Quotes of the day
posted at 9:35 pm on March 29, 2009 by Allahpundit
“Back in the 1960s and 1970s, we’d been fighting to protect the common-sense instincts of ordinary people from elite interference. Now, in the Terri Schiavo euthanasia case, with stem cell research, on gay rights issues, it was we who had become the interfering elite, against a society that was reaching its own new equilibrium.
Of course, that’s not how conservatives saw it. We saw a country divided in two, red states and blue, NASCAR vs. NPR, real America against the phonies in the cities. A movement that had begun as an intellectual one now scornfully pooh-poohed the need for people in government to know anything much at all. But expertise does matter, and the neglect of expertise leads to mismanagement and failure — as we saw in Iraq, in Katrina and in the disregard of warning signals from the financial market. It was under a supposedly pro-market administration that the United States suffered the worst market failure of the post-war era, and that should have sobered us. Instead, we rallied to Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber…
But on environmental issues, we have to follow the evidence where it leads — and on social issues we have to take our society as it is. If the world changes, we have to change with it. The refusal of so many of my fellow conservatives in the United States to adapt their thinking to facts and realities does not demonstrate their adherence to principle. It demonstrates a frivolous indifference to the responsibilities of political leadership.”
***
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Here let me fix it for you:
…..and someone who can articulate their way out of a paper bag, with the help of TOTUS.
There, now isn’t that better!
belad on March 29, 2009 at 10:40 PM
The 2008 election was not an extinction event. It was an election. The extinction event is coming. The collapse of the economy, and the governments choice to either print money, or not print entitlement checks is the true extinction event.
DFCtomm on March 29, 2009 at 10:41 PM
This is why I think all this navel gazing about the direction of the party is kind of crazy. Obama is a disaster, people blame Congress but sooner or later they have to come around to blaming Obama too. American’s wanted change in some abstract airy fairy way, not socialist Europe. They will run toward tradition. In the mean time, let’s get a loud articulate spokesman out there to point out the absurdities already.
msmveritas on March 29, 2009 at 10:41 PM
Wow, thats hawt. I totally dig Niccolo.
Have you considered, O Creator of Worlds, that there is actually no conservative reform movement? Wannabe reform conservatives like Frum and Parker are instantly keelhauled under the hull of the SS Conservative Titanic.
I defy you to show me where that poseur Ross Douthat’s core ideologies differ by a nanometer from Beck’s and Limbaugh’s.
strangelet on March 29, 2009 at 10:41 PM
Ahhh, c’mon now. AP posts stuff like this to get conversation going. I can’t speak for him, but I’m don’t think there’s a lot of love lost between him and the ‘Maverick’.
Look, this is still the guy who says and supports lots of idiotic stuff (to conservative ears, at least), intermingled with a few great stands a year, like his opposition to Messiahs ridiculous ‘Stimulus’. But at the end of the day, all he’s doing here is explaining why he is not now and has never been a conservative. It’s not his thing. We’ve known it for years. Not him…or his simpering mini-me Grahamnesty.
AUINSC on March 29, 2009 at 10:43 PM
So, you’re only giving Republicans, what, something between a few thousand and 2-3 million years before they go extinct?
notropis on March 29, 2009 at 10:43 PM
It was the extinction event for homo sapiens conservatus-ignoramus.
lol
strangelet on March 29, 2009 at 10:43 PM
The Liberal MSM,are doing their best,to reshape,reform
the image of the GOP!
Neverending Liberal Perception/Deception Mode!
—————————————–
There needs to be a clear vision of the party,
and soon!:)
canopfor on March 29, 2009 at 10:45 PM
And you know what I’m doing next week? Moving from a Tyler TX to LA. I’m a bright one aint I?
Ampersand on March 29, 2009 at 10:45 PM
Compare how leftist California votes on banning gay marriage versus how leftist Massachusetts voted on removing the state income tax.
The vast majority of political undecideds are social conservatives and economic liberals.
18-1 on March 29, 2009 at 10:45 PM
When we had the presidency, the house, and the senate how much focus did we put on those social issues? I don’t mean lip service I mean real legislative action to support the social cons. I remember war on terror, and “we heart amnesty”, neither of those were exclusively social con issues.
DFCtomm on March 29, 2009 at 10:49 PM
Had enough yet, O Creator of Worlds?
Lol, may I suggest a self-administered pre-frontal lobotomy?
Then you can please your commentariat.
The upper right tail of the bellcurve is a very lonely and hideously painful perspective for a conservative, isn’t it?
hahaha
strangelet on March 29, 2009 at 10:49 PM
Also, it should be pointed out that while the nation did vote in a far left winger, it was under the impression that Obama was politically close to Bill Clinton after 1994 – and amusingly one can certainly see McCain as an updated Bob Dole…
18-1 on March 29, 2009 at 10:49 PM
And you know what I’m doing next week? Moving from a Tyler TX to LA. I’m a bright one aint I?
Ampersand on March 29, 2009 at 10:45 PM
At least you have nice weather out there. Now, if you were moving to Detroit, home of crappy weather AND liberal destruction, then you might be derided as a fool.
Bishop on March 29, 2009 at 10:52 PM
“The upper right tail”
As opposed to the lower right tail? Guess it must be lonely, since even strangelet is obviously nowhere to be found.
notropis on March 29, 2009 at 10:52 PM
Hey, what da ya know. I just moved from Pearland, Texas to Tyler. I would never move to L.A. I’d rather die. :)
NathanG on March 29, 2009 at 10:54 PM
A man that happened to expose Obama for the socialist he is without the filter of the media and his teleprompter to bail him out.
