http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/nationalreview/ en-us Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:23:02 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2133747/posts Irony . . . The Patriot Room http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2133747/posts#comment Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:23:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2133343/posts In a span of 252 days, the National Review lost two Buckleys — one to death, another to resignation — and an election. Now, thanks to the coarsening effect of the Internet on political discourse, the magazine may have lost something else: its reputation as the cradle for conservative intellectuals and home for erudite and well-mannered debate prized by its founder, the late William F. Buckley Jr. In the general conservative blogosphere and in The Corner, National Review’s popular blog, the tenor of debate — particularly as it related to the fitness of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska to be... New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2133343/posts#comment Mon, 17 Nov 2008 04:51:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2132491/posts By almost any measure, American conservatives should be thoroughly depressed. The Republican Party they support has just lost control of the White House, the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. They are about to lose the Supreme Court, which they never really managed to control. And the Washington punditocracy has declared almost unanimously that they are just starting a long march through the wilderness of opposition. So why are the 700 conservatives here on the National Review Post-Election Cruise enjoying themselves so much? Why do Governor Mitt Romney and Senator Fred Thompson exude such a relaxed confidence? Why is... The Globe and Mail http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2132491/posts#comment Sat, 15 Nov 2008 03:58:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2128602/posts The Death Of An Americam Idea An electorate living high off the entitlement hog. By Mark Steyn ‘Give me liberty or give me death!” “Live free or die!” What's that? Oh, don't mind me. I'm just trying out slogans for the 2012 campaign and seeing which one would get the biggest laughs. My Republican friends are now saying, oh, not to worry, look at the exit polls, this is still a “center-right” country. Americans didn't vote to go left, they voted to go cool. It was a Dancing With The Stars election: Obama's a star and everyone wants to dance... National Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2128602/posts#comment Sun, 9 Nov 2008 07:11:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2128412/posts Marriage Moves Voters Extending constitutional protection to traditional marriage is hardly a narrow partisan affair. By William C. Duncan Beyond their practical effects, the very fact that 30 states have amended their constitutions to protect the definition of marriage in just over a decade is remarkable. This week, Arizona, California, and Florida joined the 27 states with existing marriage amendments. The most interesting campaign was in California where voter approval of Proposition 8 reversed a May decision of the California Supreme Court. That decision had purported to discover a previously unknown mandate to redefine marriage as the union of any... National Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2128412/posts#comment Sat, 8 Nov 2008 03:24:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2127651/posts Marriage Endures By the Editors On Tuesday, by a margin of 52 to 48 percent, voters in California amended their state constitution to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman, as did voters in Florida (62 to 38 percent) and Arizona (56 to 44 percent). Those who argue social conservatism is behind the GOP’s current electoral malaise take note: In Arizona marriage outperformed John McCain by 2 percentage points, in Florida by 14 percentage points, and in California by 15 percentage points. The Arizona win, reversing a defeat for a marriage amendment in that state in... National Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2127651/posts#comment Fri, 7 Nov 2008 06:11:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2127646/posts Winning Proposition Marriage Success. By Jennifer Roback Morse I can hardly believe the campaign for Proposition 8, the California Marriage Amendment, is over and that we won. I will miss the cheerful yellow signs with their happy blue family people on them. Now that it is over, it is worthwhile to reflect on the significance of what the Protect Marriage coalition achieved. The people of California did not do anything rash or drastic here. They simply voted to enshrine the definition of natural marriage as one man and one woman in the state constitution. What does this victory mean? The... National Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2127646/posts#comment Fri, 7 Nov 2008 05:59:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2120851/posts This election does not present Americans with a straight-up choice between conservatism and liberalism. This is not so much because John McCain is a moderate, although he is, as because liberals are likely to have effective majorities in both houses of Congress. Thus the choice we face is, in most respects, between a liberalism that is checked and one that is not. We have reached this point because of the unpopularity of President Bush, the parlous state of the economy, and the enduring weakness of Republican positions on domestic policy. Senator McCain has done little to overcome these obstacles to... National Review Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2120851/posts#comment Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:51:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2116428/posts Barack Obama leads in the national polls and in the Electoral College count. If elected, he can be expected to work manically to exploit the short