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Obama Meets With Ex-Conservatives

By Robert Stacy McCain on 1.13.09 @ 8:52PM

The One had dinner this evening with George F. Will, Bill Kristol and David Brooks. Just like Bill Buckley cozied up to Jimmy Carter and Rush Limbaugh made friends with Bill Clinton. You remember that, don't you?

View all comments (33) | Leave a comment

ruth| 1.13.09 @ 11:03PM

Ha ha. Sure, Rush was a big time friend of Bill Clinton--just like RET at TAS! That was a wild time, I loved reading every issue.

Alexander A. K. Hoggsbuckel IV| 1.13.09 @ 11:09PM

Let's hope they stirred and shook the Kool-Aid before serving.

Alexander A. K. Hoggsbuckel IV| 1.13.09 @ 11:12PM

The festivities were held at George Will's home and included Chuck Krauthammer. Speaking of chucking.

Jeremiah| 1.14.09 @ 12:34AM

What's wrong with people having dinner together?

You people are weird.

ruth| 1.14.09 @ 1:03AM

Just a little humor, Jeremiah, it's good for the soul. Try it sometime--you just might like it.

Deborah| 1.14.09 @ 5:05AM

I don't have a problem with The One meeting with conservatives or ex-conservatives. He could learn a lot from them. I wouldn't call Kristol or Brooks conservative (guess that's why you called them "ex", Mr. McCain). Since Obama has been immersed in left-wing thinking for all of his life, if he spoke to Rush for an hour a light might actually turn on.

And you wacko lefties see "racism" in everything. I think that must be (as Ruth implies) a mental disease. You might want to pick up the book, "The Liberal Mind" by Lyle H. Rossiter, Jr. M.D. He is board certified in general and forensic psychiatry and has diagnosed and treated mental disorders for more than forty years.

And, I think it's interesting that when there's an article such as Jim Powell's "Valley of the Dams" where he lays out the folly of FDR's TVA project with fact after painful fact, no snotty remarks from the peanut gallery. What, nothing to say about that?

Jack Bauer| 1.14.09 @ 6:32AM

I guess sauerkrautt wasn't on the menu.

Jack Bauer| 1.14.09 @ 7:23AM

ruth "
Tedius and testy--and you guys won it all. What's the real problem here? It must be psychological. "

So true. Talk about a sore winner.

J David| 1.14.09 @ 8:51AM

According to HuffPo, Rush was not there...See also Michelle Malkin.

Funny title, though Mr McCain! That is why I enjoy your stuff so much!

Bob| 1.14.09 @ 9:11AM

Ruth, I also need a good laugh.... Let me think... I've got it.... Anyone intelligent having dinner with Sarah Palin....

Interloper| 1.14.09 @ 10:49AM

To Robert Stacy McCain, anyone who does not adhere to practices of the pre-bellum South is not a proper conservative. He is saying that by meeting with President-elect Barack Obama, any conservatives cede their right to be considered conservatives.

So, who does McCain approve of? Well, John Wilkes Booth. He and his neo-Confederate brethren celebrate Booth's assassination of President Abraham Lincoln yearly.

Bob| 1.14.09 @ 10:59AM

Re: Palin: I can see the moon from my house. I guess I am qualified to be an astronaut....

Jack Bauer| 1.14.09 @ 11:09AM

BOB - the palindrone.

I can see you're allluding to something the comedianress Tina Fey said on a skit show.

You're over-qualified to be a mendacious idiot with an obsession disorder who cannot tell reality from fiction.

And that's not even a guess.

Basil Plumley| 1.14.09 @ 11:13AM

@ bob
Of course you are qualified to be an astronaut; your posts and thinking are quite lunar.

@ interloper
Is there any proof to your allegations or do you just make this up as you go along?

Robert Vollowitz| 1.14.09 @ 11:27AM

Actually, Jack - the Palinpet, what Palin actually said was that she can see Russia from Alaska as support for her claim that she understands foreign policy. I can actually see the moon from my house.

As usual, the Palinpets are the ones who can't separate fact from fiction.

Deborah| 1.14.09 @ 12:10PM

Just FYI, Palin was commenting on being able to see Russia from her house in the context that she's very aware of what that particular country is and what it is doing because of the proximity to her state. My husband was stationed in Alaska during the Vietnam era, and much intense "listening" was going on in Alaska. They're used to having the Big Bear on their doorstep. I know common sense isn't so common on the left, but that really isn't so difficult to understand.

Does the moon have nukes aimed in your direction?

bluecollarbytes| 1.14.09 @ 12:39PM

I don't see a problem. Obama won decisively and has a mandate of sorts for better or worse. Why shouldn't big-govt Republicans sit with Obama? They probably have more in common than Obama and his radical base.