I don’t need to read his book or think he is some great sage of the Republican party,but I do relate to a man that is trying to find his own way in America through hard work that does not want somebody taking it away to give to people that “demand” to be taken care of by the government with their endless cycle of victimhood.
God forgive I support a WOMAN (kind of throws water on the Republicans not changing with the times drivel) that actually has experience dealing with budgets,local and state issues,executive experience (which would come in real handy right now for the people paying attention)and actual accomplishments including one of the largest energy projects
ever in the US.That 70% approval rating goes pretty nice with that also.
Instead of playing Scott Mcclellan for the left,maybe Frum should go review Gov.Sarah Palin’s convention speech and see just how on target she is.
Liberals don’t spew their hate and bigotry non-stop like they do against Palin because she doesn’t matter.
I certainly agree that Republicans should maintain a large tent and be accepting of people whether we agree on all the issues socially or politically.
But this “adapting” to the times comes across as capitulation to left.
Using Iraq as some kind of “negative” example of Republican leadership revels this.The last I saw,we have pretty much won in Iraq.The main discussions are on troops withdrawals
due to victory,not surrender.
Yes mistakes were made,but please show me the perfect war.
Huge mistakes are made in every war.What counts is the outcome.
It was Republican strength and leadership combined with our military that brought success in Iraq,not ” A movement that had begun as an intellectual one now scornfully pooh-poohed the need for people in government to know anything much at all”.
I guess Frum’s idea of being intellectual is crying surrender,selling out our country and stabbing our Soldiers in the back for Congressional seats and the White House like the democrats did.
I guess Frum forgot that it was the ” phonies in the cities” democrats that did not take responsibility for New Orleans and the state of Louisiana.They are the first responders and failed miserably,sitting on their butts waiting for the federal government to “bail them out”.
Bush tried to take the state over days before Katrina hit,but the “intellectual ones” denied this and disaster ensued.Should the federal government have acted faster,Yes,but this is what you always get when you sit on your a$$ waiting for the government to take care of you.(Louisiana gained a Republican Governor and Congressional seat in a very anti-Republican election.
Doesn’t fit well with Frum’s talking points here.)
Frum must have missed the 17 times the Bush administration
tried to regulate Fannie/Freddie and McCains bill in 2005 that probably could have avoided this mess or lessened it at least.But the “intellectual ones” blocked this at every step.
This Frum guy is nothing but a Scott Mcclellan/Megan MacCain for the left.This is the attention John McCain used to get for being the “red on red” Republican for the left.
His devotion to “Global Warming” combined with this drivel shows him to be nothing but a 15 minute soundbite that will be tossed aside by liberals just like Cindy Sheehan.
Baxter Greene on March 29, 2009 at 10:56 PM
According to Rasmussen polling, the GOP pulled ahead of the Democrats in a recent edition of the Generic Congressional Ballot. This coincided at the height the attacks instigated by the White House at Rush Limbaugh, and the House Republican opposition to Obama’s $3.4 trillion budget.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 41% said they would vote for their district’s Republican candidate while 39% would choose the Democrat.
Investors now favor Republicans by a 46% to 36% margin, while non-investors would vote Democratic by a 45% to 33% margin.
chunderroad on March 29, 2009 at 10:57 PM
I used to think that way about CA until I had to live in San Diego for work. As much as I tried not to, I fell in love with California. I have a love/hate relationship with CA. There is a lot to hate… but even more to love.
My relationship with Tyler is not nearly as 2 sided or positive….
Ampersand on March 29, 2009 at 10:59 PM
Men judge generally more by the eye than by the hand, for everyone can see and few can feel. Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are.
- Niccolo Machiavelli
MB4 on March 29, 2009 at 10:59 PM
She doesn’t have much to say except that she feels confident the GOP will be voted into extinction by 2020 when Democrats will have established a permanent dependent class. It’s sure a risk, but it depends on quite a few factors until then like amnesty, increased voter turnout among minorities who tend to sit out elections (even in the last historic election), etc.
chunderroad on March 29, 2009 at 11:01 PM
Here’s a news flash to the likes of Frum …
I don’t care what you … or anyone else believes. I have the foresight to live by my principles that guide me. Those principles tell me that Conservatism does not need to become pro-abortion, pro-universal health care, pro-Open Borders, etc to win the hearts and minds of Americans.
And even if I’m wrong about that – I’ll still stick to MY principles if I’m the only guy in America who feels that way. I won’t vote for watered down Conservative. I just wont vote at all – or I’ll write something useless in the ballot – like “Ronald Reagan”.
But Frum – you’ve made your point – and we all get what you’re saying. But I think that most Conservatives are like me – that they’d rather stick with their principles – even if it makes us a minority until the day we die. You don’t “modernize” what is truth bud. You don’t “adapt” a principle. You TELL truth and YOU LIVE principle.
But in your world – you sell out your truth and principles for POWER. That makes you no better than Obama – why not join him Frum?
One last thing Frum – your constant beating on Sarah Palin is old dude – you’re like a lousy blues player who can only play in the key of “E” in one register on the fretboard.
Frum – you’re a loser. The kind of kid we used to beat up on in Elementary school. Sure you have that academia about you – but you’ve never built a single thing with your own hands.
In short – go away … I’ll do it my way thank you very much.
