Jonah Goldberg On Kathleen Parker’s “G-O-D” Shame

Kathleen Parker revealed her hip happeningness yet again today:

As Republicans sort out the reasons for their defeat, they likely will overlook or dismiss the gorilla in the pulpit.

Three little letters, great big problem: G-O-D.

I’m bathing in holy water as I type.

To be more specific, the evangelical, right-wing, oogedy-boogedy branch of the GOP is what ails the erstwhile conservative party and will continue to afflict and marginalize its constituents if reckoning doesn’t soon cometh.

Simply put: Armband religion is killing the Republican Party. And, the truth — as long as we’re setting ourselves free — is that if one were to eavesdrop on private conversations among the party intelligentsia, one would hear precisely that.

Jonah Goldberg responds by saying, “Quite it Kathleen”:

I don’t know what’s more grating, the quasi-bigotry that has you calling religious Christians low brows, gorillas and oogedy-boogedy types or the bravery-on-the-cheap as you salute — in that winsome way — your own courage for saying what (according to you) needs to be said. Please stop bragging about how courageous you are for weathering a storm of nasty email you invite on yourself by dancing to a liberal tune. You aren’t special for getting nasty email, from the right or the left. You aren’t a martyr smoking your last cigarette. You’re just another columnist, talented and charming to be sure, but just another columnist. You are not Joan of the Op-Ed Page. Perhaps the typical Washington Post reader (or editor) doesn’t understand that. But you should, and most conservatives familiar with these issues can see through what you’re doing.

Besides being patronizing and noting a problem (which has at its core a very debatable premise), Ms. Parker lacks solutions. In part, I agree with her assessment about the God talk, but her obvious prejudice, and that of her media pals is an even bigger problem for Republicans. That is to say, that the description Ms. Parker writes of conservative Christians is a classic caricature and reveals her ignorance of the diversity that makes up that constituency. Because of her narrow-mindedness, she cannot formulate helpful solutions for addressing this typically Republican voting block. Likewise, it is obvious that the Republicans, and the conservative movement generally need to reach other constituencies–ones who tend to vote Democrat.

How?

Perhaps Ms. Parker could gather her formidable wit and way with words and formulate a solution rather than destroy what isn’t really a problem. Dehumanizing, demeaning, and really, demonizing the whole base of the Republican party seems counter-productive for someone who is in the same party. When the foundation crumbles, the house will fall on Ms. Parker, too. Unless, of course, she’s really not part of the house anymore, if she ever was, and has already moved in spirit (and one could say, in body, considering her employer) to another home. If that’s the case, she should admit to herself and to her readers her new home.

David Frum, Kathleen Parker, Chris Buckley, David Brooks and the rest, have become experts at demolition. They need to refocus their efforts and consider what it will take to rebuild their house. Or have they already moved and don’t know it?

Cross-posted at RightWingNews.com

Posted in Political Animals | 1 Comment »

Who Wants A Filibuster?

What is best for the country is a Senate where Republicans hold on to the filibuster. (That becomes less likely as Ted Stevens goes down for the count.) It will moderate choices, give the government some form of restraint. Maybe. The Senate is packed full of chummy buds and plenty of Republicans who will do their master’s bidding. Oh! You think I mean the voters? Au contraire. mon ami. I’m talking about Democrat Senators.

But here’s the thing about the Republicans having the filibuster. As long as they have it, every “bad” thing ever done or not done or thwarted will be blamed on Republicans. It won’t matter that there’s a Democrat in the White House. It won’t matter that Democrats control the House like they have for two years. It won’t matter that the Democrats control the Senate in a huge way. No, the way every piece of hung up legislation will be handled will be be to blame the Republicans even though they have next to zero power to stop anything any Democrat wants.

There is a reason the Democrats are bringing the Auto execs to capital hill now. They have political cover–they can still blame the Republicans for a failed bailout.

