Do they take their proper place under the bus?

Sniping at Graham because he fuddled his illegal alien thingie…well, it turns off that growing number of Conservative young men and women.

Do it for the children!

Do agree though that principle must override personality. Most especially when the opposition is in essence a cult of personality.

JetBoy on August 4, 2008 at 6:40 AM

Morning JB. What I am saying is that the root of dislike for Graham is not because he disagrees on immigration policy with the base. It is that he will slander the base.

That means anything he says (not action, says) is essentially worthless. That’s why he should apologize, not because people are angry with him, because if he never acknowledges his slander, then he does not deserved to be believed in any argument/debate. Conservatives are used to winning in the market place of ideas, but that is not possible without credibility.

If you should, perhaps, argue that I overstate the case, I will provide this as an example. The strategy of the Democrats in 2006 was to paint the Rep party as corrupt and hypocritical. Think of the damage taken with Duke, Vitter, Craig. “You cannot believe what they say, they don’t live it themselves” etc. Result decreased numbers vote = loss. It is an issue that matters for conservatives, and that is why Graham is disliked. It is also why he should acknowledge that. Until that time, he is just another guy who will say anything, slander whomever to progress his personal desires. Sometimes he’ll be right, sometimes he’ll be wrong, but he won’t be worth taking seriously.

The one issue, it appears, with which people want to toss him into the trash bin has to do with illegal aliens. So, unless a Conservative is 100% in line with “your” views, he is no Conservative? This is the sort of thinking that has perverted the Party. Do we really want to imposes some sort of ideologically pure litmus tests on every member of the Party? Who sets that bar? Who defines that litmus test?

One has to be 100% in line with what “you” want. 95% isn’t good enough? 90% isn’t good enough? Seems rather Stalinist, to me, especially when what that 100% or 95% or 90% is based on some moving scale, depending on who said what, and to whom, and when?

This is going to sound like heresy to my Conservative brethren, but here goes, anyway…

Before 2012, the GOP had better take a look at discarding most of the Reagan Era as the mantra of the Party.

Seriously.

I live in a college town, the only real “industry” we have around here. The Campus Republican organization is fairly large (there is hope, folks, there is hope…) but in conversations with these young men and women, when some Party elder or old old grey dog like myself starts talking about Reagan this and Reagan that, the reactions are startling. Who’s Reagan? They’re are right. The Cold War to them is as distant as the Depression was to my generation.

These young men and women weren’t alive during the Reagan years. So harking back to Reagan each and every time to make a point, it is fine for us who lived through the Reagan years, but there is a lot more youth than there is of us…

They can identify with the fundamentals of Conservtism. They can understand federalism. They can understand free markets. They can understand fiscal responsibility. They can also see what happens when one is slavishly bound to a personality-cult dogma, a la Goracle, or Obama.

Yes, Reagan was my favorite President of all time. I liked the guy. When he walked into a room, there was just something about him that evoked a lot of deep personal reactions, and inspired confidence. We beleived we were embarked on a great Crusade to restore and remake America…and we did. When he stopped to talk to us underlings, he was sincere. We knew this because a lot of times we got simple written notes (with a felt tip penned “RR” in the bottom right corner) asking a question or two, handed to us by the higher ups, being told get on this you sparked an idea. Have it ready before close of buisness. So, yes, Reagan actually listened. And he did a lot of good for us, all of us, as a Nation along the way.

But, face it. I was a young kid guy back then. I’m not so young today. And in talking to young men and women who are seeking that connection between their understanding of the fundamentals of Conservatism and Federalism, something they have a very good grasp of, by the way, they are not looking for a personality to follow, they are looking for principles to follow…and leadership who apply those same principles in each and every decision they make.

Want to get these young men and women to build a Conservative vibrant America? Listen to them. And send them a note once in a while with a follow-up question now and then.

Sniping at Graham because he fuddled his illegal alien thingie…well, it turns off that growing number of Conservative young men and women. Makes us look like the Dems, who will eat their young if they don’t follow 100% all of the time. When they see or hear of people willing to stay home in November because their favorite in the Priamry isn’t on the ticket…it has a negative effect on a lot of folks, and their attitudes about the GOP, about us older guys, about our willingness to become petty, to start looking like nothing but politicians instead of principled men and women.

Which brings us to something sort of vital in all of this.

The Dems and the Left stand for everything…except Conservatism, of course. And when you stand for everything, as one young man told me recently, you stand for nothing.

Let’s quietly, in a dignified way, put Reagan to rest. In his place let’s set about defining clearly Principles of Conservatism and Federalism. Let’s show these young men and women, and the rest of America, Conservative principles that are not dependent on one singular personality in order to be defined, but our Principles are self-evident…that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable Rights…and let’s define these Rights, clearly…and help define our Constitution clearly.

And when one of our own decides that being elected means he or she can rob the federal coffers, in a manner of Dennis Hastert…let’s nail the SOB to the wall…fast. We are better than that. And these young men and women can see clearly that if we say one thing and do something else entirely…then we are no better than the Dems.

Stick to the Basics. Make the Basics stick.