One note here – does anyone remember Sarah Palin telling anyone how they should THINK? The way Frum does?
HondaV65 on March 29, 2009 at 11:01 PM
“If the world changes, we have to change with it.” Spoken through his liberal face. He has two; ya know.
Pelayo on March 29, 2009 at 11:03 PM
She doesn’t have much to say except that she feels confident the GOP will be voted into extinction by 2020 when Democrats will have established a permanent dependent class.
We’ll be lucky if all of us aren’t extinct by 2012 considering the path being taken by Ogabe right now.
Bishop on March 29, 2009 at 11:04 PM
One of the biggest challenges we on the right face, is that a significant portion of the center-right can’t understand the way politics work.
Take someone like Frum. His politics are marginally right of center. Now that we have Obama and the Reid/Pelosi Congress, the government is taking a hard left tack. But let’s suppose Frum was right originally, and that Obama wasn’t that far left, and Palin was out there far right. And let’s go further still and assume McCain has to bow out right after the election due to health issues.
A moderate Obama administration still moves the country left – thanks to the far left Congress we have(and the bureaucracy).
How about a Palin administration? If she is brilliant we might get some slight movement to the right – note this is exactly where Frum’s politics are. If she is average we get gridlock. And if she is poor, we move slightly left.
So, analyzing this from Frum’s own perspective, he should have been supporting Palin if he actually believes what he says his principles are.
18-1 on March 29, 2009 at 11:04 PM
It’s kind of creepy how much strangelet sounds like a Nazi.
chunderroad on March 29, 2009 at 11:04 PM
Yeah, I feel the same way about Pearland as far as the love/hate relationship goes. It came to be my home while living there but it’s an overgrown suburb (the usual incompetent city council doesn’t know how to plan transportation projects ahead of time). Tyler’s kind of my home. I used to come here to see grandparents. I’m guessing you’re not from Tyler?
I’d love to live in a place like San Diego, but my family’s close so we would never live anywhere but Texas. Kansas is the only other state I’ve lived in. Not too bad. I’m just a stubborn Texan at heart.
NathanG on March 29, 2009 at 11:06 PM
I’m sorry if no one is playing with you, but you really aren’t saying anything. You’re just posting snarky comments and patting yourself on the back. Make a point on the subject or become extinct snobus invertebratus. lolololol…lololol
DFCtomm on March 29, 2009 at 11:06 PM
He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good.
- Confucius
MB4 on March 29, 2009 at 11:06 PM
Strangelet slept threw anatomy.
MB4 on March 29, 2009 at 11:10 PM
I’ll tell ya one way I agree with Sarah Palin now. I can see Russia from my front porch now.
chunderroad on March 29, 2009 at 11:10 PM
threwthroughI hope I beat the spelling police.
MB4 on March 29, 2009 at 11:12 PM
Bad joke. I’m getting loopy.
chunderroad on March 29, 2009 at 11:12 PM
Yeah, a lot can happen in a few years. Political parties wax and wane–and yes–they do occasionally die. The Federalists, the Democratic-Republicans, the Whigs all faded away. Is it now the GOP’s turn? While that is always a possibility, I think it’s a little too soon to write the Republican Party’s eulogy at this moment. People are beginning to awaken to Bambi and his boobs and their misfeasance, malfeasance, and non-feasance and they’re starting to take notice. We just have to keep on getting the word out and not let the Bambi and his noise machine succeed in drowning us out.
Speaking of which, if you haven’t already done so, check out Breitbart’s column on Big Hollywood and the Washington Times where he deals with the topic of the strangelets of the internet. We cannot let these windup dolls disrupt our efforts. Do not allow them to derail our discussions or cause us to say something in anger that we might regret later.
Matt Helm on March 29, 2009 at 11:12 PM
This genius Frum is also the left’s “token Republican” that they used in their front page Newsweek attack on Rush.
Look at what one of Frum’s “intellectual ones” has to say about his great,spot on analysis concerning the hyped up attack by the democratic party on a private citizen all in the name of “bi-partisanship”:
Wave the White Flag in the Limbaugh War
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/earl-ofari-hutchinson/wave-the-white-flag-in-th_b_180338.html?view=print
Yea,that Frum is a real genius and leader for the Republican party.
Please…oh please…show us the way to follow your words of wisdom while in your bent knee position to your exalted lightworker Obama.
Baxter Greene on March 29, 2009 at 11:13 PM
Frum is a freakin’ nobody. The ball-less wonder never ceases to amaze. His biggest, most vocal critic, Mark Levin would say: Hey Chumpbucket, see those thousands of folk out in the rain during my book-signing and how A Real Conservative Manifesto has sold out in its first week of release, breaking online giant bookseller’s, Amazon, all time record for how fast it became #1–LOL!!
Yeah, yeah! Keep spewing that “traditional conservatism is dead/ dying” crap already–all a bunch of nobodies trying to be somebodies with no clue about what true conservatism is.
I’d bet that Frum would give up his firstborn son to have the success of a conservative warrior hero like Levin. Now that is a man.
RepubChica on March 29, 2009 at 11:14 PM
LOL, yeah. “Tomorrow belongs to meeeeee…”
Say strangelet, do you know what percentage of the public identifies itself as “liberal”?
ddrintn on March 29, 2009 at 11:17 PM
Frum needs to be ignored. Not bothering reading his site, ever.
as for this drivel:
Frum rallied to Obama. He needs to exclude himself from any conservative “we”!
clnurnberg on March 29, 2009 at 11:18 PM
Parties do come and go, but I don’t think the GOP is in danger unless it is from an even more conservative party. The democrats however, are another story. They are making a big bet, party ending big and if it all breaks against them well….