In a couple months, Democrats have to balance the budgets (yeah, right), figure out how to not look like weak losers when it comes to our military engagements, keep psychotic leftists hell-bent on destroying America’s social fabric happy and they have to do all this without excuse. They own it.

They own it all without reservation if Republicans don’t have the filibuster in the Senate.

Americans watch with keen interest how the hope and change crowd are hopefully going to change things. That is to say, Americans, the fickle pickles that they are, want some change but not too much change. The Democrats overreach and they will be punished. After eight years of non-stop bitching, moaning and complaining, they have it all. Americans gave it to them. The mood is generally: Shut up and get to work.

What will Nancy Pelosi have without the foil of George Bush to blame every one of her embarrassing failures on? How will Harry Reid appease the Kos Kids out for blood, literally? How will Barack Obama entreat the bitter Leftists while keeping the idealistic electorate convinced of his centrality?

A filibuster gives these opportunists cover. They don’t deserve it. But America will pay a steep price along the way for the lack of it.

Cross-posted at RightWingNews.com and The Houston Chronicle

Posted in Political Animals | 2 Comments »

Wow, The New Senate Republican Leadership Team Looks A Lot Like…

…..the old Senate Republican Leadership Team. And what would those “principles to believe in” be? And lots about “core ideas”. Uh huh. Color me skeptical.

I probably shouldn’t blog when I have low blood sugar. Makes me overly pessimistic. Actually, I think that hits about the right tone.

Posted in Political Animals | No Comments »

Don’t Tell Me The Media Isn’t Biased. Just. Don’t.

How do Republicans have an ice-cubes chance in hades when the media creates voters like this via Moonbattery:

See this isn’t the voters fault. They’re just parroting what the press told them. It is the press’ unrelenting, vicious, intentional, biased pap that passes for journalism these days. In a sound-bite culture, the media creates the narrative and the narrative NEVER favors the conservative ideology. Ever.

John Ziegler of How Obama Got Elected says:

Because obviously interviewing a relative handful of Obama voters, while interesting, is hardly scientific proof of anything, we also commissioned a Zogby telephone poll which asked the very same questions (as well as a few others) with similarly amazing results.

Zogby Poll

512 Obama Voters 11/13/08-11/15/08 MOE +/- 4.4 points

97.1% High School Graduate or higher, 55% College Graduates

Results to 12 simple Multiple Choice Questions

57.4% could NOT correctly say which party controls congress (50/50 shot just by guessing)

81.8% could NOT correctly say Joe Biden quit a previous campaign because of plagiarism (25% chance by guessing)

82.6% could NOT correctly say that Barack Obama won his first election by getting opponents kicked off the ballot (25% chance by guessing)

88.4% could NOT correctly say that Obama said his policies would likely bankrupt the coal industry and make energy rates skyrocket (25% chance by guessing)

56.1% could NOT correctly say Obama started his political career at the home of two former members of the Weather Underground (25% chance by guessing).

And yet…..

Only 13.7% failed to identify Sarah Palin as the person on which their party spent $150,000 in clothes

Only 6.2% failed to identify Palin as the one with a pregnant teenage daughter

And 86.9 % thought that Palin said that she could see Russia from her “house,” even though that was Tina Fey who said that!!

Only 2.4% got at least 11 correct.

Only .5% got all of them correct. (And we “gave” one answer that was technically not Palin, but actually Tina Fey)

Comforting, isn’t it? The average voter is completely ignorant and the media is why.

UPDATED:

Zogby takes on the “push poll” rumors.

Posted in Corrupted Culture, Entertain Me, Political Animals | 23 Comments »

David Frum on Rush Limbaugh: “Say It Louder Conservativism”

How about “say it snobbier pseudo-conservativism but really liberal elitism”?

Money quotes from David Frum:

“The Suburban voter who should be a bedrock Republican voter, these voters see a Democratic party that is no longer a threat to their money, but a Republican party that is a threat to their values.”

His interpretation of conservative philosophy: “As long as you don’t kill babies, anyone can run the U.S. government.”