Have seen way too many recently willing to toss the GOP into the trash simply because their candidate didn’t make the cut. Would we want the Paulistas running the show? Fred! stuck to the basics. How much better it would have been if Fred! and Gingrich had teamed up and led our youth to look at the Principles…not the personalities.

Just thought I’d toss that out there amidst all the sniping and counter-sniping about Graham. This is the stuff that has led us to where we are today, a Party based on personality, not on principles.

We ignore those Principles, and our youth, at our own peril.

It’s not his positions. It’s manner of deliberately marginalizing those who oppose him on principle by the use of slander. That is not a position or honest disagreement, that is the worst of the worst type of political action. It is the equivalent of someone saying if you don’t vote Obama you are a racist. Graham slanders people who honestly disagree.

It is not a policy issue. People disagree agreeable over policy all the time. Graham went to the lowest possible denominator and attributed the lowest possible motivation. He should apologize for that.

Spirit of 1776 on August 4, 2008 at 1:49 AM

There’s a few people in this thread who seem to say the same. So, you’re saying that you don’t like Graham soley based on one comment?

It’s not like it’s Graham’s “macaca” moment…or maybe it is to some people. Either way, it does relate directly to the issue of immigration reform.

at 2204 hours the Queen of Hearts ( MB4 ) became self-aware

Janos Hunyadi on August 4, 2008 at 1:46 AM

Oh I became self aware quite some time ago as my comment reflected.

Queen of Hearts? Is that some kind of grammar school code?

This goes to show that you type much and read little if you think that was an insult to him.

- The Cat

P.S. The way you phrased it. . . well read what you typed again. I giggle at thee.

MirCat on August 4, 2008 at 1:49 AM

If you are referring to a sticky keyboard – “I[t] would seem like to you it must mean something very different”, as your big “Gotcha”, then I “giggle” at you if that’s the best you can come up with, which it apparently is.

I actually noticed that right after I commented, thought about putting in a correction, but then figured that no one could be desperate enough to think of using that in a comment, particularly thinking that it was a big “Gotcha” for them. Guess I was mistaken on that.

MB4 on August 3, 2008 at 11:40 PM

This goes to show that you type much and read little if you think that was an insult to him.

- The Cat

P.S. The way you phrased it. . . well read what you typed again. I giggle at thee.

Why is there so much Graham-hate? Sometimes I wonder about my fellow conservatives…

I thought Graham did a bang-up job this morning. Tells it like it is.

JetBoy on August 3, 2008 at 8:23 PM

It’s all because of his immigration politics. I wish more Republicans would line up with Bush, McCain, and Graham on the issue. Hispanics should be Republican voters and we’re blowing it.

BryanS on August 3, 2008 at 8:26 PM

No, no, no, no, no.

It’s not his positions. It’s manner of deliberately marginalizing those who oppose him on principle by the use of slander. That is not a position or honest disagreement, that is the worst of the worst type of political action. It is the equivalent of someone saying if you don’t vote Obama you are a racist. Graham slanders people who honestly disagree.

It is not a policy issue. People disagree agreeable over policy all the time. Graham went to the lowest possible denominator and attributed the lowest possible motivation. He should apologize for that.

BTW, I don’t get ill. I make others ill or haven’t you noticed?

MB4 on August 3, 2008 at 10:04 PM

at 2204 hours the Queen of Hearts ( MB4 ) became self-aware

As for Dash-ill, he is a Target-rich Environment….

I’d like the chance to just pinch Lil tommy
Daschholes head off. Still slithering his way through
these interviews like he never left .

Yes, he has also been in favor of prayer in schools, strong gun rights for all Americans, welfare reform, expanding Gitmo and giving General Petraeus a free hand in the ME.

It’s all right there in his campaign literature which is being printed as we speak, they seem to have lost all the old pamphlets.

Wha-a-a-at?

It made me laugh out loud! “Obama has always been in favor of Offshore drilling?” Really? I must have a hearing problem, LOL!

Sometimes I come by sea, sometimes by land and sometimes by air. Sometimes through the front door, sometimes through the back door…

MB4 on August 3, 2008 at 10:04 PM

You make it too easy…

JetBoy on August 3, 2008 at 10:21 PM

For most of us “back door” simply means “back door”, as in a cigar is just a cigar. I would seem like to you it must mean something very different. Maybe the same thing that it means to Larry Craig?

You make it too easy…

Daschle came across as very defensive. And he beclowned himself when he insisted that he has never heard Obama say the word “I”.

RushBaby on August 3, 2008 at 7:53 PM

Well Obama does like to use the royal “we” a lot. As in “we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” Everybody knows that’s just Obama-code for “I am the one you peons have been waiting for.”

“Barack Obama has always been in favor of offshore drilling”

Wha-a-a-at?

jgapinoy on August 3, 2008 at 11:16 PM

You’re just not with it yet. Daschle is just warming up as his new role as the the Secretary of the Ministry of Truth in our Dear Leader’s new glorious regime.

“Barack Obama has always been in favor of offshore drilling”

Wha-a-a-at?