DFCtomm on March 29, 2009 at 11:19 PM
I thought this first comment from Frum’s original NAL post was insightful:
Christian Conservative on March 29, 2009 at 11:19 PM
Hey what ever happened to Mary Tyler Moore?
ronsfi on March 29, 2009 at 11:20 PM
I think that’s why they’re so antsy.
ddrintn on March 29, 2009 at 11:21 PM
blather
notagool on March 29, 2009 at 11:22 PM
I think she made it after all!
clnurnberg on March 29, 2009 at 11:22 PM
If he wants to keep his spotlight and attention from a liberal dominated media,he will have to jettison his principles if he is a conservative.
If I had walked into a room and heard this recited word for word on meet the press (not knowing who the person is),I would have thought it was the democratic opinion on the panel.
Baxter Greene on March 29, 2009 at 11:24 PM
I like Breitbart, and my husband just forwarded a column of his titled Cracking the Obama Code: Don Quixote v. Windmill Owners.
chunderroad on March 29, 2009 at 11:24 PM
Loser says what?
TheSitRep on March 29, 2009 at 11:37 PM
Or, we can lead the world back towards sanity.
Speakup on March 29, 2009 at 11:38 PM
Incidentally, Frum’s last book, Comeback: Conservatism that Can Win Again, is ranked #222,156 at Amazon.
RepubChica on March 29, 2009 at 11:40 PM
……….. what John, bummed you didn’t get a ride on Air Force One to the UK and Europe?
Seven Percent Solution on March 29, 2009 at 11:42 PM
In addition to being one of the dumbest statements ever made about American politics, it’s an absurd lie. Conservatives take government VERY seriously–but not Frum’s badly flawed view of what government is; we even take HIM seriously, because of the damage’s he’s already done and can continue to do.
Frum’s become a combination of a sick parody of what he initially tried to be, and a disease. He needs to be put down, as the English say; hopefully he’ll do the Deed himself, and rid us of this meddlesome mendacious poof
Janos Hunyadi on March 29, 2009 at 11:46 PM
Damn, that’s a great speech.
warbaby on March 29, 2009 at 11:51 PM
IMHO, Frum is nothing more than a wanker who has a secret man-crush on the size of Rush’s audience.
Really, David. Why should we give a rat’s ass what you think?
Agreed. Sarah’s sin was that she lowered herself to run with Maverick!
McCain’s so-called conservatism was an example of how one with a single principle – genteel, friendly cooperation with the other party on all manner of issues – can pass themselves off as a “conservative” just because he actually *has* that one principle; that’s one more principle than what can be found in almost all Democrats these days.
Where now are the Reagans, the Helms, the principled conservatives like Ronald and Jesse of years ago?
/SIGH
Wanderlust on March 29, 2009 at 11:54 PM
No, I scornfully pooh-pooh the idea that people in government could know enough to do what the Obama crowd is trying to do. Those red-state simpletons Frum is curling his upper lip at have the common sense to know that “running” a trillion-dollar economy, the way you could “run” a factory or corporation, is impossible. Not only do I not expect a presidential candidate to be a superhumanly brilliant economist, I scorn any candidate who claims to be one. The office of the Presidency was not intended to be occupied by an absolute monarch who chooses market winners and losers, and forces the private sector to invest where he sees fit.
The purpose of the government in a free market is to enhance its freedom, by guarding against fraud and coercive practices, such as monopolies. Otherwise, government should keep its arrogant, clumsy hands to itself. Our own government, going back decades and including every level of the executive and legislative branches, has proven extremely poor at safeguarding against fraud. Now I’m supposed to accept that the same government – in many cases the exact same people are suddenly wise and disciplined enough to take control of huge corporations and supervise the billions of transactions that occur in the American economy every day? Especially when their very first act with their new financial corporate toy was to absent-mindedly hand out bonuses and then have a collective seizure only days later, when they realized what they had done… a situation the government resolved by attempting to agitate the public to mob violence, and apply the kind of tyrannical ex post facto laws that sparked the American Revolution in the first place. Did weird old King George act anywhere near as bipolar and out of control as the Obama Administration?
What leads people like Frum to write these utterly stupid editorials is the sad truth that they don’t possess half the wisdom of the “little people” they look down their noses at, who instinctively understand things that Frum’s advanced education and illustrious Beltway career have left him incapable of comprehending. He hates them because he doesn’t understand why they’re turning away from him and his beliefs, with a sad shake of their heads.
Doctor Zero on March 29, 2009 at 11:58 PM
Yeah, just read it myself.
How far have we fallen?
Wanderlust on March 30, 2009 at 12:10 AM
You clearly see more coherence in those rants than I do. At least Nazism is a fairly consistent, albeit psychotic, worldview. With strangelet all you get is the psychosis. Basically a completely worthless waste of perfectly good carbon.
