David Frum does not like Sarah Palin. He hasn’t liked her pretty much since he heard her name, or at least since he laid eyes on her, or at least since she was nominated as V.P. candidate, or at least since she didn’t go away and hibernate in Alaska.
David Frum Republicans also do not like Sarah Palin. Never did, never will.
So the latest criticism of Palin by Frum borders on the absurd, Is Palin Alienating Israel’s GOP Friends?
By Israel’s GOP Friends Frum means the Republican Jewish Coalition. I have no problem with the RJC, but Frum’s argument that Palin alienated the RJC by not booking her trip to Israel through the RJC appears to be wishful thinking by Frum:
Over the months since November 2008, the RJC had repeatedly offered to organize an Israel tour for Palin. They have repeatedly invited Palin to speak at their meetings. As a member of the RJC board, I know that Palin’s team engaged in extended conversations about these invitations. Yet they were abruptly shelved. The RJC organization learned that its invitation would not be accepted the same way everybody else did: by reading the newspaper.
Why? We cannot know for certain. But we do know this: Some members of the RJC board — including me, and one or two others — have publicly said critical things about Palin.
The seeming result: Palin decided the RJC was dead to her.
Which is of course her prerogative.
But normally candidates are in the business of adding to the number of their friends — including converting former non-friends into new friends. Candidates seek to broaden their basis of support. They are more interested in future successes than in past irritations.
Successful candidates are strategic. They may hold grudges, but they do not reveal their grudges. And they do not act on their grudges against their own best interests….
As I mentioned, I’m an RJC board member myself. I’ve been a Palin critic, but until now most of my colleagues have disagreed with me. Yet, once again, Palin seems to focus her energy on proving her critics right.
Even as a non-fan, I have to say: It all seems so sadly unnecessary.
Sorry, but I find it hard to believe that the people at the RJC — other than the Frum Republicans — really are so upset that Palin’s private trip after her stop in India was organized by Palin.
Really, are the folks there so petty that they will let their egos get in the way, as Frum suggests? I think Palin’s unwavering support for Israel, and the symbolism which accompanied the trip, will count for a lot more than how she booked her trip.
Alex Pareene at Salon.com picks up on the Frum criticism (emphasis mine):
Sarah Palin can’t even do the routine Israel trip without pissing off some important would-be ally. This is more evidence that if Sarah Palin is serious about running for president, she’s not going about it in the traditional — which is to say “professional” — manner. It’ll just be her and her crack team of loyalists, led by Todd, against the establishment and the world.
Pareene gets the “pissing off” part wrong, but the non-traditional part right.
Palin cannot lose the support of the Frum Republicans, because the support never was there to begin with.
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Comments
To me, David Frum is about one or two steps away from being on the same "conservative" plane as Andrew Sullivan.
Professor Jacobson: Must I take my suits to an RJC-approved dry cleaner if I want David Frum to admire my pants crease?
Duh!
Palin goes to Israel and makes two public comments. One of which is “Why are you apologizing all the time?”
Contentions – Unapologetic in Israel
Commentary, Contentions
Her comment quite possibly referenced the following article from American Thinker. Palin is known to be both a regular American Thinker reader and very supportive of Israel.
Two Jews, By Anne Lieberman
American Thinker
which in turn references this 100 year old essay:
Instead of Excessive Apology, by Ze'ev Jabotinsky, 1911
Paula Says
Who are we supposed to take seriously here?
I lack the gene to perceive nuance. Do I get a check?
What Frum is saying is that Palin should be breathlessly and tirelessly working to win his support. I think he's going to be waiting a long time, and rightfully so. Frum is the kind of guy that will work tirelessly to defeat Palin in the primaries, and then, if she wins the nomination anyway, will be doggedly inserting himself into the campaign anyway, or trying to, and offering all kinds of unsolicited advice and referring campaign and referring campaign advisers to her, those professional types that will try to remake her image in order to make her more "electable" to the "mainstream". In other words, try to make her ditch the tea-party folks. When people like him insist that Palin can't win, its not an analysis, its a threat.
Sarah Palin keeps a little Israeli flag in her office.
Should I worry about not knowing much about Frum or the RJC.
I've chased off off a number of "Jewish" blogs (what ever they turn out to be) for suggesting that the leftists are NOT their friends.
I have a number of terms that I use in lieu of "David Frum Republican" which are both pithier and earthier, and succintly capture his desire to be viewed well by people who despise conservatism. The nicest one would be "ankle-grabber".
Let's see. Palin gets private, very friendly meeting with PM. PM's people ask if she could expand that to a larger, more formal meeting. She politely declines but says she's planning a longer trip later.
http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=213220
Maybe PM knows more about how to support Israel than Frum.
If RJC supports Israel, maybe it should consider asking Frum not to speak on its behalf.
Why does anyone who is either Republican or Conservative care what Frum says? I know – the MSM uses him as the "token Republican/Conservative voice" – but he is so wrong.
Why don't the Republicans just denounce him, and call him out? Oh, I forgot – there are so many MANY who agree with him, and want him to do their dirty work of saying what they're thinking. And – since the MSM says it's so, it MUST be twue!
