-
A Long Record of Obamite Thuggery
May 16, 2013 | 3 comments
-
DeMint Supports Defense
May 14, 2013 | 5 comments
-
Update on Tom Perez
May 14, 2013 | 0 comments
-
Tiger Woods Sinks Lower
May 12, 2013 | 20 comments
-
I Ask Anurima Bhargava for a Date
May 10, 2013 | 8 comments
The Spectacle Blog
On the other hand, I was way wrong about Jennifer Rubin. Here’s what she wrote earlier today about Rick Santorum:
He sounds increasingly cut off from reality, which is very possible, given that he operates with a tiny circle of longtime pals who seems never to present bad news or words of warning to their flagging candidate.
If she wants somebody cut off from reality, I have a mirror for her.
View all comments (42) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Quin Hillyer
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/03/13/i-was-wrong-on-jennifer-rubin
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
jeff | 3.13.12 @ 11:08PM
Gingrich should bow out now, given that his greatest strength is in the southern states. He has now lost 4 of 6 to Santorum in the south. It must be Romney vs ONE conservative before the delegate count becomes impossible to surmount. Especially before the winner-take -all states.
Vern Crisler| 3.14.12 @ 10:27AM
Newt needs to stay in. Santorum needs to bow out.
Beverly Scott| 3.14.12 @ 2:24PM
I would NEVER vote for a man who cheated in 2 of his marriages. A man that cheats on his wife would lie to the American people. I do not trust him.
John - TMF| 3.13.12 @ 11:12PM
The Establishment Spin Cycle will start here within a few minutes.
The probable win in Hawaii for Romney will be the triumph of the evening. The reality is full on panic raining down on the Romney campaign, however.
I figure that Santorum will pick up Louisiana, probably Texas and North Carolina, too.
If Newt will take a note from the Apostle Peter, and realize that he has taken the movement as far as it can go with him, Paul in the guise of a coal miner's grandson from western Pennsylvania should be sent out, and Peter in the guise of Gingrich... take a supporting role.
The crushing reality for Romney is that he cannot crack the 30% barrier in non-New England and non-LDS heavy states... (just a hair over in Mississippi, and only 28% in Alabama). Santorum and Gingrich combined for over 2/3rds in both state contests.
If Newt has the courage to do the right thing and suspend his campaign and pledge to support Santorum, Romney is toast. That takes serious pride swallowing courage, and I don't know if Newt's conversion was that comprehensive just yet.
The fat lady isn't even in her dressing room yet.
r/John - TMF
dadfly| 3.13.12 @ 11:27PM
i think projected wins in mississippi and alabama show that mr. santorum has taken defacto leadership of the conservative movement.
the moderate ms. rubin has just been marginalized.
Redatheart| 3.14.12 @ 5:55AM
I think that's the 'moderate, angry feminist ms. rubin'. She and the moderate ms. Ann Coulter will have much to chew over today during lunch.
Mike 3/505| 3.13.12 @ 11:36PM
I would happily endorse Newt bowing out if either Romney or Santorum could articulate something, some message that I could get excited about. What is the vision? What's the plan to get there?
Gingrich does that every single day...on things that matter.
John - TMF| 3.13.12 @ 11:46PM
Then he should shake hands with Santorum, step aside, and be Santorum's idea's guy.
Rick Santorum is obviously connecting with enough people to net him far more wins than Newt.
Gingrich knows the symbolism of Maundy Thursday. Time for him to revisit his journey and lead by sacrifice and support.
r/TMF
Nancy in NC| 3.14.12 @ 7:48AM
The girth of Newt and the girth of his ego prohibits reason. Newt is destroying our chances to take out Obama in the fall...does he even care?
Beverly Scott| 3.14.12 @ 2:28PM
I honestly don't think he does Nancy....His ego is way to big.
Judy Hopson | 3.16.12 @ 2:45PM
Santorum needs an idea guy? If he can't articulate his own ideas clearly then he is not ready to be the president. You presume that all Gingrich votes will go to Santorum. Mr. Romney has the best chance to be defeat Obama. The economy is the overriding issue. Period.
Clint| 3.13.12 @ 11:42PM
Big Government Statist Ricky Specter-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.
Ricky Specter-Santorum Is Our Useful Dupe To a Brokered Convention.
The Tea Party Rebellion Heads To A Brokered Convention.
