There’s pretty much doom and gloom all the time in the right blogosphere.
Most of the bloggers I follow are having a hard time staying away from sharp objects as we glance towards November and the possibility of the teflon president tefloning his way towards a tefloned personal popularity by the tefloning mainstream media, which sticks (it) only to conservatives.
(As he reaches for heavy meds, he says) But my spirits are lifted when I read columns like this by E.J. Dionne telling us that conservatives are one step away from a coup d’etat of the intellectual sort, The right’s stealthy coup:
Right before our eyes, American conservatism is becoming something very different from what it once was. Yet this transformation is happening by stealth because moderates are too afraid to acknowledge what all their senses tell them….
If our nation’s voters want to move government policy far to the right, they are entirely free to do so. But those who regard themselves as centrist have a moral obligation to make clear what the stakes are in the current debate. If supposed moderates refuse to call out the new conservatism for the radical creed it has become, their timidity will make them complicit in an intellectual coup they could have prevented.
If only. If only.
Maybe I’ll start reading E.J. Dionne and other liberal columnists more often. It’s better than a happy pill. And there’s no co-pay or deductible.
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My feel good story of the day……..
Seek medical attention if feelings of optimism last longer than 4 hours.
Most of the bloggers I follow are having a hard time staying away from sharp objects as we glance towards November and the possibility of the teflon president tefloning his way towards a tefloned personal popularity by the tefloning mainstream media, which sticks (it) only to conservatives.
wince It’s a good sign for a President when his opposition describes him as teflon.
Afterthought: Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton were the two previous so-called teflon Presidents. No matter whether or not one agreed with their policies and no matter how Clinton rates as a human being, their Presidencies were successful.
For the country, the ominous thing about Obama is that he retains the teflon label despite being the worst President in decades or more.
Ha! Yet another “Boo!” article aimed at the timid GOP crypt-keepers, to keep them in line.
There’s nothing the GOP elite hates worse than to be thought of a stupid. Nothing.
(That is to say, Dionne’s article, not the Prof’s!)
Yeah? It doesn’t seem to bother them that the entire conservative base thinks theiy’re idiots.
E.J. Dionne, centrist…
BWWWWAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA…
Like Chrissy Matthews is a centrist.
Only in a room full of Maoists.
Or Washington, DC….
I am heartened to see Mr. Dionne’s attempt at “fair and balanced.” However in order for him to write about this sans bias, he would have to write about his friendship with the President dating back to their involvement with the Saguaro Seminar at Harvard. George Stephanopoulos also took part in the seminar.
Note that the future President’s Pac HopeFund partnered with the Pro-Abortion Group Emily’s List. Mr. Dionne has remained silent on this little-known piece of the War on Religion disguised as the War on Women.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/03/hopefund_and_change_breaking_t_1.html
Rather than depression, I think there’s a low-key simmering anger out there at the media for its pro-Obama bias and attempts to cover-up the truth, at Obama for his over-reach and attempts to intimidate opponents, and at the political establishment for its neglect and attempts to create fear and division. This is leading to an overflowing boiling tea kettle of voter disgust when the November elections come and we can vote Obama and his ilk out.
OT but related: Rep. Allen West is looking at the SCOTUS and the Chicago-on-the-Potomac thugs going after the justices in full on his Facebook page.
That is another thing that encourages me – those solid Conservatives who are standing against thuggery are sounding the alarm in whatever way they can, alerting people, hoping to circumvent or per-emptively strike the left.
This is what keeps my spirits up. We’re on to them. 🙂
Agreed.
The only option is to bring it to them. Call them out, one by one by one.
The majority of Americans believe a code of ethics still exists. Part of winning over Independents will depend on how effectively we can show the blatant advocacy going on that is not even close to reporting.
Shoot, I think we’re doing really well on a lot of fronts.
OWS is a gift that will keep on giving, and lead to a “law and order” component this election cycle.
The Deemocrat race-baiters are going to introduce a bunch of new gun-control bills, in the face of the reality that Ruger cannot make enough guns to meet demand. How do you think that’ll work out?
Does anybody really feel the public sees Sandra FLUCK as America’s sweet-heart?