That’s what makes all of these Frum links so worthless. The guy doesn’t even know what’s in his own interest, how can he possibly know what’s in the country’s interest? The fact that Frum doesn’t seem to realize this makes it both funnier and more pathetic.
venividivici on March 30, 2009 at 12:12 AM
Second look at David Frum
radiofreevillage on March 30, 2009 at 12:20 AM
The republican party doesn’t need an ideological shift, it needs competence. Republicans didn’t lose because they oppose useless waste of money on embryonic stem cells (and liberal filth like Frum consistently ignore the embryonic part because then they’d have to remind conservatives what they actually support: the murder of the unborn and their use as fuel for their death machines) or opposition to gay marriage (If California is opposed to it and when Ogabe opposes gay marriage you know which way the electorate really swings). Republicans lost because of incompetent leadership and a failure to adhere to its ideals and standards in favor of just having power for the sake of having power.
Darth Executor on March 30, 2009 at 12:21 AM
Here we have a bit of double speak. On the one hand he claims to have stuck to his principles and on the other calls for changing with the times. How exactly does he want to “adapt his thinking” to the elements listed in the previous paragraph? Should we really follow the evidence where it leads on environmental issues or should we join the alarmists who claim to have already figured out the earth the moon and the stars and who claim the time for scientific study has ended and the time for action based on incomplete models and educated guesses has come? On social issues we must take our society as it is and somehow doing this demonstrates political leadership. Exactly what specific social, economic or political issues conservatives should adapt their thinking to facts and realities Frum leaves unsaid.
Dollayo on March 30, 2009 at 12:22 AM
Sorry, that’s not “enhancing freedom”. I don’t mind though, pure free markets are a bad idea.
Darth Executor on March 30, 2009 at 12:27 AM
An excellent point. Too many turds out there think a degree is the end. It’s not, it’s the beginning. You went through college. Good job, for you. Now let’s see you make an actual achievement that makes you worthy of recognition among others. Merely obtaining a degree isn’t it. If all you have and all you’ll ever have is the degree, a janitor is worth more than you (and the average janitor is indeed more useful than Frum).
Darth Executor on March 30, 2009 at 12:32 AM
Boy Dan Riehl at the Riehl World takes a shot across the bow, and its the truth. But this quote take a shot here:
Read it all
broker1 on March 30, 2009 at 12:37 AM
This is the only site that features the nonsensical drivel of McCain and his daughter faithfully. How wonderful that we have these irrelevant losers on here every day. McCain’s lackluster performance in the election destroys his own argument completely. Allah, you need to put down the pipe.
echosyst on March 30, 2009 at 12:40 AM
How can Frum say this with a straight face when Mr. 57 states has told so many lies and broken so many promises within months of taking the oath.
When his foreign policy is turning into a dangerous joke around the world:
O’S FOREIGN FAILURES
By RALPH PETERS
March 25, 2009 —
http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print.php?url=http://www.nypost.com/seven/03252009/postopinion/opedcolumnists/os_foreign_failures_161154.htm
The Salesman and Chief’s economic policies to fix a problem the “Intellectual ones” helped create cause unmaintainable deficits according to the CBO,spread money to his activists friends that have nothing to do with job creation,and reveal
a lack of knowledge or foresight in our economic future sure don’t revel “expertise” to me:
Bankers: Take your TARP money back
Some banks say the government’s stabilization plan is actually weighing them down.
How about a big “No freaking DUH!!!” for the “intellectual ones”.
Is this your idea of strong leadership through this economic crises Frum:
Even one of the left’s biggest cheerleaders is not onboard
with your hero Obama’s economic plans:
Obama’s Nobel Headache
Evan Thomas
NEWSWEEK
From the magazine issue dated Apr 6, 2009
http://www.newsweek.com/id/191393/page/1
I keep hearing about the incredible intelligence,judgment,and ability to bring other Nations together coming from the sheep that follow Obama, but I have yet to see any evidence of this WHAT -SO -EVER.
When will Frum present his evidence that the democratic party and the Obama administration are so superior to Republicans.
His evidence needs to be more than “Republicans lost a couple of elections” because this logic would have counted democrats out many times over the last few decades.
Baxter Greene on March 30, 2009 at 12:42 AM
Sorry for no link on this,post was not accepted with it in there.
Story is at CNN/money.
Baxter Greene on March 30, 2009 at 12:50 AM
Reasonable regulation is required for economic freedom, because a defrauded consumer is not making a “free” choice. If Company X was allowed to sell an utterly useless placebo and run TV ads claiming it was a peer-reviewed, doctor-endorsed, scientifically proven cure for cancer, the people buying it would not be making a “free” choice.
Likewise, restraining coercive economic practices enhances the freedom of the market, because it prevents collusion between private enterprises from restricting access to the markets. If Company X is allowed to gain a total monopoly on an important product, then manipulate price and supply as it wishes to extract prices far in excess of market value from its captive consumers, those consumers are not making a “free” choice. That’s one of the reasons you see so many cozy relationships between big-government types and the highest levels of industry: the robber-baron types purchase the ability to manipulate the markets with government power. George Soros will make far more money from Barack Obama than he paid to get him elected – it was a superb, if utterly corrupt, investment.
To suggest only a completely unregulated market is “free” is to confuse freedom with anarchy. They are not synonyms. Anarchy is the opposite of freedom, as surely as totalitarianism. The only difference is that under anarchy you have a swarm of little strongmen dominating everyone unlucky enough to fall within their clutches, while under totalitarianism you just have the one strongman and his political apparatus, dominating everybody. The principle is equally true of economic and political freedom.
Doctor Zero on March 30, 2009 at 12:57 AM
Seriously educating post.
Do you feel that a lot of the economic problems we face now were a product of not enough regulation or corruption of the regulations that were in place (Executives and politicians working around these restrictions for personal gain).
