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The Spectacle Blog
Actually, I don’t know Peter Wehner and have not been authorized to pronounce official anathemas on behalf of the Conservative Movement. What’s the point of ex-communicating heretics if (a) nobody pays attention to you because (b) you’re not actually the Pope?
However, from the Olympian heights, Wehner/Zeus hurls this thunderbolt:
You can actually go read Zeus’s entire anti-Beck encyclical, or not. The remarkable thing is the atavistic impulse: “Hey, you know what the conservative movement needs? A purge! And I say we start with a successful talk-radio host, the most popular new personality on cable TV, the guy whose book is now No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list!” Some excerpts of the Wehnerian anti-Beck anathema:
I don’t pretend to be an expert on Beck. In the past I assumed he was a typical figure in the pundit and cable-media world. Only recently have I watched portions of his television program, as well as interviews with him, and heard parts of his radio program. And what I’ve seen should worry the conservative movement.
I say that because he seems to be more of a populist and libertarian than a conservative, more of a Perotista than a Reaganite… .
[T]he role Glenn Beck is playing is harmful in its totality. My hunch is that he is a comet blazing across the media sky right now-and will soon flame out. Whether he does or not, he isn’t the face or disposition that should represent modern-day conservatism.
As opposed to Peter
Wehner, who is the face and disposition that should
represent modern-day conservatism but who, alas, doesn’t have a
No. 1 book, a hit Fox
News program or a successful talk-radio show.
However, Wehner is supremely qualified for leadership, on the basis of …? Oh, wait, I’ve got it! Along with Michael Gerson, Wehner co-authored a 5,000-word opus entitled “The Path to Republican Revival,” which attracted widespread notice, prompting one critic to call it “a Brompton cocktail of bad writing in service of bad ideas, a surefire formula for Republican suicide.”
That treatise will live in infamy for a single four-word sentence that sums up the essence of the Gerson-Wehner ideology: “Herewith, a brief primer.”
Who is more “harmful to the conservative movement”? The exciting populist Beck or the boring elitist Wehner?
View all comments (67) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Robert Stacy McCain
http://spectator.org/blog/2009/09/21/peter-wehner-harmful-to-the-co
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Victor| 9.21.09 @ 11:59PM
Hey, the guy they really wanted, a moderate, centrist, compromising and appearing to be the One, failed miserably. The only reason McCain got as many votes as he did was because of "Ta-da!" Sarah Palin! Thousands upon thousands came to see, hear and admire her.
Do the "regular" repubicans appreciate or even care about her? No! They happily, joyfully and suicidedly join the Dim-Bulb-O'Crats in flaying and filleting her or anyone else who shows the sparks of Reagan. Jindal, Barbour, Huntsman and Pawlenty get skewered by these RINO's.
Beck and Rush are admired and listened to because they ARE Right. So Right and so despised.
The only thing "harmful to the conservative movement" is so-called self-described "conservatives" that want to define us true conservatives and what we stand for and believe.
2010 is going to be painful for those who do not believe. Just as 1994 was painful.
This time we have many Newts.
and more people aware of what's going on and therefore more people voting.
2 million on 9/12?
Wait til next 9/12!
Mary Louise| 9.21.09 @ 11:59PM
I don't think you're being fair to Mr. Wehner. He doesn't strike me as an 'elitist.' And I don't find him boring.
That said, I find him too much a Bush man to want him to have much influence on any future candidate. IMO, he's a man who will help get us to the promised land of the Left by Republican means and timeline.
Levin
takes Beck to task too: "mindless."
Paul will never get my vote and his son won't either unless I see a man who can defend the Country. I want out, in the worst way, of shopping and war, but I want a man who understands what an imperiled Nation and its people need, and sometimes that's out-and-out devastation, and a good salting of the Earth when that's finished.
You want a pre-emptive war? Then have the balls and the intellect to defend it as any Leader or Statesman worthy of the title would.
And speaking of the Pope, there's no doubt in my mind that if the Infidel was at the door of St. Peter's every RC in the Country would be clamorig for US intervention.
