Cronies Here and There

www.nationalreview.com ^ | October 12, 2005 | Jonah Goldberg

[indcons]

OK....at least he didn't quote his mother ;)

Interesting article nevertheless.

[MNJohnnie]

Sorry still not selling me on their war on Harriet. Still waiting to hear SOMEONE tell me why she is a bad pick. Apparently it boils down to "Whaa, she is NOT who we want". Well guess what. I looked at the US Constitution. Do not see where anyone has any obligation to "sell" the self appointed gate keepers of the Conservative Movement on the President's Choice. It would appear that NRO and others have made the fatal mistake of assuming they made the base. As a loyal follower of National Review for 25 years, I can assure you that is NOT the case. When they lose me, THEY HAVE LOST THEIR BASE. What the boys and girls at NRO do not seem to understand is this works the other way around. The BASE made the Conservative Pundits. Still waiting to hear why I should trust THEM over Bush.

[Rokke]

Cronyism, Gravitas...they are all buzzwords the inside the Beltway talking faces feed to each other and then disseminate out to people who still care about pundits' opinions. Then they get repeated over and over again by people who sometimes don't really even know what they mean.

[indcons]

Ping

[Rokke]

"When they lose me, THEY HAVE LOST THEIR BASE. What the boys and girls at NRO do not seem to understand is this works the other way around. The BASE made the Conservative Pundits. Still waiting to hear why I should trust THEM over Bush."

You and me both.

[indcons]

To be fair, the conservative base made Pres. Bush what he is right now. Looks like he has forgotten it unfortunately.

[A.Hun]

Bookmark

[Rokke]

"To be fair, the conservative base made Pres. Bush what he is right now. Looks like he has forgotten it unfortunately."

Although I consider myself to be a member of the conservative base, I disagree with that statement. Republicans (which I also consider myself to be) made Bush what he is right now. If someone will identify exactly who the "conservative base" is, the statement might hold a little more water. But right now, I think such statements are similar to words like "gravitas" and "cronyism". Someone said it on cable news and everyone else just repeats it.

[rvoitier]

Also, this business about Laura Bush calling the 'critics,' ie Conservatives sexist is an insult. Not only does it show she and her husband are not Conservatives, it shows they know nothing about Conservatives.

[A.Hun]

I checked the links you gave me yesterday. They didn't match your rhetoric.

I appreciate you supplying them nonetheless.

[A.Hun]

You should watch the clip again. She answered a question.

You might want to lay off Laura.

[Rokke]

"Also, this business about Laura Bush calling the 'critics,' ie Conservatives sexist is an insult. Not only does it show she and her husband are not Conservatives, it shows they know nothing about Conservatives."

It also shows you didn't read the whole transcript of what she said and would rather rely on MSM media reporting to define your opinions.

[Pessimist]

The cony-ism thing cuts both ways. Both side do it - always have, always will.

Its unusual to take it to the level of SCOTUS nominees though.

The only one I can think of was Abe Fortas, and we know how that turned out.

[RJL]

Washington is suddenly hung up on cronyism.

This is easily fixed.

We had a similar problem here in Minnesota when Republican Gov Arne Carlson appointed his (very well qualified by all accounts) sister in-law to a judgeship. All of a sudden it was as if the heavens parted and God personally spoke to the journalists regarding the pure evil of nepotism and how it must be stopped right now.

This went on for about two days. Gov Carlson solved it with one simple sentence; paraphrasing from memory here “Fine, but let’s make it retro-active”.

The liberal Democrats had pretty much run Minnesota for 25 years at the time, so as soon as those words were uttered, the whole storm on nepotism died. The anti-nepotism story that had so engrossed the liberal media non stop died so fast, it was as if the story never existed. In fact, I believe this incident has been used to support Einstein’s theory of relativity and time travel…

I’m sure it would work here with “cronyism” too. President Bush, please tell them “Fine, no cronyism, but let’s make it retro-active”.

[rvoitier]

Excuse me, how can a video of Mrs. Bush saying the critics are sexist, whether it's from MSM or Mars, make any difference as the basis which I form my opinion on? She said it!

You're too sensitive about this issue.

[indcons]

Well said....I agree with all statements you make in your posting.

[Rokke]

"She said it! You're too sensitive about this issue."

Not really. I just take issue with people who have to lie to try to make a point. People like you.

[scratcher]

"Also, this business about Laura Bush calling the 'critics,' ie Conservatives sexist is an insult."

She didn't say that.

When asked if it was possible that some of the critics comments are sexist. She said yes it is possible.

She told the truth some are (probably now many but some are)

[verity]

Superb analysis.

[ez]

By all means, Bush should have picked a non-crony like David Souter, Anthony Kennedy, or Sandra Day O'Connor. That's the way to guarantee a conservative voting record, by gosh.