, and when I finally heard some Republicans getting even close to what I believe in, I voted for them this time around. I listen to a certain amount of conservative talk radio, admitted, but there's an awful lot I hear on it that I disagree with. Please, don't stoop to telling your opponent in the debate that they only believe what they are told. It's the blogosphere equivalent of saying "Your mama ..." on the street.
Ned Ferguson| 11.13.10 @ 8:19PM
I take exception to the Branch Davidian comparison. The Branch Davidians were surrounded and killed by power-mad government thugs. The metaphor misses the mark, if the idea was supposed to be one of self-immolation.
Ted R.| 11.13.10 @ 11:05PM
Conservatives are enjoying a brief resurgence because: 1) unemployment is still very high 2) the public has a classic short-term memory 3) the Republican leadership made the cynical political judgement that refusing to act to address the economy's woes would benefit them in the short term.
Obama's whole approach is long-term; his aim is to make the investments in public goods - in health, education, the environment, in financial regulation - which will promote the most growth in the medium-to-long-term. He is governing like an adult, hoping that the adults among us will grasp that that is what he is doing. Unfortunately, infantile, know-nothing conservativism has the upper hand right now, and Obama might even be unseated in '12. But he has made all the right choices, and the Democrats will be vindicated by the facts. Future generations will be mystified, how Americans allowed a conservative junta to run the country into the ground.
The One Who Runs Like a Duck| 11.14.10 @ 9:04AM
We took a shellacking, Ted R. I used to known as the One We've Been Waiting For but there apparently aren't that many waiting for me. I liked all the adult stuff you wrote and I hope that Nancy and Harry had that in mind when they came up with the legislation that they didn't read. Gosh we are kind of following the nanny state ideas of corporatist Europe just as it is becoming obvious that they are unsustainable. I was born 30 years too late for ponzi-scheme liberalism. They are trying to get me to play golf with Boehner. Have you seen his handicap? First I have an old white guy (Baron Hill) running circles around me on the basketball court and now I will have an old orange white guy kicking my butt on the golf course. He smokes too. I guess that could be a basis for a friendship. It is going to be a lot harder to get rid of Boehner. Hill was pretty easy, he fell for the old trust me gag. I think you need to get violent Ted. Don't hold back. Peaceful ways haven't got you anywhere. Be careful though somebody might apply a 2nd Amendment solution to you. I kind of wish you would have tried to sell the adult ideas of wind farms and the Chevy Volt when it mattered. Like the rest of my trolls you are probably more concerned with the adult idea of forcing gay marriage on the country through the courts. Well I have an early tee time. We're closing Gitmo any day, baby.
Cary| 11.14.10 @ 2:39AM
OBAMA SUPPORTS PUBLIC DEPRAVITY
Google “Zombietime” and click on “Up Your Alley Fair.” This mayor-and-police-protected sexual debauchery (naked men having sex with each other) regularly occurs in view of children in the San Francisco district represented by Sneaker of the House Nancy ("You'll find out what's in the bill after we pass it - TEE HEE HEE") Pelosi - that is, in "Madam Nancy Pelosi's Brothel District!" One wonders how soon San Fransicko's "underground" saint - San Andreas - will get a big jolt out of what goes on over his head. View the above Zombietime "Pompeii on the Bay" before the predicted Californicatia earthquake happens a la Rev. 16:19 ("the cities of the nations fell") and before other disasters like tsunamis occur (in Matt. 18:6 Jesus advocated drowning for any child abuser!). For related eye-openers Google "Michelle Obama's Allah-day," "Obama Fulfilling the Bible," and "Imam Bloomberg's Sharia Mosque." BTW, here's a new pro-life slogan: "Unborn babies should have the right to keep and bear arms - and legs and ears and eyes etc.!"
(above web item observed by me. Cary)
Darrell McLemore| 11.14.10 @ 2:45AM
Unchain us an watch us grow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Margie| 11.14.10 @ 1:25PM
The "Death of Conservatism?"
LOL. The Left can only DREAM about it!
Fargo44| 11.15.10 @ 3:03AM
American Spectator editors/moderators, you need to do something about the A-holes who have turned your site into a wasteland of personal vendettas. All of you "Bruce","Maggie" Tim* et al. -- how pathetic! Have you nothing of importance to d0?
allan guida| 11.15.10 @ 10:09AM
Hi Everyone...This article reminds me of a famous quote from Yogi Berra....In theory, theory and practice are the same; in practice, they are different. The Republicans are basing their decisions on theory, while ignoring reality. If this were an ideal world, their theories about government would be excellent. People would behave in an ideal manner. The Voting Rights Act would be unnecessary. The Civil Rights act would be unnecessary. Social Security would be unnecessary. Government HealthCare would be unnecessary. Every problem would be fixable. Countries would behave properly. Military expenditures would be unnecessary. People would only spend money based on the money they had and would never gamble on buying a house they could not afford. Unfortunately, this is not an ideal world. Reality means people sometimes behave badly. The problem of dealing with that type of situation is of no interest to the Republicans. They want to follow their idealistic principles under all circumstances and disregard reality. Yikes! yahdoco@yahoo.com
Osamas Pajamas| 11.18.10 @ 12:17AM
Allan Guida --- your own grasp of "reality" is tenuous at best. Every human action is informed by an idea, whether implicitly or explicitly. A unified view of self and universe may be entirely realistic or totally unrealistic --- but ideas move the world, nonetheless. And, therefore, it is not possible to debate policy absent a view of whether the proposed human actions are good or evil or a normative view of the actors and the putative benficiaries of those actions. In short, the study and exposition of economics and politics can never be "values-free." That we do not operate in an "ideal" world is superfluous --- we operate in a given set of circumstances, none of which obligate us to surrender the unalienable and perfectly-natural and universally-valid human rights of life, liberty, private property, and the pursuit of personal happiness.
The first article of private property is "the self" and all other rights are derivatives of and flow from these cardinal rights. These rights ---- The Rights of Man ---- are the gift of nature or of nature's god ---- and they belong to all human beings, everywhere.
Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, sport.
Osamas Pajamas| 11.18.10 @ 12:05AM
Geez, I really hate it when conservatives and my fellow libertarians and other tea partiers are debating how many angels can dance on the head of a pin --- while the REAL enemy is "out there" somewhere --- with a big, fat "D" for Democrat on his chest and a flowing cape and his hand on my wallet and and his hand down my pants if I'm trying to get on an airplane. Get focused, lads 'n' lasses. Kill-off the frkn Democrat party --- and then have your debates on the minor squabbles [sp?] that appear to animate so many libertarians and conservatives. We are better allies among ourselves than the Democrats will ever be for any of us. LET"S ROLL!
Bob K.| 11.19.10 @ 10:04PM
Well Mr. Tyrrell, getting back to your article here: (After all of the hissy fits and spitting above!) I would like to congratulate you! It was great and up to your usual standards.
Now, could you please tell us how you missed so badly on the "Pat me, Pat me" article on the 18th?
weddingdress | 7.15.11 @ 5:15AM
is there really a William W. Wexler? maybe he didn't take his meds this morning, since the only 'hate' I see on the site is his own.