Torture? The Church tortured to keep political order. What anti-torture blowhard ever combines a thoughtful critique of that alongside the lamentations of the loss of our National innocence? If torture is an intrinisc evil how much worse is it for Christians to employ? To cover the head of the Crucifix and say to Christ; ' we don't want you to see this, but it has to be done.' It seems to me that is much, much worse.
Shortly after Obama replaced Bush I began thinking about how I never thought about the Iraqi dead, as if they were nothing compared to me, to us.
If Lattimer is telling the truth about President Bush, then President Bush is not the man I thought he was. Instead, he's the callow, messianic-minded man I saw briefly as he prepared to give a speech standing on some sort of pedestal.
VP Cheney any day of the week over President Bush. Any. Day. Of. The. Week.
Robert Martin| 9.22.09 @ 1:34AM
Lattimer's writing has been refuted by more than one source, you would do well and show some credibility by not referring to Lattimer, truth, and Bush in the same sentence, or maybe you prefer to believe before seeking the real truth. What is that called again...
Angel| 9.22.09 @ 2:02AM
Robert, who made you the blog police? Besides, "Compassionate Conservative" was all I ever needed to distrust George W. Bush.
I was right, too.
Robert Martin| 9.22.09 @ 2:15AM
That's great. Maybe my point was missed. It wasn't in support of Bush, just in support of truth, or at least relying on and spreading the truth, and basing opinion on it, and not basing opinion on unverifiable facts. That seems to be a growing epidemic...foolishness.
Angel| 9.22.09 @ 2:43AM
I'll tell you what was foolish: Trusting George W.
Angel| 9.22.09 @ 1:51AM
Hell yeah, Mary Louise. VP Cheney and his daughter, Liz. Any.Day.Of.The.Week!
Si Vis Pacem | 9.22.09 @ 12:25AM
Stacy, I'm tired of "Conservatives" who's most "successful" work is an attack on successful Conservatives. Frum biting Levin's ankles, Wehner biting at Beck's, Gerson scurrying around Palin's stiletto heals, CoNor jumping up and biting Dan Riehl's shin...
"UpChuck! Nanny-State Conservatism That Can Win Again!"
... Is not the neo-Fascist Left a target rich environment? Don't they have better work to do? Are there not statist policies aplenty and hoodlums by the bussload to expose? Have these "movement conservatives" no... clean diapers?
Tim| 9.22.09 @ 8:43AM
"I'm tired of "Conservatives" who's most "successful" work is an attack on successful Conservatives. "
SECONDED!
Liberal Reader| 9.22.09 @ 1:01AM
Beck and Limbaugh are convincing people a) that all conservatives think pretty much alike, which is not true; b) that all conservatives are emotionally a little deranged, which I doubt is true; c) that conservatism tracks closely with populist and racist anxiety and rage, which I know is not true.
Watch an hour of Glenn Beck, then dig up some tapes of William F Buckley on television at any point in his career. The difference is staggering.
Robert Martin| 9.22.09 @ 1:50AM
You are off the mark on each one of your points, not surprising if your label has anything to do with your viewpoint. And to point out that Buckley and Beck are different, what's your point there. Maybe you meant to reach a conclusion, maybe we just missed it? Good to have a different man in Beck. Why repeat history...different is good. Passionate defender, standard bearer, truth seeker, crusader...Buckley or Beck? Both. Beck is dealing with a different time and different circumstances.
In regard to your last sentence, thanks for the recommendation, I'll enjoy watching an hour of both if you don't mind.
Tim| 9.22.09 @ 8:46AM
How a person scores on the Buckley meter should not be a measure of authenticity. If everybody tried to be Buckley it would be a strange media world.
On the left, who should everybody be like?
Liberal Reader| 9.22.09 @ 1:22AM
You think Beck is an "exciting populist"?
What a weird judgment.
Beck is a television and radio entertainer. He's trained as a disc jockey.
He's no where near as intelligent or creative as Limbaugh, and in my opinion, marks such a lowering of the bar that I can only conclude "conservatism" is falling apart.
