Republicans are crazy for embracing nutty Roy Moore (#NeverTrump Alert)

NY Post ^ | October 24, 2017 | Jonah Goldberg

[Oshkalaboomboom]

William F. Buckley, the founder of National Review (where I work), once confessed in private, “I wish to hell I could attack them without pleasing people I can’t stand to please.”

By “them” he meant the members of the conspiracy-mongering, anti-Communist, anti-United Nations, anti-civil rights John Birch Society. The people Bill couldn’t stand to please, of course, were liberals.

And yet Buckley did eventually go after the Birchers, at first trying as best he could to denounce their leader, Robert Welch, without alienating the rank and file. Eventually, this needle became impossible to thread, specifically when Welch began insisting that President Dwight Eisenhower was a “dedicated, conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy.”

Buckley and Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater, along with conservative intellectuals such as William Baroody of the American Enterprise Institute (where I am a fellow) and Russell Kirk, convened a meeting at the Breakers Hotel in Florida to address the problem. Buckley would lead the effort of anathematizing Welch, beginning with a six-page editorial excoriating him. Goldwater would follow up with a letter to National Review calling for Welch’s resignation.

This approach was risky. Many Birchers weren’t crackpots. Some were prominent businessmen who had supported both Buckley’s magazine and the movement behind the Goldwater candidacy.

In “A Man and His Presidents: The Political Odyssey of William F. Buckley Jr.,” Alvin Felzenberg recounts one occasion when a major supporter of NR leaned on Buckley to stop criticizing Welch and form a “common front” against the left. When he reminded Buckley of the financial support he’d given the magazine, Buckley responded that the National Review was “not for sale.”

Buckley denounced the Birchers in part because they were undermining the very cause they claimed to be fighting for.

[CivilWarguy]

Jonah Goldberg is one of those National Review “election experts” who told us that Trump would never win, and who refused to vote for him.
Consider this gem, from a column of his 3 days prior to the election:
“The only important thing I’ve been wrong about has been Trump’s chances in the primaries and in the general election.”
which should be rephrased as: “I’ve been wrong about everything that’s important.”
Goldberg and NRO represent what the writer Decius labels “Conservatism, Inc.”—the well-funded Beltway types who proclaim themselves the high priests of “conservatism,” but who in 50 years have failed to conserve anything.
Goldberg’s own words show he shouldn’t be listened to:
July 8, 2015: “Donald Trump has no chance of becoming president.”
July 11, 2015: “He’ll never be president...”
Ooops!
Oct. 23, 2015: “Most of the politically savvy people I know are still confident that Donald Trump will not be the Republican nominee.”
Time to get some new friends, Jonah!
He wasn’t any better in 2016:
April 26th: “Trump will go down to a defeat of Biblical proportions in November.”
May 21 (after going on one of NR’s “cruises” and hobnobbing with the DC elite):
“I still won’t ever vote for Trump.”
He didn’t
Aug. 6th: “I am very skeptical that Trump’s candidacy can be saved.... Trumpism is a radiation leak threatening to destroy the GOP, not just in 2016 but for a generation.”
If I was that hopelessly wrong, that often, I’d be too embarrassed to ever write about politics again.

[PlateOfShrimp]

Sigh.

All of his points might have been worth considering during the primary. I’m all for the Big Tent at that point. But that time is past, and we have a clear choice between someone who may not be perfect (FWIW, I love Moore and wanted him to win) and someone who is horrible. Even if you don’t thing Jones is much worse, anyone with half the IQ of a soapdish should realize that the psychological advantage to the bad guys were they to pick up this seat would be immense.

Jonah needs to STFU, bigtime.

[jmaroneps37]

Oh shut up Jonah you schmuck.

[JacksonCalhoun]

Good book, but as soon as most conservatives figured out that his and his cronies’ theoretical magazine-style conservatism was loser conservatism (and more specifically never going to win in the electoral college), he became completely irrelevant.

[Flavious_Maximus]

Goldberg also fired Ann Coulter from National Review for being to “harsh”.

National Review has gone down the toilet ever since Buckley died.

When Goldberg attacks Roy Moore, he is attacking all Christians. Maybe that is the point.

[poconopundit]

Working for the Never Trumper rag National Review. That’s all you need to know.

[DoodleDawg]

The first meeting between Senator Moore and Senator Baldwin should be interesting.

[Dr. Sivana]

National Review has gone down the toilet ever since Buckley died.

It happened long before then. Here's some covers from the '80s.


COVER STORY
September 6, 1985
Letter from a Friend by "John Woolman", pp. 28-31 A Conservative Speaks Out for Gay Rights

ENTIRE SECTION dedicated to a "civil" back and forth on the slaughter of babies (September 12, 1986)
Pro-Abort side given equal time:

Abortion: A Civilized Exchange
Humanity: The Central Question by Ernest van den Haag , pp. 37-38
Sentience is Not the Issue by John T. Noonan Jr. , p. 39
A Brief Rejoinder by Ernest van den Haag , p. 39
Help!!! , pp. 40-41
Sister Mary Ignatius, Vanessa Redgrave, & Roger Baldwin by Nathan Perlmutter , pp. 42-44

[Dr. Sivana]

Uh oh, think of all the Alabamans who are going to ditch Moore because of an article in a New York newspaper!

[BobL]

“It turns out that Republicans were crazy for ever trusting the GOPe to keep their campaign promises...”

I was thinking about what Flake said yesterday and it all really come down to the above:

Trump was holding the GOP to their campaign promises...nothing more. Now don’t get me wrong, Flake, Murkowski, and every other Republican in Congress would have kept their promises if Hillary won, just as they kept their promises under Obama...they all voted to end Obamacare. But they NEVER intended to keep their promises if a Republican won who actually intended to turn their promises into reality.

[odawg]

First, Goldberg writes this:

“By “them” [Buckley] meant the members of the conspiracy-mongering [John Birchers]”

Then, he writes this:

“Buckley and Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater, along with conservative intellectuals such as William Baroody of the American Enterprise Institute (where I am a fellow) and Russell Kirk, convened a meeting at the Breakers Hotel in Florida to address the problem. Buckley would lead the effort of anathematizing Welch, beginning with a six-page editorial excoriating him. Goldwater would follow up with a letter to National Review calling for Welch’s resignation.”

Is that not a conspiracy?

[Boomer One]

Not Republicans, just fed up voters tired of corruption and malfeasance in Congress.

[Uncle Miltie]

Some respect for the will of the people would properly humble a-holes like Jonah.

[Impy]

Um Jonah, he’s the nominee, are you joining Bill Kristol in endorsing the communist? If so you can FOAD.

[ViLaLuz]

I’d rather have Moore “nutty” than dangerous liberal nutty.