Dai Alanye | 3.14.12 @ 2:51AM
America's most ineffective Congressman blasts through to a 5% finish once again.
ayrnieu| 3.14.12 @ 3:45AM
Q. When rabid antiPaulites ever update their figures to reflect his 2012 gains?
A. Only when they're back in the Democrat party, when 'smearing' the Republican party by exaggerating his influence.
WL| 3.13.12 @ 11:43PM
I'm glad you have seen the light on Ms. Rubin.
If only you folks would see things a little faster, it would put some extra excitement in all of us. If you will note this as one of many occasion in a long line of events that are a long trend (not with you...just in general)
All of us see things quickly on the ground, then try and convince the writers and "thinkers" all the while pushing through the lambasting arrogance...in the end...Only to realize that "the crease" in "Obama's pant leg"...didn't make him a good president after all...
That's why it's hard for conservative individuals not to believe that our leaders, political commentators, and agenda drivers aren't just the good cop in a good cop bad cop game...and slow playing us.
I applaud your coming to the truth, but please take a moment and see what we see on this...
Because the next time us Comment Hawks get ou mad enough to BLAST off on poor old (now vindicated) Jeffrey Lord...and call him names...
Take a moment, and think...
"They may be right!"
mjs_pa| 3.13.12 @ 11:56PM
Funny how quiet rubin was on twitter tonight!
ayrnieu| 3.14.12 @ 3:41AM
Oh snap! You go girl! That ho' done got -- wait, where am I again? Is this the Spectator?
ejp| 3.14.12 @ 3:59AM
Jennifer Rubin = David Brooks in a dress. A so-called "conservative" who in order to get cushy job as token "conservative" for an elite media publication gleefully toes a conservative bashing line.
Teflon93| 3.14.12 @ 7:44AM
I was wondering when Quin'd make this acknowledgement given how Dan Riehl had nailed her dead to rights.
AmSpecBlog commenters were on to Rubin's phony embrace of Santorum (when he was safely in single digits) to defend herself against the observation that she was in the tank for Romney; we were absolutely correct.
Quin, you might want to keep that in mind for the future since you do have a blind spot when it comes to Establishment types. We need you on side.
Nancy in NC| 3.14.12 @ 7:46AM
Newt not dropping out of the race shows exactly what Newt's problem is...he's for Newt, not for the USA. Just like when he backed Dede S. in NY state against a real conservative, Newt shows he's a company man, a GOP insider, about as conservative as my needy pup, and only padding his own pocket and future. He knows he can't win but his ego won't let him quit. A pox on him.
Derek Leaberry| 3.14.12 @ 1:22PM
Gingrich is a supreme narcissist. He wants to arrive in Tampa with 250-300 delegates and jump to center stage with dear Calista, America's very own Kabuki girl. Gingrich will ham it up for all he can get.
Derek Leaberry| 3.14.12 @ 8:59AM
Like most neo-conservatives, Rubin has liberal antecedents. FDR, Truman, Stevenson, Kennedy, Humphrey, King and even Wilson and Debs are part of their heroic past. That's why neo-conservatives make poor conservatives.
martin j smith| 3.14.12 @ 9:54AM
You are right Hillyer. Jennifer Rubin is of the Washington Elite like David Brooks. They have absolutely no clue. Ignore Rubin and Brooks.
Vern Crisler| 3.14.12 @ 10:26AM
Here's what I said about Rubin. I don't have to backtrack on any of it:
She's pro-Santorum up to a point, but mainly she uses him as a tool to criticize Newt or Perry, while saying nice things about Romney along the way.
I'm violating my rule about keeping it short, but I think it's necessary to be a little longer in this post.
Quin cited this article of Rubin's to prove she wasn't in the tank for Romney. It said in part, "Romney, for some Republicans [Rubin, actually], is the most mature and viable contender to go up against President Obama. But he makes himself unpalatable to the base [us] and to even more moderate voters [like her] by playing it too cute by half. In other words, he leaves open a spot in the race for a bold, reasoned and constructive Republican reformer [Santorum?]."
This is friendly criticism from a supporter of Romney, not snarky criticism. It's like Newt's criticism of Reagan, a friend badgering a friend to do the right thing.
The next article is supposed to show she supported Santorum. However, she uses Santorum as a way to criticize conservatives like Perry, and to make herself out to be oh-so-reasonable compared to those "talk-show" type conservatives:
"And while he remains a long shot to win the race, he actually has something to teach the party, the conservative punditocracy and his competitors about how a conservative can make progress and not simply mouth talk-show rhetoric. It’s not every candidate who has something to say that is worth listening to."