Poor Trayvon(tm) as the face of our current race relations?
C’mon, buck up…!!!
Being conservative is now a “radical creed”?
Isn’t this the same guy who called tea partiers racists and terrorists?
EJ makes me chuckle and smile at his doofusness.
The media walkbacks in the Trayvon Martin shooting case are piling up.
ABC News has pulled the plug on its breakthrough video showing an uninjured Zimmerman being taken to the police station.; their new, enhanced video “Shows Injury”. Oops. In related report, a local news outlet had reported a chat with Zimmerman’s neighbor, who said George was bandaged and bruised. Obviously, this supports Zimmerman’s self-defense story. Or, if you prefer, it makes it harder for a prosecutor to overcome his self-defense claim.
NBC News is investigating their deplorable editing of a video in which they trimmed part of Zimmerman’s 911 call down to “This guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks black.” Oops.
And the NY Times has quashed the “Large Scary Man Chasing Helpless Child” meme with the news that Zimmerman weighed 170 pounds and Martin weighed 150. Oops. Obviously, this makes Zimmerman’s self-defense story more plausible, as even Charles Blow should admit.
Heckuva job by the media. We may have race riots in Florida so I hope they enjoyed their time on the fashionable side of this story.
–Just One Minute
What happens when you wave the bloody shirt, and cry wolf (to mix my metaphors)? What happens when you are caught lying?
You double down and lie some more.
That’s how the lamestream “media” works.
In their minds, if they repeat it enough times it becomes truth.
Remember “Bush tax cuts for the rich?”
Perfect example.
But you counter that…and REALLY piss them off…by simply asking…
“How is an across-the-board rate reduction a ‘tax cut for the rich'”?
See, just speaking the truth HURTS them like salt on a slug.
Yeah, but nobody did that, did they? The Republicans were pathetic back then.
I’m not sure they’re any better today, although I do love the Chairman of the party, Priebus.
He blasts the truth every time he gets on the air.
Another Wisconsinite.
I wonder if there’s something in the water over there?
Of course they said it. You can look it up to satisfy yourself.
Now, Bush and his administration did not say it enough, but LOTS of us (i.e., Conservatives) were saying it in every possible venue.
And, when Bad Luck Barry EXTENDED the Bush rates, we were quick to remind people of WHY (they tend to stimulate economic activity), and that the “cuts for the rich” BS was ALWAYS a lie.
I think Dionne is advancing a false narrative when he says the Republican Party is becoming more right wing. It just doesn’t jive with history.
As I’ve noted before, the REALITY is that the far-left Progressive Caucus has increased from 6 members in 1990 to 84 members now. The more moderate Blue Dog Democrat Caucus has been crushed during that time. With the famous 2010 Democrat “shellacking”, the Progressive Caucus lost a grand total of 1 net member. By definition, the far more moderate Blue Dogs took almost the entire brunt of the “shellacking”.
What this means is that the Democrat Party has shifted far to the left in the past 20 years (it actually started sooner when the neoconservatives started bolting in the late 1970s when they became appalled that the Democrat Party was actively recruiting and echoing ideology of the New Left activists). But during the past 20 years, the few moderates in the Democrat AND Republican Parties — always wanting to “get things done” — helped drag policy farther to the left. Even, oddly, during the Bush Administration when Republicans controlled all three houses and they created a new unfunded entitlement with Medicare Part D, passing No Child Left Behind, seriously considered an amnesty bill for illegals, the whole concept of “compassionate conservatism”, etc. All non-conservative.
I don’t believe Americans or Republicans are becoming more right wing. I think the pendulum had swung too far left. I think we’re simply trying to force the pendulum back to the center-right. Yes, moderates in the Republican Party were part of the problem and they’re mostly being dealt with through primaries or attrition – just as the Democrats have dealt with the moderate Blue Dogs in their party.
Tom Friedman declared yesterday on TV that the Republican Party is now a “radical” party. Dionne is echoing that same sentiment by talking about how “radical” conservatism has become. But when they make those claims they never acknowledge that it may simply be a natural reaction to the policy of the past 20 years that the electorate views shifted too far leftward.