Limbaugh was great back when Clinton was president; once W won, Limbaugh came to seem like a bully, no longer an outsider satirizing the arrogant and popular Democratic president. Now, of course, he just sounds angry and fearful.
L.N. Smithee | 9.22.09 @ 7:36AM
[Beck's] no where (sic) near as intelligent or creative as Limbaugh, and in my opinion, marks such a lowering of the bar that I can only conclude "conservatism" is falling apart.
You wish. Beck has done some things that Limbaugh has not:
1. Spearheaded a movement that brought hundreds of thousands (if not over a million) to Washington D.C.
2. Hosted a daily TV program that demolishes its competition on a daily basis.
3. Actually could claim responsibility (if he chose to) for the changing of White House policies and even getting someone working for the President FIRED.
As to Beck's "train[ing] as a disc jockey" - check your clock, Sherlock -- what was Rush doing on the radio before he became the most popular talk host of all time? Rush may have a greater base of knowledge and conservative bonafides through the lessons he learned through his upbringing, but Beck's success has to do with uncovering lies, fraud, and hypocrisy -- one need not be degreed in conservative dogma to compare, contrast, and expose the Obamanoids. The internet and YouTube have made Beck's job easier than Rush's back in the '90s, and he's taking full advantage.
Your ignorance of Rush's bio leads me to believe you don't know jack about him either -- you just want to throw cold water on Beck b/c he's more effective an opponent than Rush has been in recent years. But you say Rush is sounding "angry and fearful" lately -- who's to say that he shouldn't feel that way? We have a greenhorn politician who hasn't successfully run a maddog thing being given the keys to the Leadership of The Free World, and the first thing he wants to do "fundamentally transform" the country. Transform it into what? Does he even know? If he does, why won't he tell us? Or is he making it up as he goes along? What reason do we have to figure "everything will turn out all right?"
When paradigms shift for the worse, usually the failure of an apathetic majority to recognize the gravity of the situation is a contributor. I went on record within days of the election expressing my dismay that "[F]for the first time in my life, after watching the election of six Presidents, I felt like I was living in a nation in which a significant portion of the population worships a national leader like a god ... I have heard first-person accounts of life in countries like that. I have read histories of what happens when people are given that kind of adulation. It makes me sad to think it could possibly happen here."
jim| 9.22.09 @ 2:03PM
Why do you guys keep trying to spread the lie about the number of people there on 9/12? Its been debunked so many times! At most there was 70,000 people there. Guess what, at the cowboys game the other night there was more then 100,000! More people come out for sporting events then this fake protest promoted by beck and Fox News. The funny thing is, i never liked Rush, but after listening to becks rants, Rush seems sane!
Robert Martin| 9.23.09 @ 6:04PM
jim, debunked by who? Name your sources and your proof. There's too much evidence proving you wrong. All talk, nothing to back it up. Not surprising.
Bob Powell | 9.23.09 @ 6:03PM
So "Beck's success has to do with uncovering lies, fraud, and hypocrisy ... " ... Ha, ha, ha. What he does is invent lies, fraud, and hypocrisy all the while using lies, fraud, and hypocrisy. Pathetic.
"Conservative" policies are responsible for every major social problem in America. For why that's so, google "Invisible Hand Drops Ball & Economics 101". For the devastation these policies have wrought, google "Jobs & 'Trade' Data Update Jun09".
tonypal| 9.22.09 @ 8:09AM
Sounds "angry and fearful?" Not to those of us who listen to him on a daily basis. What we conservatives hear is a guy who is a guy whose smarter than the competition, and by competition I mean Obama. He sees through his BS and explains in an exciting and humorous manner. That's why the left hates him, because he's effective. If he wasn't, then they would ignore him.
Beck, I don't really listen to that much. But the mere fact that he gets under the skin of liberals makes him ok in my book.
Robert Martin| 9.22.09 @ 1:37AM
No matter how you refer to Beck, he is inspiring to watch and a good man for putting his neck on the line everyday by seeking out the truth and reporting it well.