Baxter Greene on March 30, 2009 at 1:12 AM
Mark Levin in his book “Liberty and Tyranny” explains guys like Murphy and McCain very well. I don’t have Levins’ gift of writing but in my feeble attempt its; Since FDR we have been willing to give up freedom in exchange for security. Today we have Republicans that see Dems’ with group politics, class warfare, ethnic groups wanting more and more entitlements and the Dems give it to them and this keeps them in power. Now McCain, Murphy and RINOs want to engage in the same crap the Dems do. Conservatism is common sense! Fiscal responsibility, each individual is a special being with unalienable rights. State didn’t give them, people didn’t give them, political parties didn’t give them, God gave these unalienable rights to each individual. Libs are working towards tyranny
Herb on March 30, 2009 at 1:17 AM
I do now and will forever scornfully pooh-pooh anyone who uses the phrase “scornfully pooh-pooh.”
Blech, that is one awful phrase and it says a lot about Frum’s disconnect if you ask me. This statement is not an anti-intellectual one on my part. In fact, I scornfully pooh-pooh anyone who accuses me of anti-intellectualism.
CK MacLeod on March 30, 2009 at 1:18 AM
For some reason Hotair filters out any link with cnn in it.
You can get around this by going to http://www.tinyurl.com and using it to produce a “tiny url” for the address with cnn in in it there, then use that output address in your link.
MB4 on March 30, 2009 at 1:22 AM
“…and on social issues we have to take our society as it is….”
.
When the Democrats were in the minority did they take society as it was? Or did they do everything possible to prevent conservative ideas from being implemented?
Fred 2 on March 30, 2009 at 1:22 AM
I scornfully pooh-pooh your idealization of RWR, a great president, but not a rigid purist. RWR would scornfully pooh-pooh anyone who thought you could anywhere in American politics without building coalitions. Don’t forget, he ran with an elevated a Bush, who succeeded him, and prepared the way for another – and there you have a big part of the last 30 years of American and for that matter world history.
As for Sarah Palin, others may scornfully pooh-pooh her and what they imagine she stands for, but what she stands for is what we’ll turn to sooner or later. Whether Palin herself is to be our vehicle isn’t yet clear to me, but I scornfully pooh-pooh anyone who’s ready to count her out.
CK MacLeod on March 30, 2009 at 1:26 AM
We have a bunch of intellectuals in office right now, and I think the word is being abused.
unclesmrgol on March 30, 2009 at 1:28 AM
Thank you.
Baxter Greene on March 30, 2009 at 1:33 AM
So Frum is a spineless neo-Tory.
Follow the current popular mood and the hell with convictions.
That sure worked real well in the past.
1861. 1917. 1933.
If slavery or communism or fascism are the “norm”, just go along.
You’ll win power.
For a while…
profitsbeard on March 30, 2009 at 1:38 AM
You have this exactly backwards.
The last couple of elections the Social questions were the only ones addressed. There was no discussion about fiscal conservatism… and certainly no fiscal conservative option.
Abortion… Marriage… War… Border… education…the parties where argueing about which one would tell us what to do… not whether they should be telling us what to do or not…
No talk of Freedom… or self determination… just which segment was going to pay less taxes… no talk of limiting the government, or even its growth, just talk of who would pay the inflated bill…
Nothing of true fairness… it was a debate about the degree of control, not whether that control should be there at all.
Romeo13 on March 30, 2009 at 1:40 AM
Things are more like they are today than they ever have been before. – Graham Chapman
Actually, we’re closer to 1977 when people began to realize that Peanut Carter was a grinning buffoon and Bert Lance, William Christopher, and advisers like Ramsey “Let’s negotiate with Iran” Clark and Zbigniew Brzezinski weren’t helping. The big problem for 2009 is that President Zero the Teleprompter makes Peanut “The Economic Disaster” Carter look modest and competent.
viking01 on March 30, 2009 at 1:45 AM
Wrong. The primary issue was the economy and when it tanked badly Obama started to pull ahead. Social issues were not a major factor in the campaign and were not even in the top concerns for voters. The social issues down ballot like preserving traditional marriage were actually breaking in favor of the conservative position.
echosyst on March 30, 2009 at 1:50 AM
Romeo13 on March 30, 2009 at 1:40 AM
You can argue that McCain failed to articulate a case for fiscal conservatism, freedom, and self-determination effectively or in a way that he matched with his own political conduct (TARP, amnesty, etc.), but I don’t think you can argue that he didn’t attempt to present himself as the fiscal conservative in the race. As we recall, Obama pretended to be a budget reforming deficit hawk (net spending cut), and anyone who believes any of that now is simply not paying attention, and most should be clear on that the next time they’re called upon to vote.
I’m not one who believes that it was ever in the cards, especially after the financial crisis, for a Republican to win this time around. Republican conservatism was for all intents and purposes used up by the time Bush-Frist-Hastert were done with the burnt ends of Reaganism – the last vital essence used up on Iraq, half-hearted domestic holding actions, and so con lip service.
Breaking through again, if it’s going to happen anytime soon, will start with Democrat overreaching, but will also include some new content that we’re still grasping to articulate and turn into clear policies. Frummian wheedling with the demographic slices will not do the trick, even if they made for a trick worth doing – a doubtful proposition – though that’s not to say that the Frum types wouldn’t have a contribution to make if they could just get over themselves.