“I think Dionne is advancing a false narrative when he says the Republican Party is becoming more right wing. It just doesn’t jive with history.”
I agree, especially since we have a “moderate” being pushed to be our nominee.
“I don’t believe Americans or Republicans are becoming more right wing. I think the pendulum had swung too far left. I think we’re simply trying to force the pendulum back to the center-right. Yes, moderates in the Republican Party were part of the problem and they’re mostly being dealt with through primaries or attrition – just as the Democrats have dealt with the moderate Blue Dogs in their party. ”
Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner.
“Tom Friedman declared yesterday on TV that the Republican Party is now a “radical” party. Dionne is echoing that same sentiment by talking about how “radical” conservatism has become. But when they make those claims they never acknowledge that it may simply be a natural reaction to the policy of the past 20 years that the electorate views shifted too far leftward.”
Therefore these comments support your theory of promoting a false narrative.
Great post.
You remind me of the European Jew in post-WWI Europe who was talking to a friend. The friend was complaining about how poor, downtrodden, and discriminated-against the Jews were.
Replied the first one:”I have the ideal antidote. I read Der Sturmer [the newspaper of the Nazi party]. According to them, Jews run the banks, Jews run the media, Jews run the whole world. That really cheers me up.”
Hate to say it, but the parallels may be prophetic.
I think it’s Coulter that says if you want to know what the left is up to, listen to the wild accusations they make against the right.
They accuse the Tea party of being all astroturf, yet they are the ones using Media Matters and other billionaire funded groups to organize marches, and to attack Rush or other conservatives.
Liberals jammed through this unpopular health care law. And what they really want is “single payer”, government only health care. Obama and others have admitted their “coup” of the health care system involves breaking the current system, forcing excessive spending on insurance, and forcing excessive rules on insurers.
Poor Ms. Fluke must have her free contraceptives, so as to avoid ANY burden. That is their path to “single payer”, complete control.
Geithner has spoken of a world currency, Panetta wants UN approval for our armed forces deployments, others in the Obama admin’ have praised Mao or Chavez. Is it really a secret that the coup oriented party is the Democrat party? Republicans that want law and order, that propose budgets, and want smaller government … they are the radicals?
I wonder if liberal academia world actually believes this tripe, or if they are just practiced in Orwellian style propaganda. Skyrocket energy prices, skyrocket health care prices, trillion+ dollar deficits forever, … isn’t “fundamentally transforming America” kinda radical?
Post-election headline prediction:
“Unexpected Overwhelming Rejection of First Black President Proves America is Racist!!!”
Cheer up – he’s toast.
That’s when the riots will really begin.
This Trayvon show is just a trial-balloon.
Mark my words.
Nope. Everywhere OUTSIDE the Mushroom Media newsrooms and a few other places…
the morning after a REJECTION of the Obamabanana Republic will be the dawn of a renaissance in America.
Remember Reagan’s first? The only people who had “my dog died” expressions were the networks and elite papers.
It’s E.J.’s “hard bigotry of high expectations.”
James Fallows at the Atlantic has an even better headline:
‘A Conservative Coup d’Etat’.
I’m not so pessimistic. A couple of weeks ago, Karl Rove wrote about Obama’s “enthusiasm gap.” It’s one thing to mouth pseudo-inspirational garbage when you’re blank slate, it’s another to continue doing so when you’ve got a record to defend. When your biggest supporters are saying that the fault of ObamaCare is with the public (the voting public!) and when your supporters label the Supreme Court as extremists you are (politically) running on empty. The GOP doesn’t need to a great candidate. They need a good one (even one with flaws like Romney) to win. (I suppose you’d argue that Romney is not a good candidate. That is where we would differ.)
When the biggest issues the President’s supporters promote are Sandra Fluke and Trayvon Martin, they are saying “change the subject.”
http://blog.american.com/2012/04/the-obama-jobs-gap-is-up-to-15-million-missing-jobs/
Yeppers. It ain’t working, and it costs the Mushroom Media MORE of their creds.