Liberal Reader| 9.22.09 @ 1:44AM
Robert --
He's "inspiring"?
Go to church to get inspired. Go to a museum.
Since when does an American turn on television news to be inspired?
You make me sick, you spineless worm.
You should be ashamed. Jesus, I'm going to puke. Inspiring? Be a man for fuck's sake. Read the newspaper. Deal with reality.
Or are you going to start whining and complaining, like that porcine-faced blubbering sorry-assed, pudge of a man does on television.
Jesus. Wimps! Conservatives, for all their bluster, for all their bile, conservatives are wimps. I'd never really seen it before.
But it all fits. Beck's whining; his womanly emotional instability; the blubbering; the unmanly hand-wringing; the fearfulness; the paranoia. It's like he has PMS all the time.
You need to get a grip, Martin. You think Beck is a "reporter"?
Man, we need to improve CIVICS education in this country, that's for damn sure. You guys don't know your ASS from a hole in the GROUND about civics, history, journalism, basic political philosophy. It's appalling.
Angel| 9.22.09 @ 2:29AM
Filthy, fat-faced troll strikes again.
Foul mouthed F-Bomber; who are you to lecture us on the propriety of anyone or anything we choose to admire? Your self-righteous outburst is especially galling considering the disgusting behavior of your fellow liberals in ACORN. Sexual slavery, anyone?
The only reason you hate Beck is because he's hitting you despicable liberals right between the eyes REPEATEDLY!!
Go for it, Glenn: Which Commie Czar is ripe for the pickin' now?
Liberal Reader| 9.22.09 @ 2:39AM
I bet you actually do believe the Tzars were "commies," too, you ignoramus.
Are you telling me that anyone who is not a conservative Republican is a participant is sex slavery, you watery-headed and absurd nitwit?
I've known LOBSTERS with more erudition and wit than you, Angel.
Angel| 9.22.09 @ 2:50AM
Gee, thanks, LR. Greatly appreciate you NOT hurling an F-Bomb at me, pigboy.
You're one big erudite fascist liberal.
Patrick Henry| 9.22.09 @ 5:30PM
Angel. Pls define fascist liberal. Is that not an oxymoron?
Angel| 9.22.09 @ 6:21PM
The way you liberals are taking over private industries makes Fascist Liberal redundant not oxymoronic.
Angel| 9.22.09 @ 2:58AM
All I know is that some very nasty people were caught aiding and abetting sexual slavery of little girls--and they were all Liberals like you, Liberal Reader.
The Conservatives were the GOOD GUYS; or didn't you notice?
Patrick Henry| 9.22.09 @ 5:31PM
The conservatives were the GOOD GUYS sending out SMS's to pages, foottapping in lavatories, paying for man sex....must I go on...bored...OK you win...I am a lib POS...
Angel| 9.22.09 @ 6:13PM
PH, say what you want about Republicans; at least one of our Presidential candidates didn't promise to marry his pregnant lover upon the death of his current wife (the mother of his four children!) who is ill with cancer.
Liberal POS doesn't begin to describe your John Edwards.
Angel| 9.22.09 @ 6:17PM
What's your problem with paid man sex? Barney Frank's lover use to run a gay prostitution ring out of Barney's basement.
I could go on and on and on about you amoral democrats.....but you're right; it's boring.
L.N. Smithee | 9.22.09 @ 7:56AM
Man, we need to improve CIVICS education in this country, that's for damn sure. You guys don't know your ASS from a hole in the GROUND about civics, history, journalism, basic political philosophy. It's appalling.
You're right, Libby, it IS appalling. Someone ought to do something about the sorry state of public schools, which are staffed by the members of the NEA, the AFT, and local unions that are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Democrat Party.
What we need is a project to teach kids in a different way, one that deals with social justice themes and stuff like that. We could get a Harvard Law Review editor to run the thing, and an unrepentant domestic terrorist to serve on the Board.
Oh, wait -- that's already been tried, with no discernible improvement in student performance. Darn the luck. Maybe that Harvard guy will be better at running something infinitely larger and more important.
