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Kept Conservatives: Prominent Right-Wingers Who Sound Very Liberal
Townhall.com ^ | February 1, 2013 | Jerry Bowyer

Posted on 02/01/2013 9:33:02 AM PST by Kaslin

We’ve had a wide variety of conservative: the neo-cons, the paleo-cons and most recently the crunchy cons. Have you ever noticed how many of the most prominent conservative voices in America sound more like liberals? I have, and I believe they are in class all their own: they have a special mission and fit a particular profile.

They are what I like to call ‘kept cons.’ They are ‘kept’ by liberals in that kept cons generally work for liberal institutions and seem to fill the role of token conservative; they write conservative columns for national liberal newspapers or appear as conservative hosts or commentators on CNN or MSNBC or CNBC; but they don’t sound all that conservative. You can spot them slamming Sarah Palin or tamping down on the Tea Party. Their usual message is always something like, “I’m a conservative but these other people, these gun owners/southerners/TEA Partiers/Tax Cutters/Randians/Supply-siders/Pro-lifers/Climate Change Deniers/Libertarians/Gun Nuts/ Gold Bugs, etc., are beyond the pale.

The kept conservative’s announced job is to represent the conservative point of view, but their real job is to give the illusion of balance without really challenging any of the core tenets of liberalism. They spend lots of time ‘reinventing’ the Republican Party, and the new invention is always the same: more liberal. They live among liberals, their friends are liberals, and, of course, they are paid by liberals.

They don’t actually have to work for the New York Times Company or NBC Universal. Some of these kept cons work for think tanks funded by conservatives, when they can’t get government work. They might be employed by the American Enterprise Institute where they can collect steady paychecks between gigs working for government, or for campaigns for people who want to run governments, or running lobbying and public relations firms when the GOP is not in power.

They raise money from across the U.S. on the grounds that they will represent heartland values in the corrupt seat of political power. But, nevertheless, they live in Washington, D.C., they think like D.C., they are haunted by the fear that if their career flags too much they will be banished from D.C., and they fight each other for the right to sit on the floor nearest the table of the liberals, where they can get the biggest scraps which fall from that table.

They are the loyal opposition: loyal, that is, to the regime, not to the people. They are not the solution. In fact they are more of a problem than the liberals, because when occasionally they are in power, they spout disconnected free-market slogans while they spend us into oblivion and practice crony capitalism, giving free-markets an undeserved black eye. True resistance to socialism will not come from such an opposition force as our current conservative ruling elite. Better no opposition than faux opposition.

I don’t want to be too cynical. Kept conservatives may once have been true, principled conservatives, and may well have gone to Washington initially as Mr. Smiths, with pure intentions and a desire to save it. But unlike Jimmy Stewart’s character, when they got hit with the overwhelming allure and threat of great power, they ‘went native.’

For a time I ran a conservative think tank called the Allegheny Institute (more on that in a future column) which focused on free market solutions to local problems. This is where I first saw the phenomenon of the kept conservative up close and personal. I was an adviser to some members of the country commission.

Counties in America are often governed by a county commission system under three commissioners. The system is set up so that two are of the majority party and the third is of the minority party. In Allegheny County (the Pittsburgh region) that pretty much always meant two Democrats and one Republican. The only real fight the Republicans ever fought was not which party would govern the county, but which Republican would be the minority commissioner. If he didn’t make too much trouble, some small sliver of jobs patronage was thrown his way, maybe a few contracts for his favored vendors with the county, and a small staff on the county budget, plus his salary, benefits, driver, etc. Crumbs from the table of the Democrat machine.

I see the same thing on a national scale right now: Republican congressmen who are more afraid of losing their jobs than they are of losing their integrity. I get it, really I do. D.C. is a company town and the company is government and if the company keeps growing there’s something for everyone.

The safest route is to become invested in the mission of growing the company and keeping your bit of the big game safe. But if you take a risk, a real risk, and stand up for principle and just vote ‘no’ on the fiscal cave, or draw a line in the cement (enough with the lines in the sand, which are washed away with each new tide) and vote ‘no’ on new debt, you just might end up being exiled from all of that, sent back home to Poughkeepsie, New Rochelle, Upper St. Clair, Springfield, Greenville, Franklin or Fairview, where it’s back to work on Monday running the restaurant chain or the auto dealership. You probably don’t even get to be the head of some trade federation in D.C. because that’s really a former Senator kind of job; it’s not for just some House of Representative back-bencher. And forget about a plum think tank gig or CNBC/CNN/MSNBC Contributor gig at $500 a pop.

The opposite of a kept conservative could be called a ‘Saint Thomas More conservative’. He (or increasingly often, she) values integrity more than power. Thomas More, of course, valued his integrity even more than his life! I wonder: can’t we at least get conservatives in Washington who value their integrity more than their lifestyles?


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 02/01/2013 9:33:07 AM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

I was expecting to see a list of these useful idiots. Even though I’m sure most conservatives know all too well who they are.