[…] and William Jacobson is impressed with the awesome success Dionne ascribes to the Right: “Are We Really Doing That Well?” What’s E.J. really up to? And who the hell does he think he’s fooling? What Dionne is […]
How can anyone oppose individual dignity? It is, ostensibly, the reason for rejecting slavery, discrimination, etc, and tolerating consensual deviant behaviors including homosexuality, which do not otherwise pose an immediate threat to the stability of society. How can anyone embrace involuntary exploitation? It is one principal aspect of slavery that normal people despise. However, if you reject both arguments, then surely it is clear that progressive corruption — fundamental corruption — of individuals and society which follows from redistributive and retributive change is undesirable for everyone, eventually.
The only advantage held by left-wing ideologues is their promises of physical, material, and ego instant gratification. There are some individuals, including narcissists, opportunists, and vulnerable, who will exchange their dignity and defer their judgment for those promises. Fortunately, or unfortunately, those promises are difficult to fulfill in the real world. As for other arguments for centralization, and further denigration of individual dignity, as competing interests are marginalized, and power physically removed from the people, then when corruption arises it is that much more difficult to hold authoritarian interests accountable for their actions.
In any case, both American Conservatives and Libertarians appreciate the concept of voluntary exploitation, including charitable donations and works, which both preserve individual dignity and offer aid to individuals when they falter. There is no need and, in fact, it is counterproductive to pursue policies of progressive involuntary redistribution.
Well, the number of left leaning individuals in America has ballooned. However, they are still in the minority, albeit a large minority, and it is imperative to preserve the letter and spirit of the founding document, The Declaration of Independence, and the organizational document, The Constitution, while there remains sufficient interest. The alternative path described by The Declaration of Independence would not be in anyone’s interest to pursue.
The American left needs to reconsider their motivations and methods, and seek a compromise with their competing interests. The selective rule of law has been especially damaging to the cohesiveness and productivity of our society. They must reject their regressive stances, including exploiting class conflicts, and pursue positive progress.
“Conservatives and Libertarians appreciate the concept of voluntary exploitation”
I gotta take some exception to that term (exploitation).
We perform charitable works because we find they have utility for us. That can take any number of forms, but we are not being “exploited” by any definition with which I am familiar.
This is totally consistent with Adam Smith’s concept of “self-interest”. It is useful to remember that Smith was a moralist, and a very high order thinker.
Did you ever notice that no matter who is doing the talking, the wishy-washy RINO or the left of Castro “progressive”, they always talk about how the conservatives are trying to pull the Republicans too far to the right.
You never hear them saying “We need to tell Debbie Wasserman Shultz or Barack Obama to stop going so far to the left so we can be more centrist!”
Nope. It’s always those conservatives who are radicals. If anything on the left they insist Obama is not going far enough.
That said let’s ignore the calls for more “centrism” by people who are clearly wanting our side to fail.
I read that piece of Dionne’s – well, as much as I could stand, anyway – and the thing I think he is unaware of is that those phrases come out of some kind of brief filed by Levin’s group… not sure of the details, but Levin was going over it on his show – playing clips of the Justices’ questions, and reading from his own filing.
What I mean is, I don’t think the Justices’ are spouting right-wing talking points, but rather legal arguments… maybe someone else has more, I was distracted while listening, and wasn’t clear where his filing was made…
[…] Pure coincidence, I’m sure… […]
Government agencies will lie about improvements in the economy. The MSM will lie. They will make up poll numbers. The will “fact check” and declare that the administration is as pure as the driven snow while all Republicans are blatant liars. They will buy Intrade stock to show an imminent Obama win. They will cheat on absentee ballots and early voting. They will cheat on election day.
They will do all of this in order to convince us that voting this awful president out of office is not possible. So why bother?
Ummm, remember being a rebellious teenager. Crank that up again. If a pollster calls: “Why yes, I’m an Independent and I like the President. I’ll be voting for Mr Obama…again.” Do it often. Run the game. Then vote Republican. I don’t care that Romney is an empty-suit flake, he is not a Marxist.
[…] E.J. Dionne shaking in his shoes? Via Legal Insurrection comes his essay titled The Right’s Stealthy Coup. Aren’t all coups stealthy? […]