Posted on 11/07/2008 10:43:31 PM PST by Jim Robinson
As the implosion of the defeated Republican campaign continued yesterday, the landscape of American conservatism was dotted with signs that these were very strange times indeed.
Rush Limbaugh, behemoth of rightwing radio, took to the airwaves to declare war on two enemies: Barack Obama and the Republican party. Bloggers at FreeRepublic.com, an internet hub for conservatives, announced a boycott of Fox News and John McCain's aides fell over one another to leak embarrassing details about the campaign to the press.
Liberals, indulging in what the writer Andrew Sullivan termed "Palinfreude", were presented with a smorgasbord, ranging from the tale of how McCain's pro-Palin foreign policy adviser had his Blackberry confiscated in the closing days of the race, to how the party had paid for Todd Palin's silk boxer shorts.
The fighting consuming the McCain and Palin camps threatened to derail broader efforts to overhaul the Republican party after Tuesday's decisive defeat, for which some insiders blamed Sarah Palin. Veterans of the right gathered in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, on Thursday for a summit on the movement's future, but even as they did so, the blame went on.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it is worse than I thought," Limbaugh told listeners. "What the Republican party, led by disgruntled and failed McCain staffers, is trying to do to Sarah Palin, is unconscionable ... There are country-club, blue-blood ... Republicans who want nothing to do with a firebrand conservative [who] can fire up people." He added: "We're going to be taking on two things here [over] the next four years: Obama, and our own party establishment."
John Fund, a Wall Street Journal columnist, said he had received multiple calls from campaign aides wanting "to use me as a conduit for their complaints".
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk:80 ...
Forgive my curiousity, but I am curious nonetheless, Mr. Robinson; but what is your take on all of this and Governor Palin? Feel free to tell me to go away. :)
I know how you really feel about John McCain....
...just let it out Jim.
I tend to agree with the comment in the article that the problem is the consultants who are always looking for another job. They’re loyal only to themselves.
It does look like Steve Schmidt is the source of a lot of these stories, though. Odd. He was a Bush-Cheney guy and he’s a real press hater.
We need to identify some names here. Because none of these leakers - who don’t even have the guts to make their claims on the record - should be allowed within a mile of any other Republican campaign.
I like Governor Palin. I think we have a whole bunch of liberals, jealous RINO women and girly RINO men that are scared witless because she’s a true blue, God-fearing, gun-toting American pro-Life & Liberty conservative woman who talks the talk and walks the walk.
I’m not declaring war on the Republican party, but they will be hearing from me often. And I plan on working hard with Sardo if he decides to challenge Drier again in the next primary. I am sick and tired of watching every gain we had since 1980 get tossed under the bus as our party continues to become more and more liberal.
I even watched those who are suppose to represent our interests start distancing themselves from Prop 8, so they don’t ‘appear like bigots’ - excuse me, my marriage means something, it also means between a man and a woman, and even though the liberals have managed to change it to be ‘a union between two people’, my dictionary still says man and woman, and so does my state constitution now.
I’m also sick and tired of seeing religious conservatives tossed under the bus around here. Sure, I don’t agree with them on everything, or rather, the order of importance is where our disagreement is. But they are the core of the party, and to have their opinions discarded out of hand because it makes people uncomfortable on the golf course... I’ve had enough of it.
None of these cowards should be allowed in public again.
Oddly enough, I heard Fox has offered them all their very own consulting spot and/or individual show. /s
Andrew Sullivan joins Arianna Huffington as the two columnists who managed to be bipartisanly boring--as "conservatives" and now as liberals. Two screaming queens who are so molar-crackingly loud that no one with more than half a brain has the patience to get through their silly rants.
There were a few bright spots in the campaign and Palin was the brightest. Losing RepublicaRats like Gordon Smith was another.
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
McLame ran a lousy campaign, he was not conservative enough and went on the attack much too late. Sarah Smile infused some much-needed life into the campaign and I only hope she runs for higher office in the future and doesn’t disappear.
Thank you for your reply!
Sarah Palin is a hero to me, and I’m sure other women like me for all the reasons you mention and because she demonstrates that it is possible to be a “feminist” (a successful career woman who believes in equal rights for women), and still be traditional, as well as having a deeply conservative core!
“None of these cowards should be allowed in public again.
Oddly enough, I heard Fox has offered them all their very own consulting spot and/or individual show. /s”
Chris Wallace has said that Nicolle Wallace isn’t one of the sources (disputing Frum’s accusation).
That’s probably one off the list.
It really does look like the primary source is Schmidt, if you read the Newsweek article on the campaign.
My guess is that someone who coached Palin probably had a few drinks and told their friends a few confidential anecdotes about the process, which were then embellished by an overzealous Obama supporter. Seems like the Republicans have been rather gracious losers, but the Dems are inexplicably Sore Winners as exemplified by these ridiculous portrayals of Palin as a Diva and Obama’s cheap shot at Nancy Reagan. Such hubris will come back to bite them on the a*s.
I agree 100%, Jim. She's honest, straightfoward, no-BS, and we know exactly where she stands, start to finish.
I hope she continues to govern Alaska for the next few years, and meanwhile studies up on national and world affairs in preparation for a run against Obama in 2012.
My liberal friends seem to think she's the antichrist, largely because of the lies propagated by the media the last few months. I gave up talking with them about her.
I believe that she's strong-hearted and that we'll see her again, either leading the Republican ticket, or an independent one if the R's can't get their stuff together.
I thought Greta said tonight that Steve Schmidt said that the “towel story”, at least, was not true.
Then again, if anybody would know how the press would lap this stuff up, it would be someone like Steve Schmidt.
This is all so disgusting. It just makes me sick.
And if McCain doesn’t come out soon and blast these jerks publicly, and soon, I am going to lose serious respect for him! (I can’t say ALL respect, because I most certainly respect his service to our country.)
The fact is liberals have deviously infiltrated the party for a number of years.
A picture is worth 1000 words. This woman exudes humanity from every pore.
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