In Rubin's world, one is only worth listening to if one criticizes conservatism. Real conservatives like Newt and Perry need not apply. She is only praising Santorum because he is a "long shot" and she doesn't have to worry about his actually winning. If he ever came close, she'd be talking about his "hard corners" or "hard right" positions.
The next article praised Santorum, but then ended with Romney boosting:
"As for Romney, he showed a bit more verve, but he’s not, in contrast to 2008, trying to be someone he’s not. He’s the business guy. He’s the middle-of-the-road Republican. He’s the responsible internationalist. It’s not all that thrilling, but it may just be the best the GOP can do this time around."
In another article, notice how Rubin contemptuously dismisses conservatives as the "hard right":
"The hard right had every chance to select a more principled and ethical conservative. But Rick Santorum simply wouldn’t do, you see. The hard right, or at least the screechiest faction of it, doesn’t really want a viable, consistent conservative. Lacking the ideal conservative (who doesn’t exist anyway) they’d rather have a standardbearer as angry and vitriolic as they are, who will surely crash and burn, leaving them to grouse about the GOP “establishment” and the “socialist” president."
You see why she prefers moderate Mitt? Because in her angry and vitriolic way, she is telling us she doesn't really like conservatives, too "angry" and "vitriolic" for her. That's why we regard her as part of the old, dead Republican establishment. She, like Peggy Noonan, has sold her political soul in order to impress her liberal friends in Washington.
These Establishment Republicans and socialist wannabees, by trashing Newt and pushing that snake Romney, have virtually guaranteed Obama's reelection.
Teflon93| 3.14.12 @ 10:33AM
Amen, Vern!
Conservatives pick up on these tells from pundits because we're used to having to consume the Left Wing Media in this fashion. Sad that we have to do so for allegedly conservative pundits too but let's face it---there is a huge portion of the conservative commentariat which is comprised of Manchurian candidates like Jennifer Rubin.
Anyone who was fooled by Rubin---and Quin was certainly fooled by her---needs to calibrate their ideological antennae before the blind spots cause them real harm.
There's no reason for friction between conservatives and AmSpec contributors---we are supposed to be on the same side. When the pundits embrace the Ruling Class and the GOP Establishment, it is they who have gone astray, not we..
Vern Crisler| 3.14.12 @ 10:44AM
It would be nice if we could all get along, but I'm beginning to strongly dislike AmSpec (and NR) commentators. They are beginning to sound like conservatives in name only, or sunshine conservatives -- i.e., people who spout conservatism in good times, but drop it when the going gets tough.
Teflon93| 3.14.12 @ 11:47AM
At times like this we find out who people really are.
With the economy in the tank, the Republic on the precipice of a Greece-magnitude debt disaster, with two wars ignominiously collapsing post-victory, with a dedicated Marxist in office practicing all manner of corruption---if we don't support a conservative nominee NOW, when will we ever do so?
The RINO narrative was utterly discredited just 4 years ago when the ideal RINO candidate---a legitimate war hero beloved by the Left Wing Media and the D.C. Ruling Class--- got whipped by an inexperienced Chicago machine politician with 2 years in the Senate behind him.
Our so-called conservative punditocracy had a choice---support the lame RINO Establishment which had only returned to power in 2010 thanks to the Tea Party insurgency, or support the conservative grassroots which are ever ascendant.
Many of these clowns at NR and even here at AmSpec made the wrong choice.
We're keeping score and they'll pay for their embrace of the Ruling Class in lost audience and diminished influence. They can now go the Road of David (Frum, Brock, Brooks) and embrace perpetual irrelevance or issue mea culpas and get back on the right side of history.
Whitney| 3.14.12 @ 11:07AM
That's not funny or necessary Quin. People are entitled to their opinions.
Teflon93| 3.14.12 @ 11:49AM
They are not entitled, however, to defraud their readers by claiming to be conservatives when they are in fact unreformed Berkeley liberals, as Rubin is.
MyGirlFriday| 3.14.12 @ 12:20PM
Rubin just described Obama.
Oldefarte| 3.14.12 @ 1:21PM
Incredably the votes are speaking [Forrest Gump style] for Santorum. If the Republican Party nominates him, I see four more years of an Obama presidency [and this country going bankrupt in two]!!!!!!
Teflon93| 3.14.12 @ 2:27PM
RINOs will stay home if Santorum is the nominee, but conservatives will stay home if Romney is. There being far more conservatives than RINOs, I'm fine with that trade.
