Posted on 12/11/2006 2:51:23 PM PST by vadum
“Look on the bright side,” conservative John Derbyshire declared the morning after the GOP’s November nightmare: “The good ship U.S.S. Compassionate Conservatism just took a torpedo in the magazine.” Derbyshire, irritated by the Bush administration’s spending spree, and equating that with compassionate conservatism, just doesn’t get it. Compassionate conservatism, properly understood, is not a cause of the GOP’s downfall. Instead, it’s the ticket to helping the poor, decentralizing social services, and saving Republicans from their traditional identification as green-eyeshade, mean-spirited, royal-purpled people eaters. Let me explain. One of the effective Democratic ads before November 7 quoted North Carolina basketball coaching legend Dean Smith saying, “I’m a lifelong Baptist and vote for Democrats. One reason? Democrats are serious about alleviating poverty.” Coach Smith was only partly right. Yes, many Democrats have been serious, but they’ve also been ineffective—and how serious are those who repeatedly choose what sounds good over what is good? But Republican failures made Smith’s statement look right to many voters. Republicans paid for their inability, despite Congressional majorities, to move ahead a compassionate conservative agenda. They paid for not advancing alternatives to the failed faith that we measure our concern for the poor by the size of our governmental appropriations, not the content of our character. Not to say that poverty-fighting was a major issue in the late lamentable campaign. Certainly the war in Iraq was #1, although the election was by no means a mandate to give up. (A New York Times/CBS News Poll just before the election showed 55 percent of Americans wanting to send more troops to Iraq, and 62 percent thinking the U.S. will have to stay in Iraq beyond two years.)... FULL ARTICLE AVAILABLE AT http://www.capitalresearch.org/pubs/pdf/CC1206.pdf
(Excerpt) Read more at capitalresearch.org ...
Medical Marijuana - - When ''Compassionate Conservative'' is an oxymoron.
RINO Reform.
95% of Americans were just confused by it. The President was incapable of explaining it. The rest of the party was just embarrassed by it and ignored it.
But then that's a good metaphore for HIS SHOW...
It is whatever you want it to be as it currently has no definition.
I would like it to mean economic policies that are intentionally designed to encourage upward mobility of the poor.
Of course, such economic policies would heavily depend on social policies that strengthen the two parent family and make the role of father and mother both meaningful.
It would also depend heavily on educational policy that makes the parents responsible for choosing their child's school and educational advancement.
A natural corallary is that life must be valued. For a child to develop in a world where he feels valued, he must see that a life like his has intrinsic value and that he is not the result of a procrastinated abortion.
It probably has other corallaries, also. But, so far, compassionate conservative has not been defined this way with any consistency or specificity.
Someone go to wikipedia and see what it says. I find that most wikipedia entries are put there by liberal fans of Noam Chomsky who have a very collectivist connotation to the meaning of words.
compassionate conservative is the rights version of social liberal/fiscal conservative - they both want you/us to pay for their social programs.
A sad ploy to win the Oprah Winfrey vote.
It is a very good thing that it backfired.
....too expensive. It's socialism.
I'm tired of the term "Compassionate conservative". It seems to suggest that there is a special kind of conservative who is copassionate while traditional conservatives aren't.
Conservatives have always been compassionate but we're compassionate where it's justified. The so called "compassionate conservatives" are the ones falling over themselves to call muslims peacefull and wanting open borders so no one calls them racist.
It's a phrase designed to appeal to the "moderates" -- soccer moms. Well, they didn't vote.
Compassionate Conservatism = Socialism, Marx, Karl not Harpo would be proud.
Alive- it's just that the left is so loud and so press dominant that left leaning conservatives get all the press coverage. http://sacredscoop.com
Compassionate conservative banner gives cover to the moderates and Rinos that infest our party like a cancer and at the same time implies that, "Conservative" is not valid, needs watering down, cannot stand alone nor delivers compassion. The phrase alone represents defeat. Bush and the elites grabbed onto this to steer clear but in the end, the moderates will always turn on you.
If this BS isn't dead, expect and even bigger a** kicking in two years.
IMO, "compassionate conservatism" is one of those political shadow terms used to provide cover for a closet liberal. No real conservative could have sat for so long on his "veto" pen while so many lousy bills and excessive budgets crossed his desk.
While Bush was able to start the engine on one of the best economies ever through his tax cuts, and his GWOT Initiative was what was needed to push back against Islamist extremist terrorism, I am hard-pressed to give his administration much above a "C" grade . . . . . . . and that's being exceedingly generous!!
Compassionate conservatism is a joke. No reasonable person should have compassion for revolutionary Islamists, for example. Make them an offer they can't refuse instead.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.