Bob Powell | 9.23.09 @ 8:07PM
Thanks, Liberal Reader. It's not being a troll to tell these right wingers just how insane they are and why. It takes real brainwashing and total ignorance to call liberals "fascists". See: Fascist "FreedomWorks" http://tinyurl.com/mhvycc .
Liberal Reader| 9.22.09 @ 1:47AM
Robert, you lily-livered Jackass,
You claim above that Beck puts his "neck" on the line to bring you that mindless pabulum you consider news:
With 150,000 young people ACTUALLY putting their necks on the line in foreign countries, SERVING their country, I DEMAND that you explain exactly how it is you think Beck is "putting his neck on the line" to bring you that retarded television program.
I challenge you, you goose, you super-minimus, you midget, I DEFY you to come up with even ONE reason I should accept such an unbelievable claim.
Beck puts his neck on the line to make up insane gibberish on television?
What are you, daft?
Robert Martin| 9.22.09 @ 2:02AM
Might fine comments "Liberal Reader". Glad to know you're brave enough to read the Spectator and at least witness the truth from the right side. Your a much better person than me. I don't spend a whole lot of time watching the left, other than to laugh and know my family will never succumb to it, no matter how good it looks or feels. Truth, well it may not always feel good, but it shows who has the real spine when real men choose to stand for it, despite the threat of violence, anger and hate.
By the way, you brought it up. When was that last time you went to church? If you do, I wouldn't recommend you taking any of your friends, or enemies to your church. You must be displaying some of that "tolerance" most of the left is preaching. Good to see you lead by example.
Robert Martin| 9.22.09 @ 2:11AM
Liberal Reader - maybe I shouldn't take your label literally, or maybe it's difficult for the rest of us to tell where you really stand. Please enlighten us.
Liberal Reader| 9.22.09 @ 2:16AM
Robert --
Again, in a time in our country's history when real men ACTUALLY are deployed to foreign countries and sacrificing their lives doing something Beck never did -- serving their country -- I insist you explain what you mean when you say he "puts his neck" on the line doing that laughable, bone-headed huckster act on Fox News.
You people need to be more responsible with the claims you make. You need to be WORTHY of self-government, you know.
Liberal Reader| 9.22.09 @ 2:19AM
Tell me, goddamn it. You tune in to that fat, trembling, idiotic degenerate.
You tell me, how does Beck put his neck on the line to make an ass of himself on Fox News?
Angel| 9.22.09 @ 2:38AM
What's wrong with you, Lib Reader/Jeremiah?
You've gone completely nuts. Did you go off your meds or are you overdue for another round of electroshock? Hyperbolic moron.
hikingguy| 9.22.09 @ 4:45PM
Relax, all. Liberal Reader is trying to be Hunter S. Thompson, but he doesn't have the chops.
L.N. Smithee | 9.22.09 @ 7:45AM
Two words: Alan Berg.
Liberal Reader| 9.22.09 @ 2:33AM
Robert --
AT least assure me you understand that Beck is NOT a reporter or journalist.
You understand he's a disc jockey. You understand that he simply acts like an hysterical woman on television to entertain people.
You understand that he is not a thinker, not an expert on any topic he discusses.
You DO understand these things, do you not?
You understand that for inspiration there are OTHER sources of the numinous or the sublime than Glenn Fucking Beck, do you not?
Wordworth's Ruined Cottage?
Shakespeare's King Lear?
Melville's Moby Dick?
The paintings of Rembrandt? The sculpture of Rodin?
Mt Rushmore? The Grand Canyon?
Take a canoe up the Connecticut River: it's amazing.
Read Walt Whitman out loud -- at the top of your lungs.
I'm not qualified to give religious advice, but I suggest -- yes -- Church a far better place to seek inspiration than Fox Bloody NEWS!
Do something. But Glenn Beck "inspiring"????
Good Christ, man. Get with it!
Robert Martin| 9.22.09 @ 2:52AM
Thank you for the recommendations. You seem to have an issue with differing opinions.