“On our side of the aisle, we have a big problem. We have a party that is not serious about government.”

Cross-posted at RightWingNews.com and The Houston Chronicle

Posted in Entertain Me, Political Animals | 3 Comments »

Mommy Bloggers Get Respect, Conservative Bloggers Get Dissed–UPDATED

So, I’m watching advertising people and mommy bloggers erupt this weekend on Twitter. The subject didn’t interest me much–moms were mad at Motrin. I didn’t go look at the video, but gathered that it was disparaging to moms. Well, the ladies were majorly peeved and mounted a protest via YouTube and firestorm of rage coursed through their blogs.

Today, in my New York Times feed, what do I see? This:

By Saturday evening they were the most tweeted subject on Twitter. By Sunday there was a nine minute video on YouTube, to the tune of Danny Boy, showing screen shots of the outraged twitter posts interspersed with photos of Moms carrying babies in slings.

Bloggers began calling for boycotts. Bloggers asked their readers to alert the mainstream press. A few voices chimed in to say they didn’t find the ad to be that big a deal. There are a few more examples here and here.)

By Sunday afternoon a few bloggers and tweeters had gotten the ad agency that created the ad on the phone, to find they didn’t know a lot about Twitter and didn’t seem to have a clue that there was so much anger piling up online. And Peter Shankman, a public relations all-star who knows everything and then some about new media, was giving the manufacturers some advice:

I’m not siding with Motrin. They messed up, granted. I’m ok with that. Companies mess up all the time. They fix the problem, and it usually doesn’t make the radar screen. The problem is, Motrin happened to mess up at the expense, and in the face of, one of the most vocal, quickest-to-blog, “strongest-to-band-together-and-form-one-opinion-like-the-Borg” collectives out there - The Mommy-Blogging community.

Now I am NOT slagging on Mommy-Bloggers. Not in the slightest. Nor, am I saying they’re over-reacting to the commercial, which, by rights, was stupid and patronizing. What I AM saying though, is that Motrin will pay a MUCH bigger price, as opposed to if they’d messed up in front of say, “Construction-Worker-Bloggers.” Mommy-Bloggers are not a voice to be messed with, probably because they’re one of the most clearly identifiable voices on the web. You have a kid? You blog about said kid? You’re a Mommy-blogger. You don’t need an advanced degree in particle physics to see what these bloggers have in common.

Or, as one Tweet put it:

note to self … never piss off moms … especially twitter moms … they can be a nasty bunch

My Twitter feed also is filled with conservatives. The political folks buzz constantly about this and that, important issues, and The New York Times covers a bunch of moms ticked about a condescending pharmaceutical commercial? Sure, it’s newsworthy, but so is the rebuilding of the Republican party.

Part of the problem with the mainstream media is editorial. What and who they choose to highlight is not nearly as important as who they’re ignoring. And the voices on the Right are ignored. I don’t want to start a war with the MSM, but a little attempt at representing all voices–not just the mushy moderates who sound so sweet and “intellectual” to liberal ears–would be nice.

The Washington Post ombudsman (via Glenn Reynolds) said that there need to be more conservatives in newsrooms. Ya think?

Anyway, I like the idea that the power of a bunch of mad mommies at the bottom forced changes at the top. I’d like to see concerned conservatives bubble up from the bottom, too. But a fat lot it will do them, if no one pays any attention. The media seems to be making a concerted effort to NOT pay attention. It’s working.

Follow me on Twitter!

UPDATED: Here’s the offending video:

Cross-posted at RightWingNews and The Houston Chronicle

Posted in Entertain Me, Political Animals | 2 Comments »

MSNBC Gets Government Payout

MSNBC functioned as an Obama public relations arm this election season and it now seems their sycophancy had a self-serving purpose as well. Newsbusters reports:

Is MSNBC being rewarded for having supported Obama? That’s what Jim Pinkerton suggests. On this evening’s Fox News Watch, the columnist and New America Foundation fellow cited the news that GE Capital, a subsidiary of MSNBC’s parent company GE, has received a $139 billion government loan guarantee.