Bob| 1.14.09 @ 12:50PM

So, Deborah, let me see if I understand. Because Russia is so close, Palin understands their foreign policy. She understand what's happening in the Russian economy, their relationships with Iran and China, Putin's policy positions, how they interrelate with their neighbors, where they stand on nuclear proliferation and the Kyoto treaty. And she's proved all of this? And because she understands Russia intimately, she also understands every other country which makes her an expert in foreign policy? Ask your husband if he knew about the geopolitical policies of the Soviet Union when he was "listening".

By the way, during the Vietnam era I was actually on the ground fighting in Vietnam.

It is NOT common sense that since you are adjacent to a country that you have the geopolitical knowledge and history to make you an expert on foreign policy. I really can't believe you actually think that you can. Since I've seen surgeries on TV, perhaps you'll let me operate on you.....

ruth| 1.14.09 @ 1:06PM

Interloper is even more shrill than usual. Besides calling us the ususal: Bigots, racists, kluxers, etc. now he thinks we are J.W. Boothe sympathizers. Lincoln was a republican, Interloper--perhaps your public school education omitted that little fact. Meds, stat!

ruth| 1.14.09 @ 1:09PM

Bob, when you were in Nam did you see John Kerry? He the recipient of three Purple Hearts (one for a self-inflicted butt cheek wound.)

Interloper| 1.14.09 @ 1:12PM

'Basil,' you are apparently a person who does not familiarize himself with persons whose writing he reads. It is well-documented that Robert Stacy McCain is a neo-Confederate. That is part of the reason he was let go by the Washington Times. The concentration of neo-racists there became embarrassing to even the Moonies.

Deborah| 1.14.09 @ 1:19PM

No, it just means that a governor of a state with an enemy on its border is aware of what the enemy is up to. She has to for her state's survival. This was in the context of what Russia was doing in Georgia at the time. It doesn't mean that she necessarily knows their "foreign policy" -- do you know ours? Does Obama know Russia's or China's or France's or Canada's or any other country on the face of the earth?

Look, I don't plan to continue this conversation with you because you always want to have the last word. So, go ahead, Bob, do your thing. You are obsessed with Palin. I think that's a serious problem for you. No one said she was an expert on foreign policy -- what politician is? She has experience with two foreign countries on her border. Alaska as a state has histories with both Russia and Canada. That's all she meant in what she said. What experience did Obama say he had -- he lived in Indonesia as a child and he visited Africa as an adult a couple of times.

Sean| 1.14.09 @ 1:20PM

To be an expert on foreign policy you must have a history of making wrong predictions. Example would be all those foreign policy experts that opposed Reagan during the Cold War.

Hillary on the other hand is wonderful. She knows what foreigners can butter her bread. I mean Palin is so stupid her family doesn't even have a foundation to take in those foreign bribes.

ruth| 1.14.09 @ 1:35PM

Deborah, Bob wins all of the arguments, even those with the voices in his head.

Deborah| 1.14.09 @ 1:37PM

Ruth, you crack me up!

ruth| 1.14.09 @ 1:53PM

Deborah, I appreciate your kind words; if Interloper and Bob liked me too, my life would be complete.

Bob| 1.14.09 @ 2:00PM

Deborah, if Palin doesn't understand the foreign policy of her neighbor, then she is unaware of what the "enemy" is up to. And yes, I am a political junkie and I know most of our foreign policy and have some positions. Because I spent part of my career in international business and dealt with China, and a number of other countries directly, I do have some understanding of their policy positions and the nature of their people.

With Obama, he has commented on the foreign policy of a number of countries during the debates. I wish he had more direct experience, but he clearly knows a lot more than Palin. There is something called READING and you can speak to experts on all kinds of ideologies. Palin is not intellectually curious enough to have done either or she would have answered the questions differently.

Ruth, let me talk seriously about Vietnam for a moment. My MOS was in military intelligence and I was part of preparing plans for my corps. I was a part of the daily briefing for our CG but obviously at a very low level. Because of my position, I was also in the field teaching advanced technology and doing interrogations.

You couldn't have found a more gung ho person than me. I enlisted (not drafted) because I thought we needed to fight communism. I hated Kerry for his statements -- not because bad things weren't done, but because they were not indicative of what was really occurring on the ground. I love this country and felt that it was my responsibility to fight for it unlike Bush and Cheney. I give Kerry far more credit for at least fighting in Vietnam than I give Bush and Cheney for getting deferments.

So, Ruth, I do take our country seriously unlike you who never adds anything of value to discussions.

ruth| 1.14.09 @ 2:12PM

Now, Bobby, don't go wobbly on me. I was trying to inject a little humor into the conversation. At least mine were funny, unlike your lame attempts at humor regarding Palin. You need to get a new schtick, Bob. Your Palin diatribes are old news, dude.

Bob| 1.14.09 @ 2:32PM

OK, Ruthie, I just like to wiggle your chain about Palin. I know I shouldn't make fun of mental incompetents, however. But then again, that's how you can tell I'm not a liberal.