The American Spectator

home
ADVERTISEMENT
Print Email
Text Size

The Spectacle Blog

Back in the 3rd week of 1993, the same week as Bill Clinton's first inagural, National Review sponsored a Conservative Summit in D.C.  I attended was quite invigorated by the gig which featured a wide selection of the leading conservative pols, writers and thinkers at that time.  Republicans had been laid low and like today found themselves rejected by the voters and out of power everywhere.  To a certain degree the gathering was therapeutic as it ofered the chance to clear out some of the dead wood and offer up fresh faces and voices.  Newt Gingrich, not mcuh removed from backbencher status gave the most compelling speech from my perspective.  Looking back now I can't believe that anyone in the audience would have dared dream at tat time that he would be Speaker of the House in two short years.  As we ponder circumstances today, perhaps this is another similar opportunity for rebirth.  In my opinion the GOP is best understood as a party with two wings - the Rockefeller/Business Roundtable wing and the Entrepreneurial/Growth wing.  Alas the Bushes for all the wildcat talk are at heart oldline Rockefeller Republicans (witness their cabinet selections from the business roundtable) the wing that inevitably drags the party to minority status.  It is the entrepreneurial wing that focuses on small and start-up business and wealth creation that carries the ideas, energy and enthusiasm necessary to obtain and maintain majority status.  The party's primary task today is to dislodge much of the deadwood that was not already cleared out yesterday and find the new faces and voices that can bring the entrepreneurial wing back to prominence.  McCain's lasting legacy may well be his elevation of Sarah Palin as one of those entrepreneurial leaders.

Leave a comment

Leave a Comment

N.B. We encourage readers to share and discuss their thoughtful and relevant comments about this Spectator article. Comments are routinely monitored and will be deleted if profane, bigoted, or grossly impolite. Please be respectful. (And don't feed the trolls!) Thank you.

More Blog Posts by Ashby M. Foote, III

http://spectator.org/blog/2008/11/05/lessons-from-four-terms-ago

ADVERTISEMENT

The Spectacle Blog

Gallup: Veterans Prefer Romney

W. James Antle, III | 5.28.12

Markos Moulitsas is Scum

Quin Hillyer | 5.28.12

Weekend Political Wrap-Up, Memorial Day Edition

W. James Antle, III | 5.27.12

An Honor Flight Story

TAS Staff | 5.26.12

WaPost Criticizes Romney's Lack of Rhythm

Aaron Goldstein | 5.25.12

Tom Coburn on the Debt 'Disease'

Vivien Chang | 5.25.12

SPONSORED LINKS

Special Feature

Better that we become a nation of choosers rather than beggars. Our symposium on choice from the May, 2012 issue:

A Time for Choosing

James Piereson

The Road from Serfdom

Stephen Moore and Peter Ferrara

FLASHBACK TO: 1984

Clip of the Day

Most Popular Articles

Meet the Flukes!

F. H. Buckley | 5.25.12

In Search of Muhammad

Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi | 5.25.12

The Wisconsin Turning Point

Peter Ferrara | 5.23.12

Age and Kyl

Quin Hillyer | 5.25.12

Follow Me

Jay D. Homnick | 5.25.12

How About the Record of DOE Capital?

William Tucker | 5.25.12

The Great Debate

R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. | 5.24.12

Markos Moulitsas is Scum

Quin Hillyer | 5.28.12

ADVERTISEMENT