To my Lefty readers and friends who loathed the Republicans unholy alliance with disgusting capitalist pigs, I’d like to suggest they might want to get to work at keeping Obama’s house in order. Preemptively.

And it would seem to me that this incestuous relationship would be worrying from a free speech perspective. Nah…..It’s Democrats.

Posted in Political Animals, Show Me The Money | 4 Comments »

Democrats Will Investigate Bush…They Hope

Congressional investigations of the current administration is EXACTLY what the electorate wanted when they put Democrats in power in all three branches. I’m so glad the Democrats are in touch with the voters in a way the Republicans just aren’t.

The New York Times reports:

Topics of open investigations include the harsh interrogation of detainees, the prosecution of former Gov. Don Siegelman of Alabama, secret legal memorandums from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel and the role of the former White House aides Karl Rove and Harriet E. Miers in the firing of federal prosecutors.

Mr. Bush has used his executive powers to block Congressional requests for executive branch documents and testimony from former aides. But investigators hope that the Obama administration will open the filing cabinets and withdraw assertions of executive privilege that Bush officials have invoked to keep from testifying.

“I intend to ensure that our outstanding subpoenas and document requests relating to the U.S. attorneys matter are enforced,” said Representative John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. “I am hopeful that progress can be made with the coming of the new administration.”

Also, two advocacy groups, the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights First, have prepared detailed reports for the new administration calling for criminal investigations into accusations of abuse of detainees.

It is not clear, though, how a President Barack Obama will handle such requests. Legal specialists said the pressure to investigate the Bush years would raise tough political and legal questions.

Because every president eventually leaves office, incoming chief executives have an incentive to quash investigations into their predecessor’s tenure. Mr. Bush used executive privilege for the first time in 2001, to block a subpoena by Congressional Republicans investigating the Clinton administration.

So, the Democrats want their own President (Barack Obama) to tie his own hands during a time of war and get their permission to prosecute it, too? This issue is going to put Obama in a serious jam. The party faithful are out for blood, but these investigations will piss off most fair-minded Americans.

It will be interesting to see how many self-inflicted wounds Obama will take in order to appease his rabid base.

Cross-posted at RightWingNews

Posted in Political Animals | 16 Comments »

P.J. O’Rourke Speaks The Truth

I have the Read This column on the right of links that I think are worthy to read, but I don’t have time to blog about. Well, this is one of those links, but I wanted to emphasize it more. You need to read this whole piece. He is absolutely right about the downfall of the conservative movement.

It is really quite simple: We betrayed our small government mantra with big government action.

He says:

None of this is the fault of the left. After the events of the 20th century–national socialism, international socialism, inter-species socialism from Earth First–anyone who is still on the left is obviously insane and not responsible for his or her actions. No, we on the right did it. The financial crisis that is hoisting us on our own petard is only the latest (if the last) of the petard hoistings that have issued from the hindquarters of our movement. We’ve had nearly three decades to educate the electorate about freedom, responsibility, and the evils of collectivism, and we responded by creating a big-city-public-school-system of a learning environment.

Liberalism had been running wild in the nation since the Great Depression. At the end of the Carter administration we had it cornered in one of its dreadful low-income housing projects or smelly public parks or some such place, and we held the Taser gun in our hand, pointed it at the beast’s swollen gut, and didn’t pull the trigger. Liberalism wasn’t zapped and rolled away on a gurney and confined somewhere until it expired from natural causes such as natural law or natural rights.

Read the whole thing.

Posted in America, Corrupted Culture, Political Animals | 5 Comments »

Mandatory Civil Service

Rahm Emmanuel has some ideas about what to do with America’s youth. Remember when Bush took office and the Left kvetched incessantly about a draft or mandatory military service? What they accuse others of…..

Can you say indoctrination?

Posted in America, Political Animals | 23 Comments »