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The Spectacle Blog
"I don't think of myself as having gone squishy. I think of myself as having grown sober."
-- David Frum
The details of Frum's conversion to an Obamaphiliac squish are tedious and trivial, and ultimately irrelevant to his journey down the path worn smooth by such trailblazers of moderate Republicanism as David Gergen and John Dean. Let the Republican Party lose an election or two, and suddenly there is no shortage of persons (usually those deeply implicated in recent defeats) declaring that they see exactly what needs to be done. And always the prescription is the same: "new ideas," Me-Too-ism, "National Greatness," et cetera, ad nauseam, ad infinitum.
However, let it not be said that Frum offers no amusement in his rationalization for joining the "Echo, Not A Choice" chorus:
But on environmental issues, we have to follow the evidence where it leads -- and on social issues we have to take our society as it is. If the world changes, we have to change with it. The refusal of so many of my fellow conservatives in the United States to adapt their thinking to facts and realities does not demonstrate their adherence to principle. It demonstrates a frivolous indifference to the responsibilities of political leadership.
Well, take that, all you global-warming skeptics at Cato, Reason and CEI! Of course, environmentalism is entirely a movement of the elite. In November 2008, no Florida retiree or Ohio truck driver went to the polls with the idea, "Those Republicans aren't taking the environment seriously enough. Guess I'll have to vote for Obama." There is a word for voters who consider environmentalism a make-or-break issue: Democrats.
I've admired Frum's writing for years, and still harbor some glimmer of hope that he'll part ways with David Brooks and the Crapweasel Coalition, but . . . I don't know. Once a Republican starts sounding like Al Gore on the environment, he's usually beyond retrieval (cf., John McCain).
And on the off-chance that there is any conservative too stupid to understand when he's being insulted, Frum boils it down to 14 words:
Conservatives stopped taking governance seriously -- and so Americans ceased to trust conservatives in government.
In case you didn't notice -- in your "frivolous indifference," you may have overlooked it -- that was the back of his hand.
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More Blog Posts by Robert Stacy McCain
http://spectator.org/blog/2009/03/30/my-how-youve-grown-david-frum
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Pingback| 3.30.09 @ 5:21AM
My, How You’ve ‘Grown,’ David Frum — But As For Me links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Ran| 3.30.09 @ 6:51AM
"Conservatives stopped taking governance seriously -- and so Americans ceased to trust conservatives in government."
RSM, Mr. Frum needs a refresher! Conservatives take governance very seriously indeed. Personal, individual governance supersedes state governance if an individual is to retain Liberty: It is at the very core of Conservatism and Libertarianism. It is rather David who has failed to take Conservatism seriously.
I believe Frum has it precisely backwards: Conservatives ceased to trust Republicans who failed to safeguard our Liberty. And so the country has drifted Leftwards in the absence of an opposing tug.
(If Frum needs a shred of evidence to demonstrate his failure to properly differentiate cause and effect, he might start with examining the sales of two recent books: His Comeback and Mark Levin's Liberty and Tyranny. One of these books fills a vacuum, the other [ahem] "applies a vacuum".)
Until he overcomes his dyslexia - and his envirofetish - I will not be able to take Frum seriously.
Patty from Texas| 3.30.09 @ 6:57AM
Yeah, Frum's a crapweasel. I'd like to return his back of the hand with the tip of my steel toe boot. Good riddance.
Jeremiah| 3.30.09 @ 9:11AM
Mr McCain --
I understand that people disagree with many of Frum's opinions lately.
What I can't understand is the blanket dismissal of him. He's a pretty smart guy.
His concern about conservative's dedication to good governance shows character. (Everyone should be questioning whether his representatives are dedicated to responsible governance.)
The last eight years -- six of which saw the Republicans in the majority in DC -- have not been a model of responsible or effective governance. It seems at least reasonable for someone to wonder if that has some cause other than the media, or liberal college professors, or Whoopie Goldberg -- or whatever you guys are blaming it on this week.
Could it be -- is it absolutely impossible to believe -- that the intensity of contempt for government repeatedly articulated on the right ever effects Republican's ability to govern?
You may conclude it is not so, but to dismiss that question and others like it would be foolish.
Jeremiah| 3.30.09 @ 9:17AM
If I may make an imperfect analogy, vulnerable to any number of criticisms:
Social conservatives often claim that gay marriage undermines traditional marriage, an institution upon which civilization depends.
Even when they don't exactly prove by thermodynamics how such an undermining takes place, I think most reasonable people understand or think they understand the argument and accept it as valid.
I'd say this: while conservative skepticism about government is a major -- perhaps the major -- strand in American political culture, there may be a connection between the extremely acerbic pitch of anti-government rhetoric and an undermining of political discourse and governance itself.
Fire away. As analogy, it's terrible.
Pingback| 3.30.09 @ 9:20AM
Designated Victim Groups [Dan Collins] links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pete Noone| 3.30.09 @ 10:05AM
Poor Tom Jefferson has now been cast as a knee-jerk right-wing windbag by Jeremiah here. There is only a single element that all human beings gain happines from: acting in their own self-interest. All rules and law, no matter how well-governed, destroy a part of the individual and thus his ability to achieve happines. Governance is like having a gangreen foot removed, it may be necessary but it ain't ever gonna be good.
james23| 3.30.09 @ 11:20AM
Frum's pretensions as a conservative "intellectual" are as phony as those of "Cancer" Brooks. It appears to me that Frum's philosophical "growth" is nothing more than the public nursing of a personal grievance against people who have considered and rejected his ideas for where the GOP should go. Plus, it turns out, firing spitballs at conservatives is a good way to get your mug on TV.