Robert Martin| 9.22.09 @ 2:43AM
I will indulge you this one time:
Your reference to those "deployed to foreign countries and sacrificing their lives doing something Beck never did" sounds like your benchmark of real men that put their necks on the line. It's a great benchmark. I won't argue with that.
But it has nothing to do with Glenn Beck being a real man that puts his neck on the line. When a person is in the public eye, presenting truth, revealing lies and the true character of a great number of men and women with great power, it is commen sense to know that Glenn Beck literally "puts his neck on the line", meaning his life. Obviously not in the same way as a soldier, thus I am not comparing him to a soldier, you are. And to define my other term, he is a real man, meaning a man that is passionate about the truth and stands up for what he believes in...the truth. I know quite a few "lily-livered" men. They put on an act, and pretend to be real men, but they will not follow their visions, or stand for the truth, or even present themselves truthfully. I believe that would make them liars, or maybe in your book, lily-livered liars.
Steve J. | 9.22.09 @ 6:21AM
it is commen sense to know that Glenn Beck literally "puts his neck on the line", meaning his life.
I heard Hilary is going to hire the same hitman that took care of her Vince Foster problem.
Robert Martin| 9.22.09 @ 3:03AM
You sound bitter, Liberal Reader, and it appears to be affecting your ability to present good arguments, or comments.
I would guess that your label doesn't really fit your viewpoint, just your sarcasm. You know what they say about sarcasm...
Liberal Reader| 9.22.09 @ 3:15AM
Your abject hero worship of Beck is truly distressing, Martin.
I suggest you take some personal time. Have your chakras massaged. Write in a journal.
As for me having a problem with opposing viewpoints.
That's silly. I'm in here all the time. I LIKE arguments and debate. I just can't stand SURRENDER, which is what I judge you to have done.
I'm not bitter; I'm not even being all that sarcastic.
As for Beck being some kind of privileged Truth teller -- I think such an idea is lunatic.
Robert Stacy McCain | 9.22.09 @ 3:28AM
Wow, this thread sure got lively in the wee A.M. hours!
I best liked Si Vis Pacem's remark about the ankle-biters -- as soon as any conservative (Limbaugh, Palin, Levin, Coulter, Beck) becomes popular and successful, you can bet that some "conservative" you never heard of will decide that the *successful* and *popular* person is What's Wrong With the Republican Party.
The consistency of the pattern, without regard for the ideological differences between the targets, tells you that the wrath of the ankle-biters is not strictly ideological.
Liberal Reader| 9.22.09 @ 4:21AM
I can't think of anyone that liberals IDOLIZE the way you people idolize Beck, Limbaugh, and the rest.
It's weird. Conservatives are supposed to revere some kind of traditionalism; we depend upon conservatives to honor a kind of stoic resolution against celebrity culture and the brain-atrophy induced by television. What has beCOME of you people? You wallow in victim-narratives; you whine; you worry; you fret; you blubber. You sound positively contemptible. What ever happened to the conservatism of self reliance and the stiff upper lip? Beck is the new conservative hero?
L.N. Smithee | 9.22.09 @ 8:11AM
Oh, puhleeeze. As if you wouldn't be calling William F. Buckley a racist and a homophobe if he was still breathing.
Tim| 9.22.09 @ 9:24AM
Paul Wellstone
Roy| 9.22.09 @ 6:19AM
So uh, for people who have been here longer than me: has "Liberal Reader" ever said anything substantive?
Margie| 9.22.09 @ 11:04PM
No. But HE thinks he does. He does everything he accuses everybody else of doing. A typical Liberal "intellectual" pompous ass.
Paulo| 9.22.09 @ 6:35AM
The leadership of Wehner is expressed in the fact that you cared to write a note about his column, is it not?
I agree with every single sentence on his column. I have serious restrictions about Beck, who became weirder after joining Fox.
It is of note that you fail to point out any deficiency in Wehner's points. As if all the conservative movement needs is a media star, who cries in his own shows - which are oftentimes boring egotistical monologues - and declares that he is becoming "more and more libertarian"....