Oldefarte| 3.14.12 @ 4:51PM
No you're absolutely wrong! Republicans of whatever stripe are hard working, church attending, honorable, tax paying, military serving Americans AND WILL NEVER STAY HOME. They [and I am among them] will VOTE FOR WHOEVER IS THE EVENTUAL REPUBLICAN CHOICE over the alternative Democrats. You're implication of any Republican STAYING HOME is an absuridity and ludicrously stupid. This election will determine the survivability of this nation, and all Republicans understand that. I do not favor Santorum but will vote FOR him if/when he becomes the nominee. Take your '''''RINO'''' crap and shove it!!!!!!
Oldefarte| 3.14.12 @ 4:54PM
PS: the only ones who STAY HOME on election day are DEMOCRATS who either can't read a ballot, don't get paid enough to vote for their labor union bosses' choices, or don't need the dispensed cigarettes and booz handed out by their Democratic handlers!!!!!
Teflon93| 3.14.12 @ 5:48PM
Or are sick to death of you RINOs running the latest flavor of the same thing Americans don't want.
We need a conservative president, not a liberal with a (-R) after his name.
I held my nose and voted for your damned RINO last time.
Your turn to hold your nose and vote for a conservative. I gave at the office.
Oldefarte| 3.15.12 @ 3:52PM
I will vote for whomever the Republican Party nominates, just as I always have for 40 GD years, unlike some morons in this nation who get brainwashed-Lewinskyed by the I FEEL YO PAIN and YES WE CAN bullexcrement STUPIDLY. "My RINO".....how was McCain MY ANYTHING? He was the Party's choice, not necessarily my preference [or do you have the Carnac ability to interpret my thoughts?]. To correct your stupidity perhaps, I preferred Rudy G., not McCain. Oh and FYI, a McCain presidency [even though not to most of our particular-individual likings] today would not witness the socialistic BS that your[maybe] H&C is strangling this country with currently [and anyone claiming otherwise is simply thinking STUPIDLY]. As to your '...Your turn to hold your nose and vote for a conservative...' I'll vote for your Rickster the Super Catholic/Conservative if/when he becomes the nominee, but mark my words that he'll be defeated by Obama/Democrats easily if he becomes the nominee [read the current polling indicating a Romney defeat of Obama as opposed to the Rickster loss]. Your apparent ignorant wish is for YOUR 'CONSERVATIVE' CHOICE to get the nomination even if that results in a DEFEAT OF SAME BY OBAMA [when in fact surveys indicate that the most important criteria from exit polling in Mississippi and Alabama are that Obama be defeated], so I'd suggest you possibly do an intelligent attitude adjustment of sorts!!!!!!!
Oldefarte| 3.15.12 @ 3:57PM
PS Genius: You may wish to consult Dick Armey [tea party leader and ultra conservative] who indicated that the most important election element was a Republican takeover of the Senate and thereafter a House & Senate manipulation of a moderate Republican president or if necessary a boxed in President Obama!!!!!
Teflon93| 3.14.12 @ 5:47PM
Then vote for Santorum and unite the party.
Oldefarte| 3.15.12 @ 3:59PM
A much more intelligent choice would have been to vote for a true conservative Newt and UNITE THE PARTY [but that's too late now since it's between the Rickster and Romney], indicating the genius of Forrest Gump's declaration on STUPIDITY!!!!!!!!!
PCP Smoker| 3.14.12 @ 9:41PM
Shit from a shithead called Quinn, "One of Lord's obsessions these days seems to be the idea that Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post, and formerly of this publication, is "in the tank" for Mitt Romney (oh, really? How about this, Jeff?) and that she has written almost nothing in favor of any real conservative."
Imagine throwing your credibility for an ugly RINO like Jennifer Rubin? Quinn, I have a loaded Glock 23, if you want to use it.
Oldefarte| 3.15.12 @ 4:05PM
'.....PCP Smoker| 3.14.12 @ 9:41PM
Shit from a shithead called Quinn....' SHAZAM, Forrest was absolutely correct.....STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES [or says in this case]. It's QUIN dumbars, not QUINN!!!!!!!!!
Who Knows| 3.16.12 @ 11:16AM
Jennifer Rubin is NO David Brooks.
She epitomizes the Bill Buckley core idea---vote for the most electable conservative. IMHO, her writings reflect very clear analysis of the current situation, as a well-trained lawyer would lay out her case for her client.
Her client?
Electable conservatives, NOT the fringe types, like Ron Paul!
You should be ashamed of yourself, Quin, for not recognizing what a national treasure Ms. Rubin is.