Litmus Tests
“For years, many in the conservative world have wished for an ideologically purer GOP. Their wish has been granted. Happy?” – David Frum (H/T Sullivan)
Yes; I seem to remember some people like that. Funny how the shoe fits less comfortably when it’s on the other foot.
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Filed under: Conservatism
Yes, it pinches on the myth that it was “social conservatives” who lost it all; not the warmongers, torture promoters, loose immigration “reformers”, drug benefit/no child corporate welfare advocates, outsourcing promoters, and tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% crowd. Oh, and did I mention staggering deficits and inflationary housing policies?
No. Frum had no involvement with any of that. Neither did Specter. Oh, wait, yeah they were holding hands on those.
[...] consensus on empire-building, endless war and spending ourselves into oblivion. Commentor WRW on TheAmericanConservative blog nails it with the following: Yes, it pinches on the myth that it was “social [...]
makes the blood boil
‘Yes, it pinches on the myth that it was “social conservatives” who lost it all; not the warmongers, torture promoters, loose immigration “reformers”, drug benefit/no child corporate welfare advocates, outsourcing promoters, and tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% crowd.’
Maybe in the real world it does. But wingnuts don’t live in the real world. They live in the world of ideaological purity that Rush describes to them. If Rush says it was caused by RINOs being RINO-ish then that’s what happened. Facts only matter if you’re aware of them. And trust me, if you bring facts to an arguments you will be told that it’s just your opinion. Been there.
Okay, Frum is a hypocrite. Two points:
In this instance, at least, he isn’t taking a jab at the socons, but at the club for growth. IMO he has a much better case against them, at least as compounding the problem.
Secondly, it is at least theoretically possible that he was wrong then, and right now.
And this
“and tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% crowd”
But that’s the Club for Growth – I mean, in this case, on that particular issue, you and Frum seem to be on the same team.
LarryM,
I agree Frum has a plausible argument against the Club for No Republican Growth (which, after the last 8 years, I think is a good thing), but his self-justifying cannot be tolerated. The war hurt the GOP the most and it exacerbated these other issues, including deficits and tax cuts, in the public mind (along with Katrina) by casting every GOP policy under a pall of incompetence. (Which, come to think of it, is right.)
Frum may well be “right now”, but only partly right if he doesn’t admit that the war hurt first and most (to paraphrase Bedford Forrest’s maxim of war.) Raimondo had a cutting description of Andrew Sullivan as a priest of the “cult of war and sodomy.” At least Sullivan gave up the former. As Frum has neither, he’d do even better to give up the former (including admitting he was “wrong then.”)