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The Spectacle Blog

So Much Good Political Analysis, So Little Time...

By Quin Hillyer on 1.7.12 @ 1:34PM

I have a much, much longer blog post compendium of good writing from the last week, at CFIF. It starts like this:

I've been so busy this week that I missed the chance to link to a host of excellent pieces as they came out. So now here's some one-stop-shopping for wonderful political pieces.

First, Jennifer Rubin was on fire this week. She still is bedeviling Newt Gingrich. And she hits Gingrich yet again here. She continues to praise Rick Santorum, this time for running a "thinking person's race." (She was one of the only columnists to take Santorum seriously as a candidate as early as late summer.) She defends Santorum from the charge from Rick Perry - whom he continues to criticize - that the Pennsylvanian is somehow a "big government conservative." (For that matter, I have a new piece answering that same charge, here at National Review Online.) On that same general topic, she blasts "the screechy voices in the blogosphere, the perfectionist pundits...," those who demand philosophical purity without any political context. (This last was a particularly well argued piece.) She closes a piece analyzing Santorum's big remaining challenges with a great paragraph: "Republicans can get awfully theoretical and sterile in their approach. Santorum can remind the entire field that politics is also about emotion, connection, inspiration and faith." And she provides a moving portrayal of Santorum's wife, Karen.

Whew! That was just in three days.

She's not the only one writing with eloquence and perspicacity. Two new pieces at The Weekly Standard make the case (as William Kristol has made for months) that it is foolish to anoint a nomination winner prematurely and that "moderate" or "establishment" or "safe" choices are often less likely to win than are candidates the establishment sees as risky.....

Again, read the rest of it here at CFIF. But IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE, read this remarkable piece by former U.S. Rep. Artur Davis at NRO.

View all comments (15) | Leave a comment

William R| 1.7.12 @ 2:14PM

Hillyer, I can't decide who's a bigger idiot. You or Jeffrey Lord. The idea that Rick Santorum is a Reagan conservative is so absurd that it is laughable. Outside his Catholicism there's really nothing conservative about Santorum. He sees a role for government in just about everything. George Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson spells it out very nicely

Rick Santorum and the return of compassionate conservatism

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....story.html

Hillyer, you're an embarrassment. The once great American Spectator has gone over the cliff with the likes of you.

Clint| 1.7.12 @ 4:05PM

Santorum Is A Big Government Hypocrite Statist.

http://ronpaulflix.com/2012/01.....-betrayal/

The Tea Party Rebellion Is On The East Coast.

Dan| 1.7.12 @ 2:29PM

Good God Quin!

Do you really, REALLY think the former labor lawyer who went all in for Kerry, and every Democrat prior to, the same woman who was hired over at The Washington Post away from Commentary, do you really think that woman is praising Rick Santorum, {with his views about abortion, and recall who Rubin is, RUBIN!} do you really think she's praising Santorum for any other purpose than helping Romney?

Come on here!

She is continuing to attack Gingrich, AS IS THE ROMNEY CAMPAIGN ITSELF AND ITS SURROGATES, for the simple reason they know that Santorum represents no real threat for the nomination, whereas Gingrich does.

Hillyer, you might as well be working for the Romney campaign. You've done him about as much "harm" as Michelle Bachmann.

if you really think

Margie| 1.7.12 @ 2:45PM

Good afternoon, Quin.

Here's another great link for your readers. Did you happen to catch what Rush was saying the other day concerning the whole "Big Gov." and Rick Santorum thing?

It's great stuff, as usual from Rush.

"We don't believe in no government. We never have believed in no government! There has been an attempt for decades to equate conservatism with no government. That's Ron Paul. That's the Libertarians. We're fully aware as conservatives government has a role. It has a central role in many things: Enforcing the law, defending freedom, defending and protecting the Constitution, freedom and liberty; life, liberty, purest of happiness. If government doesn't do it, who will? But that is not to say -- and that certainly is not the case for Santorum to say -- that big government, that we believe in redistribution, high taxes, creating dependence, higher welfare, higher unemployment.
That's not what Santorum believes."

"We conservatives, and this is true of Santorum, believe in a strong government, strong military, strong and just courts, strong law and order. But we don't believe it has to be "big." It does not have to be a leviathan."