CK MacLeod on March 30, 2009 at 1:52 AM
Can’t wait for Trak Palin to come back from combat duty…………
………….. and look John McCain and his daughter in the eyes and say;
Seven Percent Solution on March 30, 2009 at 2:04 AM
Am I the only one creeped out by McCain’s use (misquoted as “a thousand” rather than “a hundred flowers bloom”) of a Chairman Mao phrase used to trap Party dissents who where then purged and executed?
ScottMcC on March 30, 2009 at 2:06 AM
McCain, what a POOP!!!!
AReadyRepub on March 30, 2009 at 2:26 AM
I think my point is that we need a transfomatioal candidate… someone who changes the dialogue.
Way back when, no one was talking about balancing the budget, unitl Perot came along and changed the debate… we were in an echo chamber than, much like we are today, where the two partys were about who was in control, not about whether that control should be there in the first place.
Face it… we gave the Repubs power in order to reign in government, and they did not…. and McCain was part of the Washington Echo Chamber…
Part of Pain’s allure was that she was NOT a Washington insider, or like Barry, part of the Chicago Political crowd…
IMO the problem is the Hubris of the ruling class… the Kennedys… the Bushs… the Clintons… where the name and connections is enough to get you into power…
The deck is WAY stacked against any outsider gaining any power… by LAW (campain law)… but there is a LOT of anger out here in the real world…
Romeo13 on March 30, 2009 at 2:39 AM
Say what?
drjohn on March 30, 2009 at 2:51 AM
There is nothing that this Frum person says that you can actually hold in your hand. Like, he says something about stem cells in the article, but what exactly is he saying our government’s policy should be in regards to stem cells?
Two years ago, Frum was saying stem cell research is a con ( link below ) that has no respect for the humanity of life in utero. Now I guess he’s saying that conservatives are “elite interferers” by not spending enough of the taxpayers’ money on a con?
http://frum.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Zjc0MjIyZmY1MWE1NmU2ZDRjNzQ0ZjI1NTk1MjZjNjA=
Buddahpundit on March 30, 2009 at 3:39 AM
frum is an ass
jimmy the notable on March 30, 2009 at 3:45 AM
Why do supporters of embryonic stem cell research insist on referring to it simply as “stem cell research”?
And why does David Frum insist on referring to conservatives as “we”?
OscarSchneegans on March 30, 2009 at 3:55 AM
Let me elaborate:
First: That he can, without hating himself, put Katrina’s failures on the shoulders of conservatives is patently absurd. Or that someone with more “expertise” would have seen that coming. Presumably someone with more expertise than our fine Mr. Frum, since I don’t recall him on the top of the mountain screaming at people that New Orleans was going to flood.
Second: That he can honestly suggest that this financial crisis is a failure of the markets is insane. Does he just hold a blind eye to all of the massive regulatory measures which also contributed? Of course he does. Because he has a point to make, and he’ll be damned if he’s going to let facts stand in his way. Barney Frank? Who’s that?
Third: What the hell is he talking about with the environment? He’s sounds like Obama. “Its time for change. But not the change that we’ve had. Change we need. Change that’s different, but more the same than ever. We need to abandon the people that the so-called “voters” actually like and put forward candidates who are more like the philosopher-kings of old. Even if the voters hate them, at least this will be a more pure conservative movement. Even if those philosopher-kings choose not to be conservative, we will all be comfortable knowing that they are “experts”.And that is something that we all can be proud of .
jimmy the notable on March 30, 2009 at 4:00 AM
Nonsense. That is why personal freedom must be allowed to coexist with economic freedom. If those people on the tv are selling snake oil, then we all must be free to go on the tv before and after them to tell people that its snake oil. Without absolute freedom of speech and communication, corruption will be allowed to expand.
And so what if the company does defraud someone? That’s what the legal system is for. We don’t need an entire bloated, wasteful branch of government to do something that the District Attorney could.
jimmy the notable on March 30, 2009 at 4:05 AM
Also, if government were restricted, than there wouldn’t be an opportunity for that cozy big-business/big government relationship. It only thanks to the steps that government puts in place that allow businesses to attain monopolies. Before the government started regulating the railroad industry, there were far more railroad companies and far more shipping lanes. There would be no way for one railroad company, UNLESS HE WAS IN THE POCKET OF GOVERNMENT, to drive out all of the other competition.
jimmy the notable on March 30, 2009 at 4:07 AM
Also, nobody could argue that a few broken eggs because of a Fraudulent company is not as high a cost as an entire corrupt, bloated department of government designed to be the decider of all things.
The FDA has kept more life-saving drugs off the market than it has kept deadly ones off the market. Because if the drug companies want to make money, they’re going to make drugs that actually help people and will test rigorously to ensure that they do that, because if the drugs don’t work, then they lose a lot of money. The companies who make this mistake more often will go out of business.
jimmy the notable on March 30, 2009 at 4:12 AM
The moment I saw the random “Sarah Palin” slight parachute into the argument, I knew it was David Frum.
Lehosh on March 30, 2009 at 5:51 AM
Frum who?
Seriously, though, who serves to win by this fracturing? Certainly the left.
I agree with comments saying that the left has stayed the same…have they adapted? Have they become more or less liberal?
