Posted on 02/23/2015 1:52:16 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Scott Walker was not planning to outsource the job of defining his presidential campaign to Rudy Giuliani, a last-minute add-on to his New York speaking appearance. But that is exactly what transpired. While unplanned, Giuliani expressed a question of fundamental importance within the Republican Party, which allowed Walker to define himself unmistakably.
Giuliani defends his original claim in a Wall Street Journal op-ed today. In it, Giuliani argues that Obama is “criticizing his country more than other presidents have done, regardless of their political affiliation,” and likewise fails to express “a fundamental belief in the country’s greatness and the example we set for the world.” Both these claims are false. Previous presidents have criticized American historical failures and misdeeds as sharply as Obama, or even more so. Likewise, Obama has repeatedly emphasized his belief in America’s uniqueness and contributions to world peace.
But to conceive of this “debate” in the most literal terms misses all its importance. The question at issue is the right-wing conviction that Obama represents a unique and alien threat to American life. Versions of this belief have held, in descending increments of paranoia, that Obama concealed his overseas birth, that he has concealed his religious beliefs, and that he is vaguely plotting to harm America. Rush Limbaugh openly confessed to rooting for Obama to fail, his reasoning being that Obama was not actually trying to restore economic health — his goal was to weaken the free enterprise system in order to instill government social control. (“Democrats want to destroy this economy to their benefit, to create more and more poverty, to create more and more homelessness, to create more and more dependency on the federal government.”) The conviction has important strategic implications for the party. Since Obama did not merely believe in different policies but was pursuing a secretive and sinister agenda, it followed that there was no point in negotiating with Obama at all. And this is the strategic course most Republicans followed.
The significance of the debate is the signal it sends about Walker’s relationship to the base. Other Republican candidates have distanced themselves from inflammatory questions about Obama’s patriotism (or his true religious beliefs, which Walker likewise declined to ascertain, before letting his press secretary issue a pro forma statement that Obama is a Christian).
Walker has spent the last several days defining his place on the political spectrum. He courted Grover Norquist and Norquist’s allies, who are seeking a more conservative challenger to Jeb Bush, whom they distrust for his refusal to sign Norquist’s pledge to refuse any tax increase of any size under any conditions. He has likewise taken a more uncompromising tone on abortion and immigration.
While paranoid suspicions about Obama are not a direct policy issue, they serve as a proxy for positioning within the Republican Party. The reaction of fellow conservatives bears this out. Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator who has tried without success to broker deals with Obama on climate, immigration, and other issues, unambiguously contradicted Giuliani. (“I have no doubt that he’s a patriot.”) Bobby Jindal, who is trying to carve out an identity as the spokesman for the right, has gone to comical lengths to attach himself to Giuliani’s sentiments — first issuing a formal statement through his spokesperson that he would not condemn Giuliani, even though nobody asked, and then, when that failed to yield the hoped-for reaction, writing Giuliani a letter of congratulations. Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio both issued statements disavowing any questions of Obama’s motive, in keeping with the mainstream profiles they are trying to cultivate.
Walker dismissed the question of Obama’s religion as a gotcha game by campaign reporters fixated on trivia. It is certainly inconvenient for Republican candidates to face questions that force them to define their relationship with the most stark-raving-mad beliefs of the conservative base. But that relationship is the most important question the candidates will navigate, both during their campaign and while governing. Free-floating paranoia is not an esoteric point of trivia; it is a central feature of conservative-movement thought. Perhaps by mistake, Giuliani made the last several days the most edifying time of the campaign so far.
There. I fixed it.
Democrats never have to face real questions.
Nixon isn’t my favorite president; we have him to thank for EPA, for example.
But its an unfair comparison; whatever his faults, I never doubted Nixon’s love for his country.
The leftists who control the press are going crazy because they know what was said is true. They have to cover for Obama.
Does anyone know who these “other Republicans” are. The only one I know of is Rand Paul.
Rudy had the courage to tell the truth about Obama. If other Republicans are too dishonest or too cowardly to back Rudy I would like to know.
I will not vote for them.
Walker is forcing the enemy away from the single words they want to use to attack him, ie ‘CRAZY’ ‘RACIST’ ‘HATER’, and toward the use of many and paler words and paragraphs, which dilutes the attack considerably.
Obama is more like Wilson and Carter. But it might be all semantics. Nixon wasn’t conservative, but all people recall of him anymore is Watergate. The guy actually was better than most recall. However, Watergate was bad and Obama is a heck of lot worse.
‘No Doubt’ President Obama Loves His Country, Says Sen. Lindsey Graham
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-gop/3260430/posts
You know, if the press had shown any curiosity about Obama’s socialist past back before he was elected, this wouldn’t be happening. The matter would have been aired out and settled long ago. Libtards like Chait need to realize that this is what happens when you smuggle your candidate into the White House with zero scrutiny.
Chait is a moron. He is delusional.
The leftard mediots are scared shitless of Walker.
The Bolsheviks really don’t like Walker, do they? Sounds to me like he’s a candidate to consider.
And all because Giuliani said stuff about Obama that Obama wrote in his own book, and Walker wouldn't fall for a "Gotcha!" question. They see their whole little world falling apart. Drama queens.
Not only true, but written about by Obama in his own book. I think that's what has the left scared, because Giuliani's comments about Obama are easily confirmed by the low information voters who knew nothing about these aspects of Obama's past before Rudy brought them up and made headlines. Now the low-info types are curious. And that isn't good news for the left.
I’m of a generation that remembers New York as a CONVERSATIVE magazine. This is complete nonsense.
Says who? I wish the author would have mentioned who these "previous presidents" were, and I sure would appreciate hearing where 0 ever said America was unique.
[[he’s actively pursuing a plan that is already well formed and mostly already implemented.]]
from a speech Nikita Khrushchev made before the U.N. in the early years of the Cold War. “America will fall without a shot being fired. It will fall from within.”
After these last 6 years of unbelievably unamericanism by the left- it seems Khrushcheb saw the future because we see it playing out right before our eyes- the left no longer even bother trying to hide their disdain for our country and our values- nor do they even bother hiding their support for those who wish to harm us-
guilliane was spot on-
A quick Internet search will reveal dozens of examples of liberal media and liberal politicians questioning the patriotism of Republicans. To my knowledge, there is no evidence that Jonathan Chait ever criticized any of them for their comments. He is an hypocritical a**hole. Republicans need to push back on this without fear. This is NOT the time to back off.
Jonathan Chait IS an a**hole. People like him NEVER raise these kinds of issues when Democrats use harsh language about Republicans. NEVER. He needs to have this crap pushed back in his hypocritical face. The one-way civility street has got to stop.
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