window of opportunity that greets every new president, a period that could prove especially fruitful for a charismatic young president borne to the White House on a tide of idealism. Some of the items that a President Obama would like to accomplish probably would remain beyond his grasp during the first 100 days of his administration: A radical overhaul of the American health-care system replicating the state-dominated model of France or Canada, for instance,... National Review Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2116428/posts#comment Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:25:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2115012/posts Across the electric wires, the hum is ceaseless: Give it up, loser. Don’t go down with the ship when it’s swept away by the Obama tsunami. According to newspaper reports, polls show that most people believe newspaper reports claiming that most people believe polls showing that most people have read newspaper reports agreeing that polls show he’s going to win. In the words of Publishers’ Clearing House, he may already have won! The battleground states have all turned blue, the reddest of red states are rapidly purpling. Don’t you know, little fool? You never can win. Use your mentality, wake... National Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2115012/posts#comment Sat, 25 Oct 2008 15:55:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2108244/posts I'm with David Frum on this from yesterday: But Obama? McCain’s attack on him is the equivalent of the William McKinley campaign attacking William Jennings Bryan for having kept company with Nathan Bedford Forrest decades after the Civil War. Yes, the old rebel was an unrepentant traitor. Mostly though, he was all washed up. Republicans have been fighting this second American civil war for eleven election cycles now. It’s been a good run! But just as 19th-Century Republicans eventually ran out of Union generals from Ohio, so the modern Republican Party has bumped up against the statute of limitations on... NRO http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2108244/posts#comment Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:20:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2108187/posts Christopher Buckley ’75, co-founder of the Yale Daily News magazine and son of conservative icon William F. Buckley Jr. ’50, resigned Saturday from his position as a columnist at National Review, the influential magazine his father founded five years after graduating from Yale. The younger Buckley offered up his post to National Review editor Rich Lowry after Buckley’s Thursday endorsement of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama in an online news magazine elicited a wave of outrage from National Review readers. “By Friday, I was Judas,” said Buckley in a telephone interview with the News on Tuesday night. “I thought... Yale Daily News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2108187/posts#comment Fri, 17 Oct 2008 18:08:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2107310/posts One thing I liked about the Bush/Gore debates is that it was obvious both men loathed each other and they didn't care who knew it. That liberated them, for good and ill. By contrast, for all the characteristically ponderous huffing from Bob Schieffer about "negative campaigns", McCain was never able to cast aside the Senatorial collegiality and really stick it to Obama. Why couldn't he have used the s-word - "socialism"? Why couldn't he have said that his opponent is a perfectly pleasant fellow but he has an all but blank resume so all we have to go on is... National Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2107310/posts#comment Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:15:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2107140/posts Buckley Resigns From NR Posted on October 14th, 2008 by Daniel McCarthy Christopher Buckley’s endorsement of Barack Obama in the Daily Beast last week has precipitated his departure from the magazine his father founded. (Buckley had been writing a back-page column for NR over the past few months.) Here’s how Buckley tells it: No one has yet suggested my dear old Mum should have aborted me, but it’s pretty darned angry out there in Right Wing Land. One editor at National Review—a friend of 30 years—emailed me that he thought my opinions “cretinous.” One thoughtful correspondent, who feels that I... www.amconmag.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2107140/posts#comment Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:20:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2107091/posts Word From Obi Wan, Another Insider, and a Third Sign for Optimism My mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, checked in, perhaps worried by this post, as a few other readers were. (Folks, I don't like sharing bad news, but what am I supposed to do when I hear it?) Obi Wan was very positive about last night's debate... (go to link for more) National Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2107091/posts#comment Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:25:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2105913/posts Conservatism may be a busted flush south of the border (as the experts assure us), but up north Stephen Harper has survived as Prime Minister and modestly improved his position by some 20 or so seats. He was on course for a Tory majority government until the global financial Armageddon hijacked the news cycle halfway through the campaign. Still, he's an incrementalist and he'll be reasonably satisfied not just with the Conservative gains but also with the vote-splitting among the opposition. After all, one unstated goal of his campaign was to weaken Canadians' assumption that the Liberals are the country's... National Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2105913/posts#comment Wed, 15 Oct 2008 05:38:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2105745/posts A look at the life of William F. Buckley, leader of one of the most successful