If Republicans and Conservatives don't get a spine, some 'nads, and some strategy, then we are going to "snatch victory from the jaws of defeat" as the saying goes, in 2012. All of which Gov. Palin has, by the way.
Wasn't it Reagan who said we should not ever speak ill of a fellow Republican? Frum, you need to learn to "say something nice, or don't say nuthin' at all." Elementary.
Is Frum trying to goad Palin into a Naderesque third-party run?
I'm not sure whether my question is rhetorical.
Frum is a Democrat, he just hasn't formally left the Republican party yet. His site is pathetic joke. The writers are a few college-age interns, registered Democrats, and a few other self-styled "moderate" Republicans with pet causes, primarily environmental causes and gay rights. It is the same group of about 30 regulars who leave comments on the site, 90% of whom are Democrats.
The sooner Frum and his self-styled "moderate" RINOs leave the party the better. The American electorate deserves a meaningful choice between liberal governance and genuine conservative governance. And as Ann Coulter has noted, when given a meaningful choice Americans will choose a genuine conservative.
I fear for the future of the Republican party. I left during the Bush years and won't return until the purge of Frum-style moderates is complete. If the Republican party chooses Romney in 2012 I think it may be the demise of the Party.
I saw Frum on MSNBC not long ago. I wonder if he's going to appear on MSNBC again tonight, or on Morning Joe tomorrow morning, to try to reach a larger audience with his theory.
Considering the MSNBC talking heads have plenty of material to talk about, what with Obama being AWOL since ordering the bombings of Libya and the situation in Japan still fluid, I'd say there's still a 50/50 chance that Frum will appear on MSNBC to continue to try to drive a wedge between Palin and Republican Jews.
Because from what I can tell, the only reason he wrote the article is to try to drive a wedge between Palin and Republican Jews and goad her into a reaction.
Frum considers himself conservative?
Seriously?
(No, I'm not being "shocked" for style's sake– I thought he'd long ago gone the opposite route of folks like Neo-Neocon, and formally consider himself an "independent." (the sort that vote mostly D, with a large dose of professional political make-the-system-work-for-the-servants viewpoint.)
Most American Jewish organizations will support anyone who promises to exterminate them. Case in point Keith Ellison http://plancksconstant.org/blog1/2006/11/if_hitler_ran_as_a_d.html
Sarahs are from Venus and Mars, RINOs are just frum.
David Frum, David Frum, you're saying he's a real person and not another George Soros creation? Wow, so he's irrelevant instead of fictitious? That might be a tiny uptick in status, but not much on which his mother could take pride.
As to his mother, 49er, she was Barbara Frum who used to have a public affairs show, "As It Happens," on Canadian radio, which I enjoyed. My politics were more liberal then (of course "liberal" meant something else) but I recall her as incisive, tough, and fair. She also had a tv show which I saw less often.
Sarah Palin wouldn't be my first choice for president, although I am still a bit astonished to find myself saying, "But I'll vote for any Republican next time out.' But God bless her; Israel has few enough friends as it is.
Some months ago I saw her speak to a conservative group, during which she lauded Israel as an embattled friend, an ally, a country that shares our values and deserves our wholehearted support–and she brought the crowd rising to its feet, cheering.
I recall thinking that there aren't any liberal non-Jewish groups where similar rhetoric would produce similar support…and it certainly wouldn't do that at a J Street conference.
Ok, Palin is 1) a patriotic, God-fearing American, 2) a MOTHER and wife and 3) a honest-to-goodness public servant who worked her way up the OLD FASHIONED WAY and wearing FLEECE, no less.. she single-handedly turned the 2010 mid-terms RED.. HISTORICALLY SO! I don't care what she does. She represents THE BEST OF US.
Frum, like another well known blogger who has a brother that is a reporter, is trying to stay relevant. But their brand of "conservatism" is not what the people want. Frum, who consideres himself an insider elite, has pushed for the Republican party to become a "big tent" party by moving hard left. Now he appears on the MSM being used as the "useful idiot" who is willing to slam conservatism because he thinks it makes him look important. You know; educated, Northern, metropolitian. All the things that the elites think are important.
He is not important, and he is also not part of the solution. He is one of those who are the problem. But how dare the little people question him. Surely everyone knows that the RJC speaks for ALL Jewish people.
Palin is a strong supporter of Israel, and has never made any bones about it. Too bad that the RJC is not willing to give Israel the same support, becoming more active in stopping the snubbing Israel is getting from Pinocchio In Chief.
Hate speech Frum another RINO. He's probably just jealous that Bibi didn't invite him to dinner.
Frum is about to get my foot up his sorry ASS
"Really, are the folks there so petty that they will let their egos get in the way, as Frum suggests?"
Frum is, so he assumes everyone is.
It's more often a man problem, Frum: erect egos in public can be pretty embarrassing… Frum.
Wow, those RINOs sure do take themselves seriously.
…..at least someone does.
The GOP establishment, the Dem establishment, and the bulk of the media are against Sarah Palin. All she has on her side is the truth, and millions of supporters. I wouldn’t bet against her.
There is no plural of "David Frum Republican."