Posted on 02/14/2005 12:31:05 PM PST by EveningStar
The question, in its many variations a staple of Manhattan dinner parties, is invariably posed with bitter bewilderment: "How could anyone with a shred of decency call himself a conservative?" Alas, it is a question the book business has done a singularly poor job of answering. While publishers have fattened their bottom lines offering up red meat to true believers, the steady stream of invective from both left ("Liars!") and right ("Traitors!") has served only to widen the nation's yawning ideological divide.
This is what makes Michael Medved's provocative memoir, "Right Turns: Unconventional Lessons from a Controversial Life," so welcome. There is certainly no question about where Medved stands: he is a leading cultural conservative with a nationally syndicated radio show; his book is blurbed by a who's who of right-wing conspirators (Rush Limbaugh, Laura Schlessinger, Bill Bennett and, yes, Ann Coulter). But its pages are mercifully free of pettiness and bile. To the contrary, what we get is precisely what many who find his ideas objectionable profess to seek: an explanation of how a complex and decent man -- a proudly Jewish, former liberal activist yet! -- came to embrace them.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Well, how would you answer the question? Many on FR stupidly think that herding illegals into buses and taking them back over the border would be just dandy.
It's not realistic.
A back-handed slap at conservatives and Republicans. Those awful tomes from e-ville, USA, that he imagines were all titled 'traitor', were written by authors like Ann Coulter, John O'Neill, Buzz Patterson, and many others, all top-ranked best-sellers because reasonable people found what they wrote to be honest, timely and interesting.
You mean his religious parents did not like the fact he was dating a non-Jew. Very common of that generation. My parents did not go to my Brother's wedding when he married out of the faith. Do I think it was right. It doesn't matter. They did.
I'm gald you put that in quotes.
Let me qualify what I said; I never met a Christian who said a person was going to hell because of their Judaic beliefs, or for any other reason than evil behaviour.
As for the other forums, I don't want to get into one of these endless arguments. Meet other good people in generosity and love. God knows his own.
He read some chapters that he excluded from the book, over the air for three hours one day. BOOOORRRRRRING!!!!!
And like so mnay talk show hosts, though MEDVED's more subtle, he thinks a bit too highly of himself.
Not directed at you, but litmus tests on who is conservative aren't usually helpful. For that matter, no doubt I am not a conservative to you. However, in my opinion, Medved "gets" a lot of cultural things which make him a great spokesman for conservative thinking.
Quite simply, the same way the question of lawbreakers is always answered, enforce the law.
If you need specifics, fine employers who hire illegals (the laws already exist).
The fine would more than pay for any extra agents needed. Word would spread quickly to both illegal aliens and employers.
No jobs for illegals, no illegals - they'll find their way home.
It really is that simple.
Increased costs of some goods and services will more than be covered by *decreased* social service costs.
Americans MAKE money on the deal.
Trying to drum up some excitement, over the loudspeaker the staff announced to their patrons that they would have a "local author" signing books.
Annoyed, Medved rushed over, clarifying that he was NOT a "local author".
Must have been nice that those folks got Medved's vote of approval for their home, don't you think?
Harry Stein wrote a funny book not too long ago: How I Accidentally Joined the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy : (and Found Inner Peace) .
LOL! NOT surprising. Good story.
How did he disapprove of their home, if he just corrected an error?
Or was he from the area, and tried to hide it?
We're probably much more in agreement than not.
You make a good point.
Maybe so, but it's not proper to go around making that clear to folks, especially if they live there...
There are a couple of places in the US where people are prone to this; LA, Manhattan, Aspen, and Seattle. In fairness, I'm actually from one of those places. Those places have plenty of great people, but some of them aren't quite as reluctant as they should be about going around advertising how GREAT their home is...
I mean, let's say someone mistakes you for a local. Hey, just say thanks, I say...
Stein's book is amusing....although around here he'd be called a RINO. He and Medved both started from the same place politically, which is how you get a rational review about a right of center book from the NY Slimes.
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