intellectual movements in American history. William F. Buckley: Right From The Start Fox News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2105745/posts#comment Wed, 15 Oct 2008 01:18:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2105497/posts The son of conservative icon William F. Buckley has parted ways with the magazine his father founded for committing a heretical act by National Review magazine standards: endorsing Barack Obama. In a column today entitled “Sorry, Dad, I was Sacked”on www.TheDailyBeast.com, Christopher Buckley, a well-known author also who wrote the back page column for National Review magazine, writes that the uproar over his endorsement last week of Obama over Republican John McCain prompted so much backlash that he offered his resignation—and the magazine accepted. “This offer was accepted—rather briskly! —by Rich Lowry, NR’s editor, and its publisher, the superb and... Wall Street Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2105497/posts#comment Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:47:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2105510/posts Christopher Buckley, in an exclusive for The Daily Beast, explains why he left The National Review, the magazine his father founded. I seem to have picked an apt title for my Daily Beast column, or blog, or whatever it’s called: “What Fresh Hell.” My last posting (if that’s what it’s called) in which I endorsed Obama, has brought about a very heaping helping of fresh hell. In fact, I think it could accurately be called a tsunami. The mail (as we used to call it in pre-cyber times) at the Beast has been running I’d say at about 7-to-1 in... The Daily Beast http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2105510/posts#comment Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:59:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2103595/posts There has been speculation about this which I've ignored, no doubt because there are enough policy reasons to oppose Barack Obama and I don't want to feed into what sounds, at first blush, like Vince Fosteresque paranoia. But I've finally read Jack Cashill's lengthy analysis in The American Thinker. It is thorough, thoughtful, and alarming — particularly his deconstruction of the text in Obama's memoir and comparison to the themes, sophistication and signature phraseology of Bill Ayers' memoir. There is nothing in Obama's scant paper trail prior to 1995 that would suggest something as stylish and penetrating as, at times,... National Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2103595/posts#comment Sun, 12 Oct 2008 05:42:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2093734/posts It was just two days short of being an October surprise. A historic House vote on the Paulson bailout plan became historic for a reason no one expected: It went down to defeat, and not by a narrow margin. As the Dow plummeted 777 points, Republicans and Democrats took to the microphones to play the blame game, no holds barred. Superficially, both parties are to blame: 133 Republicans and 95 Democrats voted against, large numbers in both caucuses. But a majority of Democrats voted in favor. Republicans said a harshly partisan speech by Nancy Pelosi turned off about a dozen... National Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2093734/posts#comment Tue, 30 Sep 2008 05:51:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2093657/posts A friend from the Hill writes: For the life of me I cannot understand the Corner these days. I keep wondering where the call to “Stand up and Yell Stop” that Mr. Buckley spoke of has gone. I keep reading about the irresponsibility of House Republicans, but how is it irresponsible to stand up and say that you think a bill is bad for America? It is the height of irresponsibility for the Bush administration – and all those doing their bidding – to be screaming “crisis” and scaring the hell out of the American people, holding a shotgun to... National Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2093657/posts#comment Tue, 30 Sep 2008 03:20:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2093573/posts Tennessee Republican Marsha Blackburn was among the conservative Republicans who bucked both parties’ leaders to kill the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 on Monday. She explained her reasoning to National Review Online editor Kathryn Lopez. Kathryn Jean Lopez: Monday morning on Bill Bennett’s radio show, you said you were leaning “no.” What solidified that no? Marsha Blackburn: Hearing from my constituents in the district solidified the “no” vote. We had phone calls and e-mails by the thousands. They did not want a bill that would favor Wall Street over the taxpayer. Lopez: Are you concerned by your vote you... National Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2093573/posts#comment Tue, 30 Sep 2008 01:04:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2090734/posts An Alaska mayor writes to a California newspaper: “Dear Editor,” Palin wrote in 2002. “San Francisco judges forbidding our Pledge of Allegiance? They will take the phrase ‘under God’ away from me when my cold, dead lips can no longer utter those words.” National Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2090734/posts#comment Fri, 26 Sep 2008 01:58:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2089272/posts I dunno about a nine-point lead, Kathryn, but clearly the Obama campaign self-destruct effort managed to stall during Bailout Week. As a general rule, when economic matters are in the news, I would recommend Senator McCain go to Bermuda for a few days and play canasta on the veranda until everything quietens down. Obama and Biden are just as witless on the subject but at least their platitudes and class warfare don't actively depress their base - unlike McCain's nutty improvisations re Andrew Cuomo*. If only we could get back to the heady days when the Democrat-media axis was demanding... National Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2089272/posts#comment Wed, 24 Sep 2008 13:56:22 GMT