Jeremiah| 3.30.09 @ 12:34PM
Pete Noone --
Your response to my post is shallow, foolish, and slightly deranged.
You seem to have some troubles with reading comprehension.
Most communities have volunteers willing to help adults improve their literacy. You should avail yourself of their good services.
Oh, and by the way. Go fuck yourself.
Ran| 3.30.09 @ 12:43PM
PETE, Please, DNFTT. Just... ignore it. It will grow bored and leave. Please, please, please DNFTT.
jaylo| 3.30.09 @ 1:17PM
David Frum was laughed out of his home country Canada for being a American wannabe neocon. Now he is trying to show the American GOP the way forward? Give me a break. It is time Americans see Davey for what he is. A media whore and an egomaniac. His mother was a highly respected journalist in Canada...her son is an ambulance chasing (read GOP) disgrace. Go back to Canada where you belong, David.
MT| 3.30.09 @ 1:18PM
Jeremiah is Interloper is JHarp--Obama paid trolls. Meltdown in progress. Ha ha!
Willey| 3.30.09 @ 1:20PM
Media whore egomaniac--you've just described Keith Olberdumb.
jaylo| 3.30.09 @ 1:29PM
Willey...back on point, David Frum is a Canadian pretending to be American. His ego is so large he thinks he can advise Americans how to run their own country. When he tried to tell Canadians how to run his (their) own country, they told him to take a hike. The fact that you guys even listen to this kookoo in your nest is a running joke in Canada.
lynn rockets| 3.30.09 @ 1:58PM
Canadians shouldn't be talking about 'running jokes'.
jaylo| 3.30.09 @ 2:18PM
With the fall of our banks, Canadian Banks have gone from 20th largest in the world to 5th largest in the world, and Canadian Bank CEO's earn in the range $3,000,000 per year. How do you feel about being f***cked over.
steele| 3.30.09 @ 2:41PM
So...the Canadians are the new Swiss...a country of 40 million with banks reaching 5th largest in the world.
Ran| 3.30.09 @ 3:06PM
"His mother was a highly respected journalist in Canada." NO. She was a highly paid, loud, pushy statist who left radio listeners and television viewers feeling mugged. Even people such as my parents who agreed with Barbara on most things intensely disrespected her. Ever wonder if supreme arrogance is nature or nurture? I'm not sure it matters.
jaylo| 3.30.09 @ 3:35PM
Well, then, the apple dosen't fall far from the tree. Why does anyone care what this lightweight "axis of evil" speechwriter ...Canadian responsible for thousands of lost American lives in Iraq thinks?
lynnrockets| 3.30.09 @ 3:56PM
jaylo, why don't you go skiing WITHOUT a helmet? Your wonderful health care system will save your life if you fall and hit your head. Sure they will--just ask Liam Neeson.
MT| 3.30.09 @ 3:58PM
jaylo, nice lie about Frum's mother. Loser, try telling the truth for once.
Interloper| 3.30.09 @ 4:01PM
I see that Putin is making a move on the Arctic, and Canada said they will defend it. Nice try, Canada. You couldn't defend yourselves out of a paper bag.
jaylo| 3.30.09 @ 4:02PM
umm, lynn, I am an American business person who is upset that some upstart Canadian snot who decided to hang onto George Bush' coattails and wrote an "axis of evil" speech that resulted in thousand of american dead is now trying to redo my party.
jaylo| 3.30.09 @ 4:05PM
MT. what lie are you talking about?
jaylo| 3.30.09 @ 4:06PM
Well, at least I know Putin is Russian...did you know David Frum is Canadian...and he is invading the great GOP.
rockets| 3.30.09 @ 4:07PM
I'm not wasting my energy on a loser like Frum. There are bigger fish to fry--like the fascist Obama. I'm sick of the Repub circular firing squad.
jaylo| 3.30.09 @ 4:09PM
rockets....finally...someone with some sense. Thank god.
rockets| 3.30.09 @ 4:10PM
You said Frum's mom was a great journalist and got shot down. George W screwed up--we gotta focus our energy on our real adversaries now.
jaylo| 3.30.09 @ 4:19PM
Well, i have heard Canadians say that his mother was a great socialist journalist. Anyway...I agree with getting on with the reall issues. however, I think we should all know who the players are, and if Frum is the leader, then I don't know what the GOP stands for.
We have to move on from Bush, and Frum was totally a Bushie.
lynn| 3.30.09 @ 5:02PM
I agree. Ticked me off that W called himself the Compassionate Conservative. What a load of crap. True Conservatism is REAL compassion. Frum is NOT the leader--the hostility for him is over the top. We can't settle anymore. we have to stand for our principles, right?
thirteen28| 3.30.09 @ 6:12PM
DF + BO 4EVER!
Sincerely,
David Frum's Trapper Keeper
(with apologies to the HotAir commenter from whom I lifted this idea)
jaylo| 3.30.09 @ 6:44PM
thirteen 28: WTF? OK...I think I seem to have drifted into the dead zone with this ws.