If some republicans have become more “moderate” as they like to call themselves, did it ever occur to them (you all) that it might not be a GOOD or RIGHT or HEALTHY THING? Plenty of good minds can be corrupted by a corrupt culture. Also, WHAT, exactly, makes them “conservatives?” We all know they fancy themselves a bit more euro trash than the rest of us…why not rebrand conservatism to be the uber cool conservative parties of european/canadian states. Awesome. All the while, social activists wreak havoc on traditional values with NO ONE to stand for them because anyone with a cohesive worldview has left sense for political expedience. And we all just scratch our heads and wonder why that goes on…and assume we have better sense. Riight. What pridefulness.
Frum (and the like) seems to think social issues are inconsequential to conservatism. I disagree. I think that social conservatism and fiscal restraint go hand and hand. Lose one, lose it all. It is also instructive to know that Christianity (boo!hiss!boo!) teaches that this slide into moral relativism, pragmatism and licensiousness is, basically par for the course and no big surprise. Again, who wins, in the end, when conservatives abandon these principles? Liberals.
Do we like what we see in Europe? Do we not see that the liberal social environment runs side by side with other liberal ideologies? Hate to break it to you, but, even economic/environmental policies are not devoid of philosophy and morality of some sort.
Why not re-embrace right morality based on the truth in scripture…the scripture our wise founders based our entire nation upon?
Right. Because we’ve moved on. How’s that working out for us? And other nations?
Mommypundit on March 30, 2009 at 6:07 AM
Your point?
Blue dude, have you ever browsed over posts at HuffPo and DKOS? Do it some time.
Your name by default makes you a troll. If you want to have a good impression, ditch your name and get something less partisan and come back.
HotAir, unlike leftist posts is always open for a fair debate (except for Poptech).
Sapwolf on March 30, 2009 at 6:22 AM
I did too. Dead ringer. First name I thought of.
Sapwolf on March 30, 2009 at 6:23 AM
The funny thing about knowing its Frum right away is that it reads like someone who has contempt for everything that we like. He just sits there and snipes at everything. I know questioning someone’s conservatism is the new “Questioning their Patriotism” but this guy is insane.
jimmy the notable on March 30, 2009 at 6:27 AM
Frum is the leader of the intellectual cowards on the squishy right. That is what they are and what drives their ideas – cowardice. They blend nicely with the left, which is chock full of cowards and insane authoritarians – all of whom are as dumb as rocks, just like the Precedent they all pray to.
blatantblue is usually pretty good. I’m not sure what he was talking about with that post, but I like a lot of what he writes.
progressoverpeace on March 30, 2009 at 6:29 AM
Very strange that when I see those wishing to reverse the last 400 years of moving government out of the central role of determining personal liberty and freedom, so that we may all recognize our self-evident gifts, good and ill, that I am the one who is supposed to ‘change’. That sort of change, moving to put elites into power, a minority into power, so as to determine what is and is not ‘good’ by their standards is something I don’t see as any ‘good’ at all. It changes that necessary evil of government into one of pure evil, seeking despotic and tyrannical ways to enforce the will of the few in power on the people. I stand against aristocrats, elitists, authoritarians, communists, fascists and empire builders of all stripes who seek to dictate what is ‘right’ to society.
Those are the enemy of human liberty and freedom.
Government ‘help’ is on the terms of government, and it is set up to punish, not be a beneficent actor as that is what we create government for: to mitigate the abuses that society can have, while letting society build the good as that is the role of society.
I do, in truth, remember Ronald Reagan promising: lower taxes, less government and less intrusive government.
That was the bundle, and no single part was supposed to be superior to any other as they all represented the same move to divest power taken by government and let society grow and flourish. I hear many Republicans pine in a necrophilic way for Ronald Reagan, seeking to re-animate him. I hear very, very, very few speaking of the principles Reagan spoke about and holding their party’s feet to the fire on them. Remember the tagline of ‘getting government out of your wallet, your bedroom and your life’?
I do.
Time to stop the necrophilia and recognize the good principles, hold them and be prepared to speak up for society not looking for ‘good things’ from government. Those warnings go back to the talk during the 1787-88 timeframe. Many dismissed the minor problems that could grow into large ones… and now we find those minor problems turned into large ones. I would think conservatives would seek to learn from history… but that is conserving our past, our culture, our rough and tumble heritage and admitting that for all the good that has been done, the flaws must also be admitted and the danger to our liberty and freedom as real.
What are Republican principles?
What are conservatives truly seeking to conserve?
I stand with all the Founders, for and against, to understand them, their worries and how they saw the past as a guide to the future. We are only condemned to repeat it when we don’t read it, care about it, cherish it and understand it.
Are these things truly so hard to speak about today?
If so then we are well, and truly, lost.
ajacksonian on March 30, 2009 at 6:56 AM
Frum is something of an elitist and his cracks about Palin and Joe the Plumber are evidence of that. However, there is truth in the fact that conservatives need to keep up. That does not mean they need to become someone or something else. I don’t think they should abandon their principles, but they need to find a way to reach more people with a message that resonates.
As for the crack about the market crash, well it came almost two years after the Democrats took control of the Senate and the House and I do not remember Frum or anyone else seeing it coming. I don’t remember smart folks running around for years and years telling us that the subprime loans were going to ruin us. Smart people drove up the Dow to new highs in 2007. Smart people ran the failed institutions.
Terrye on March 30, 2009 at 7:14 AM
McCain is incredible . . . he just keeps on with his “why can’t we all just get along ” crap while this poor sick society continues to crumble. Enough John; retire, take a long vacation but please get out of our faces.
rplat on March 30, 2009 at 7:22 AM
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