By the very nature of the entertainment industry Beck's stardom is likely ephemeral but the damage of his populist verbiage is not.
Liberal (e.g. MSNBC) networks have worse ratings than Fox for quite a while, that didn't prevent Obama to become the most liberal president this country ever had.
Being a media hero is only good for Beck's pockets, not much else....
martin j smith| 9.22.09 @ 8:03AM
Yeah its like the lefts obsessively dismissing Sara Palin as a hick Nobody 10,000,000 times.
martin j smith| 9.22.09 @ 8:03AM
Yeah its like the lefts obsessively dismissing Sara Palin as a hick Nobody 10,000,000 times.
martin j smith| 9.22.09 @ 7:33AM
I am not a conservative yetI fear that without the loud voices of dissent against the Obama adminstration there would be little chance of Republic success. Yep that from an independent.
Its the tail wagging the dog so to speak. While I do not pray to the alter of talk radio or Glen Bleck It is they who have spread the results of investigative work and also spread news of tea parties and demonstrations. What have the so called moderates done ? Nothing to give the republican party a chance. Macaine was a very poor choice. I don't know if he was afraid of Obama or what. The next presidential candidate should be required to demonstrate leadership.
As for Bush and Cheney. Bush started out like a ball of fire but the fizzled out. I think he was like many politicians a coward in failing to stand for himself and his supporters and increasing weak in area of terrorism towards the end of his term.
Chaney and I give him credit for that.ney at least has the willingness to speak out now .
The energy to give Republicans even chance in 2010 is mainly a result of Obama's overreaching and the conservative activist and even non conservatives who joined various protests,made calls etc. The moderates have done one thing.. be moderate. But that gets no votes.
S.L. Toddard| 9.22.09 @ 7:54AM
Robert Stacy McCain stands ever ready to defend the most popular right wing celebrities. Such a bold, risky stance.
L.N. Smithee | 9.22.09 @ 8:05AM
If nobody stands up and says putting Poindexter in at quarterback in the fourth quarter is a bad idea, some people might think it makes sense.
Tim| 9.22.09 @ 9:40AM
What America needs is nationalized public radio. Your Beck's and your Limbaughs will have to bow out to the really top shelf talent like Teri Gross and Robert Reichssssssh.
Dan Phillips| 9.22.09 @ 12:08PM
What does a moderate conservative like Wehner mean when he disparagingly calls someone like Beck a libertarian? Often it doesn't mean that they are libertarians in the pure philosophical sense, but that they are constitutionalists, enumerated powers, 10th Amendment, states’ rights types. All of which are the authentic conservative position. Moderate like Wehner often consider any calls for radically smaller government libertarian. What moderates really don't like is anything that isn't moderate. Their moderation and aversion to "extremes" is a temperamental disposition.
Nobama| 9.22.09 @ 12:13PM
Wehner is at best a back bencher who got bitten by the Green Monster: He's just envious of Beck's success.
Beck's an American hero.
Greg Ransom| 9.22.09 @ 1:11PM
Ronald Reagan:
http://www.reason.com/news/show/29318.html
"If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals – if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories. The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is."
Wehner is re-writing history here -- and it's very bad history.
Dan Phillips| 9.22.09 @ 1:39PM
Greg, as appealing as that Reagan quote may be it is very bad political philosophy. Wrong on almost every account. The basis of conservatism is not ideological commitment to "individual freedom" (that is actually original liberalism) but a desire to conserve. Go figure. That that has come to mean in America less government and less centralized authority (conserving our federated Republic) is while not illegitimate to some degree a matter of historical coincidence.
Pingback| 9.22.09 @ 6:15PM
The Glenn Beck Moment - The Opinionator Blog - NYTimes.com links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 9.23.09 @ 1:41AM
Glenn Beck can’t (or won’t) define ‘the white culture’ : The Reid Report links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 9.23.09 @ 12:38PM
Beltway Republicans links to this page. Here’s an excerpt: