LIBERALS THEN, LIBERALS NOW--ALWAYS THE SAME

NRO - The Corner ^ | 6/6/04 | Steve Hayward/Jonah Goldberg

[swilhelm73]

LIBERALS THEN, LIBERALS NOW--ALWAYS THE SAME [Steve Hayward] I've seen a few commentators say things like, "Gee, politics was more civil back when Reagan was around; things have really turned nasty under George W. Bush." Au contraire.

We should recall what the libs said about Reagan back then. Sample: Henry Fairlie in the Washington Post, writing on the Republican convention in 1980:

"The Reaganites on the floor were exactly those who in Germany gave the Nazis their main strength and who in France collaborated with them and sustained Vichy.” Fairlie was just warming up; adding that Reagan’s constituency was “narrow minded, book banning, truth censoring, mean spirited; ungenerous, envious, intolerant, afraid; chicken, bullying; trivially moral, falsely patriotic, family cheapening, flag cheapening, God cheapening; the common man, shallow, small, sanctimonious.” One imagines that Farlie’s thesaurus could have outlasted the Post’s printing press. Posted at 09:17 AM

LIBERALS THEN [Jonah Goldberg]

Here's what (CNN's) Bill Schneider wrote in 1984 in the New Republic:

"Reaganism is economic elitism. It is the view that hunger in America is merely anecdotal, that the homeless are homeless by choice, and that only the morally unworthy have been hurt by the administration's policies."

Posted at 09:23 AM

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

During the dot com boom under Xlinton liberals weren't whining about "greed" then.

[goldstategop]

They've only become more extreme since the 80s.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

Bill Schneider has been very wrong now for at least two decades. Doesn't seem to put a dent in CNN's reliance on him to tell the rest of us what time it is.

My favorite instance of Schneider stepping in it was a cover piece he had in The Atlantic Monthly - which was out just before the 1992 Election - entitled "the Suburban Century" or something similar. It pointed out the suburban migration pattern had led to a preponderance of Republican dominated counties - which would lead to Republican Presidential victories from 1992 on out. 

Ooops!

Of course none of what followed - two terms of Bill Clinton - would ever lead The Atlantic Monthly or CNN or anyone who hires Schneider to issue a disclaimer. He's the kind of "expert" they like.

[Capitalism2003]

"Need" now means wanting someone else's money. "Greed" means wanting to keep your own. "Compassion" is when a politician arranges the transfer. – Joseph Sobran, columnist.

[laconic]

Having seen Bill Schneider over the years on CNN, I'd say that HUNGER should be the least of his worries.

[SandRat]

swilhelm73, I think this says it all too well.

AM: Hope I'm not violating any posting/reply rule by entering this from the Palm Beach Post.

[cwb]

Not that I believe there's a conspiracy, but I think the media and Dems are taking this oppurtunity to "act" as if they always cared about Reagan and that all this recent division is product of Republican mean-spiritedness. I've already seen Woodruff comment on how things seemed so much more civil back in the old days...as she was interviewing Dan Rostankowski, who agreed. This, as with all things liberal, is more revisionsim.

[Inspectorette]

Dan Rostankowski

Talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel...

[darth]

Hell, I was there. The liberal media HATED Reagan with a passion and used every opportunity to bash him. RWR's policies and gentlemanly manner sent the Left into convulsions. The same bunch of pinko losers (like J. F'n Kerry) supported the communist thugs in Nicaragua right in the middle of the Cold War. Reagan's margin of support in Congress for his policies was sometimes very slim. The liberals that hide their true feelings and politics now were much more open back then.

[Red Barr]

Have you noticed with “today’s” voters who are leftist they are shrugging off the liberal tag as if it was a “curse” could it be they are finally seeing the light? But of course they are using a up to date “handle” name called progressive, that’s like throwing out a soiled diaper, and then put a clean diaper on without a wipe.

[Red Barr]

Have you noticed with “today’s” voters who are leftist they are shrugging off the liberal tag as if it was a “curse” could it be they are finally seeing the light? But of course they are using a up to date “handle” name called progressive, that’s like throwing out a soiled diaper, and then put a clean diaper on without a wipe.

[Badeye]

While its nice some are documenting the history of liberals and their various inaccurate pronouncements, the fact is liberalism hasn't come up with a new idea in over five decades.

Liberalism as a political belief is in effect bankrupt, having been so thoroughly discredited liberals have been forced to change their own self definition to "progressives" or "moderates".