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/da.....nservative

martin j smith| 1.7.12 @ 2:46PM

And does her lowness Jennifer Rubin pull apart the Romney ? Really give me a break--The Romney is not a holy man is another loser like John McCain. When the likes of Jennifer Rubin start picking apart Romney a bit let me know then I will pay attention other wise zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

martin j smith| 1.7.12 @ 2:49PM

It is up to Romney to get the support of the Party base and he has not seemed to care about doing this. Many of his supporters of the establishment Republicans fail to grasp that alienating potential voters is very destructive. I can tell them right now I do not like Obama at all but I do not like being pushed around by the Establishment repubs any better--I sincerely hope they grasp that point. I am not alone I am sure.

bill| 1.7.12 @ 2:52PM

Romney will buy NH but lose in SC horribly. He'll be derailed and never will be able to recover, losing FL to Perry.

Dai Alanye| 1.7.12 @ 3:48PM

"Rick Santorum... a long shot, but I did recognize him as someone with far more experience, knowledge and personal integrity than the flavors-of-the-month upon whom most of the mainstream and conservative media were fixated."

Who can argue with that? Love him or hate him, Santorum pulled a genuine upset in Iowa, and deserves huge credit for it. Will he go the rest of the way? Let's consider a quote from George Washington's favorite play.

"Tis not in mortals to command success; but we'll do more, Sempronius, we'll deserve it."

Oldefarte| 1.7.12 @ 4:01PM

Quin, careful you're beginning to skate on thin political ice of sorts with your nor-so-non-partisaned beating the drums for Santorum. If I didn't know better, I'd swear you're a clone of Clint in his never-ending campaigning for Ron Paul, but in your case Rick Santorum. Just try and keep an open mind, so as not to become too disappointed when Pennsylvania Rickster the anti-abortionist crashes and burns, okay?????

Clint| 1.7.12 @ 4:11PM

Big Government Ricky Santorum's Record On Voting For Earmarks, Even The Bridge To Nowhere, His Support For The Lobbyist "K-Street Project" , His Tariff Votes, Medicare Prescription Drugs, No Child Left Behind,Etc. Is Gonna Sink Him With Tea Party Patriots.

Social Conservatives Won't Be Able To Carry Santorum ,The Big Government Statist.

The Tea Party Rebellion Heads To The East Coast.

Zooboy| 1.7.12 @ 8:54PM

Thanks, Mr. Hillyer, for the National Review article that puts the lie to canard that Rick Santorum is a 'big government' guy. He is a courageous, principled leader who has fought consistently for all three legs of the conservative stool. Counter to William Rs opinion, I regard you, Lord, McCain, and Antle as the only reliably conservative regular contributors to this AmSpec site. Too many of today's 'conservatives' fail to realize what the Founding Fathers did: Freedom, and the prosperity resulting from free enterprise, are only possible for a people who are internally controlled by their Judeo-Christian moral principles.

Ward Bond| 1.7.12 @ 9:46PM

Mr. Martin J. Smith, dittos. The Democratic party,media, and Establishment Repubs are trying to pick our candidate.

Silver Bullet| 1.7.12 @ 11:39PM

@WilliamR, Clint, and Oldefarte: There is no conservatism without staunch pro-life bona fides, and Santorum's got it. I don't care what else you three bloggers say about Santorum, but you show me one of the other candidates with his courage in standing up for the unborn, in the face of hostile crowds. Ditto for his upholding traditional marriage, and opposing gay "marriage." Santorum has courage.

And his conviction that economic conservatism begins with upholding the traditional family is spot-on absolutely correct. First principles!! There ain't gonna be any revival of the economy until the Government stops its decades-long assault on marriage and raising children!!

Oh, the irony of your myopic utopia -- you think you're gonna get us to a mythical, agrarian America where the Federal Government is a distant echo of its current self?

You three bloggers keep holding out for a mirage: a Federal Government reduced to its pre-Civil War size, with Ron Paul as President.

Got news for you three: It AIN'T a-gonna happen!! Given the parameters of the debate about Government's proper role in 21st-century America, I'd say that Rick Santorum is a realistic conservative. You guys are living in a fantasy world, just like Ron Paul.

I'll go further: all of you need your heads examined.

Allan| 1.9.12 @ 9:44AM

I have not read Ms. Rubin's articles but it seems incoherent for her to blast Gingrich and then to reprimand those who preach the party platform while but not taking on real world problems and then praising Santorum for a thinking man's campagn. Nobody in these debates has been more specific than Newt. He has very specific plans on handling Iran, illegal aliens and the border, healthcare, tax policy complete with target rates. He knows what he will do when he walks into the oval office; he is the consummate problem solver. She may not agree with his plans but many of us do.