Hello Charles. Who would you suggest are the actual conservatives running in the race? And part b, who would you say are the real conservatives at NR? Just curious; I have no interest in debating our different definitions.
My post was more flippant than expositive, to be sure.
I actually find many of their authors to be reliably conservative on specific issues (different issues for different authors).
Steyn can generally be counted on for either a solid conservative point, or if not, something that would make you think twice about what “conservatism” is.
I tend to agree with Rush on the other question, that Perry, Bachmann, and Santorum are the more ideologically pure and trustworthy conservatives in the race. Gingrich actually has a good conservative record, but that record is very old, and his words since then have not been very comforting to the conservative movement.
Gingrich is a pundit, an elite who makes money giving his opinion, and who has a rash of statements that are scattered across the political spectrum (as well as sometimes being contradictory). He’s sort of a pragmatist intellectual who cares more about results than principle. When his ideas are conservative, he’s great to have on your side. When you send him to take down the ubiquitous Al Gore and he ends up agreeing with the guy, you start pulling your hair out.
Sowell is also pretty conservative, and Mark Krikorian is a somewhat reliable conservative voice on many issues. Mark Levin of course used to contribute more there and was sufficiently conservative. I don’t think Mark has dumped on Gingrich as much as Steyn and Limbaugh, but he also hasn’t been particularly supportive — he seems to be a Bachman guy.
Gingrich to me is the consumate history professor. He was pretty reliably conservative in his younger days, but his intellectualism took him over to the dark side too many times. I actually think he compares to the fictional West Wing character Jeb Bartlett — who was a liberal, but being an “intellectual” would also often stray off the liberal plantation and surprise people with a conservative idea.