2 posted on 02/01/2013 9:40:31 AM PST by IronJack (=)
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To: Kaslin
They are the loyal opposition: loyal, that is, to the regime, not to the people. They are not the solution. In fact they are more of a problem than the liberals, because when occasionally they are in power, they spout disconnected free-market slogans while they spend us into oblivion and practice crony capitalism, giving free-markets an undeserved black eye. True resistance to socialism will not come from such an opposition force as our current conservative ruling elite. Better no opposition than faux opposition.

Let it all burn to ash and nourish new growth.

3 posted on 02/01/2013 9:41:28 AM PST by TADSLOS ( "I ask sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few politicians."-George Mason)
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To: IronJack

I did too, but they could be anybody, even some in here


4 posted on 02/01/2013 9:42:04 AM PST by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
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To: Kaslin

Mika’s pet won’t like the tone of this article.


5 posted on 02/01/2013 9:44:28 AM PST by Iron Munro (I Miss America, don't you?)
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To: Kaslin

I stopped believing in labels a long, long time ago. There are a lot of “conservatives”, especially in the media, who are simply opportunists who want to make money. We all know a number of liberals who call themselves conservatives. But there are a lot of professional pundits who write “red meat” conservative articles who are absolutely useless to the conservative cause. I want someone who will effectively shrink the size of government. Not some blowhard who talks about it or who talks in bromides about limited government but does nothing more. I’m even sick of listening to a lot of pundits who really are conservative. They talk and talk and nothing happens.


6 posted on 02/01/2013 9:51:12 AM PST by Opinionated Blowhard ("When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.")
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To: Opinionated Blowhard

Excellent point


7 posted on 02/01/2013 9:53:26 AM PST by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
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To: Kaslin
For his shameless knee-padding of John Roberts and his health care ruling, I nominate Charles Krauthammer for a spot on the list.

http://staugustine.com/opinions/2012-07-02/krauthammer-why-roberts-did-it

8 posted on 02/01/2013 9:58:12 AM PST by Ken H
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To: Kaslin

I’ve heard that Geraldo Rivera is considering a run for U.S. Senate in New Jersey, as a Republican! He seems to me to be a very liberal guy; it will be interesting to see how he portrays himself.


9 posted on 02/01/2013 10:05:56 AM PST by JimRed (Excise the cancer before it kills us; feed &water the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS, NOW & FOREVER!)
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To: JimRed
You must have missed this thread

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2983975/posts

He was this morning on Fox and Friends and claimed to be a moderate Republican. Good thing he didn't claim to be a conservative Republican, or I would have barfed all over my keyboard

10 posted on 02/01/2013 10:19:56 AM PST by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
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To: Kaslin

Kept-Con..... Bill O’Really..


11 posted on 02/01/2013 10:37:59 AM PST by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole..)
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To: hosepipe

Bill O’Reilly is not a Republican, conservative, (which he never claimed to be btw), or a democrat, but a true Independent


12 posted on 02/01/2013 10:42:17 AM PST by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
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To: Kaslin

Bill O’Reilly is not a Republican, conservative, (which he never claimed to be btw), or a democrat, but a true Independent

&&&
And an egotistical blowhard.


13 posted on 02/01/2013 11:07:09 AM PST by Bigg Red (Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved! -Ps80)
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To: Kaslin
I did too, but they could be anybody, even some in here

I agree 1000%!



14 posted on 02/01/2013 1:32:08 PM PST by rdb3 (We're all going to get what only some of us deserve...)
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To: Kaslin

Bill O’Reilly is not a Republican, conservative, (which he never claimed to be btw), or a democrat, but a true Independent


Nor are Shemp Smith or “Butch” Van Sustern...


15 posted on 02/01/2013 3:09:36 PM PST by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole..)
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To: Kaslin

O’Reilly is whatever he feels like being that day. The one thing you can always count on him to be is a boring, arrogant, jerk. Can’t stand him, no matter what he claims to be.


16 posted on 02/01/2013 3:17:13 PM PST by beandog (All Aboard the Choo Choo Train to Crazy Town)
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To: IronJack

To be fair, FOX has token “liberals” who do this job, who sit there to present the liberal point of view. People such as Juan Williams. He will present a very shallow argument and allow the rest of the group to tear it to pieces. I suspect that is what their purpose of the phony conservatives are on the other channels. With one exception, they really are phonies, and designed not only to show that the “liberal” point of view is superior, but that “conservatives” are often racists bigots as well.


17 posted on 02/01/2013 4:08:07 PM PST by castlegreyskull
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To: Kaslin

The lefties consider these “conservatives” house-broken, unlike the opinionated “backwoodsmen”, who might spit in a flower-pot, say, or wipe their noses on their sleeves.

It’s a class thing.


18 posted on 02/02/2013 7:05:19 AM PST by headsonpikes (Mass murder and cannibalism are the twin sacraments of socialism - "Who-whom?"-Lenin)
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