YES TO MCCAIN-PALIN '08 FOR AMERICA
SARAH PALIN DRAWING HUGE CROWDS ALL ACROSS AMERICA
http://www.jeffhead.com/joeplumber.htm
Posted on 10/22/2008 8:18:25 AM PDT by publius1
... on the cusp of what some think will be a major Obama victory, we are beginning to see emerge what I will call "me-too conservatives" -- initially among conservative commentators (politicians to follow). I have in mind, among others: Peggy Noonan, David Brooks, Chris Buckley, David Frum and Kathleen Parker.
Of course, they are not quite saying they are giving up conservatism for whatever it is Obama would bring. They are initially focusing on style or, in the newly arrived cliché, temperament -- a term made famous, interestingly, to describe FDR as possessing a second-class intellect but a first-class temperament.
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Peggy [Noonan]'s unconscious fear may be that it will be precisely Sarah Palin (and others like her) who will be among the leaders of the about-to-be-reborn conservative movement. I suspect that the conservative movement we start rebuilding on the ashes of Nov. 4 (even if McCain wins) will have little use for overwritten, over-delicate commentary. The new movement will be plain-spoken and socially networked up from the Interneted streets, suburbs and small towns of America. It certainly will not listen very attentively to those conservatives who idolatrize Obama and collaborate in heralding his arrival. They may call their commentary "honesty." I would call it -- at the minimum -- blindness.
The new conservative movement will be facing a political opponent that will reveal itself soon to be both multiculturalist and Eurosocialist. We will be engaged in a struggle to the political death for the soul of the country... But just as it does in every great cause, one question has to be answered correctly: Whose side are you on, comrade?
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
"Peggy [Noonan]s unconscious fear may be that it will be precisely Sarah Palin (and others like her) who will be among the leaders of the about-to-be-reborn conservative movement. I suspect that the conservative movement we start rebuilding on the ashes of Nov. 4 (even if McCain wins) will have little use for overwritten, over-delicate commentary. The new movement will be plain-spoken and socially networked up from the Interneted streets, suburbs and small towns of America. It certainly will not listen very attentively to those conservatives who idolatrize Obama and collaborate in heralding his arrival. They may call their commentary "honesty." I would call it -- at the minimum -- blindness."
I also love his ending: "Whose side are you on, comrade?"
Could not agree more!
Sign me up with Sarah.
Most of these ‘conservative’ writers have been in DC way to long.
I have never been enamored with Noonan. She is a talented writer but hollow (devoid of substance). I am sure if Reagan told her what to write, she could turn a phrase and he could always deliver. I noted she was fired from the Reagan administration.
George Will said the Reagan sold out conservatives for signing the nuclear accord with the USSR. Like Reagan needed Will to tell him who was conservative. Sarah does need Will to explain conmservativism to her either.
Peronally, I am willing to give Peggy Noonan the benefit of the doubt. She has honest concerns about Palin ... and that’s fine. She’s been a member of the conservative movement for a long time, and is a true believer ... as was WFB (who I disagreed with only on occasion).
Chris Buckley, however, I just don’t get. WFB was a conservative when there was no such word. I fully understand fundamental conservative concerns with McCain ... I have fundamental conservative concerns with McCain.
But — there is a difference between having conservative objections to McCain, and throwing your voice behind a purebred liberal. Regardless of McCain’s weaknesses, there is simply no way in hell WFB would’ve endorsed Barack Obama.
H
bump
BTT!
Time to end the “kennedy wing of the GOP”.
Oh, I hope so!
That quote really disturbs me. I don’t know if it just Biden flappin’ his gums as he has a tendency to do, or if he knows something.
It was pointed out at NRO this morning that virtually all of these pro-Obama ‘conservatives’ are pro-abortion, including Noonan, Buckley, and Parker.
Darned straight. And it shouldn't be seen as a problem -- every movement needs thinkers and "do"ers. Governor Palin is a "do"er -- she represents the hard-working, honest citizen who lives the principles that the conservative intelligentsia have articulated over the years.
One is not a threat to the other. In fact, they complement each other.
Where the "thinkers" mess up is in believing that the movement needs to be headed by the thinkers. That is not only elitism, it is misplaced -- the "do"ers are the ones who need to be in the forefront, because they are the ones who can actually accomplish things. The "thinkers" provide the case for conservatism, and the "do"ers implement it.
It's a case of knowledge versus wisdom. The "thinkers" prize knowledge for its own sake, while the "do"ers have the wisdom, both innate and learned through experience, to apply knowledge.
The fact is, you can "buy" knowledge by surrounding yourself with those who know more. But wisdom is harder-earned, and someone with an elitist mentality will have a hard time accepting wisdom from someone with less knowledge.
I gave up on Peggy Noonan long ago. She was good with Reagan, and she wrote some good things in the clinton years, most notably her piece on the White House prayer breakfast to which Mother Teresa was invited.
But she lost it during the Bush years. In the end, there was plenty to criticize Bush for, but I can’t remember her ever criticizing him for the right reasons.
This latest snit is simply unforgiveable. Sure, there is plenty to criticize McCain for, but you don’t do it a couple of weeks before election day. And you don’t call Obama a cool dude and the better candidate of the two and the person everyone should vote for a couple of weeks before election day.
That is the straw that broke the camel’s back. That is unforgiveable.
While we’re at it, her writing style is kind of blah, blah, talk down to the reader in simplified language, Reader’s Digest make-it-easy Book Club, speak to the masses snobbery.
Noonan isn’t a conservative. Never was.
She was a speechwriter to a conservative. That does not, and never made, her a conservative.
Do you know what Noonan did before signing on with the Reagan administration? She was producer at CBS news for Dan Rather’s radio show. She used to write specials for CBS. She’s been in the journalism field forever. She’s in tight as a tick with the PBS brie and chardonnay crowd.
Noonan is many things, but “conservative” she is not. Republican, maybe, but “conservative” no.
Buckley, Noonan, Parker, et al — they’re all of the Rockafeller Republican brand, like Christy Whitman, et al. Again, they might be Republican, but they’re not conservative. They are elitists and pecksniffs of the highest order, and they see anyone west of the Hudson River as being a rustic boob, someone who is to take orders from their “betters” who “know” how politics is supposed to be done.
>> Buckley, Noonan, Parker, et al — they’re all of the Rockafeller Republican brand,
Perhaps ... though I assume we’re talking about Chris Buckley, and not WFB.
H
Exactly - the Buckley who is posing as a “conservative” while supporting Obama. These are all scribblers of the moment.
WFB didn’t scribble for the moment.
Of course ... just making sure. Never been much of a fan of Chris — but I can’t get on board knocking WFB. I’m not Catholic ... but if I were, I’d be pushing for sainthood.
I read Kathleen Parker’s “Save the Males”, and was impressed ... but I’ve never really followed her political commentary. She’s more useful as a cultural critic than a political commentator.
Most of my reading of Noonan has been through her recaps of the Reagan years. She’s smart, and honestly one of the best writers since Wm Buckley himself. She’s always struck me as conservative — but perhaps somewhat out of touch with middle-America. For that reason, her “political strategy” suggestions (such as who is the best VP nominee) have never been that big a deal to me ... she’s a writer, not a strategist.
For strategy — I like Karl Rove, Mort Kondrake and Dick Morris. Mort and Dick aren’t conservative ... but they’re pretty sharp analysts and good at strategy. Sometimes conservatives — like Fred Barnes or Sean Hannity — get so caught up in cheerleading that their strategy suggestions aren’t particularly effective. Rove, Kondrake and Morris are pretty good at separating their policy opinions from their strategic suggestions and prognostications.
H
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