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The End of Conservatives (A bitter paleoconservative has-been jumps the shark)
Outlook [India] ^ | January 31, 2005 | Paul Craig Roberts

Posted on 01/22/2005 8:12:00 AM PST by quidnunc

I remember when friends would excitedly telephone to report that Rush Limbaugh or G. Gordon Liddy had just read one of my syndicated columns over the air. That was before I became a critic of the US invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration, and the neoconservative ideologues who have seized control of the US government.

America has blundered into a needless and dangerous war, and fully half of the country's population is enthusiastic. Many Christians think that war in the Middle East signals "end times" and that they are about to be wafted up to heaven. Many patriots think that, finally, America is standing up for itself and demonstrating its righteous might. Conservatives are taking out their Vietnam frustrations on Iraqis. Karl Rove is wrapping Bush in the protective cloak of war leader. The military-industrial complex is drooling over the profits of war. And neoconservatives are laying the groundwork for Israeli territorial expansion.

The evening before Thanksgiving Rush Limbaugh was on C-Span TV explaining that these glorious developments would have been impossible if talk radio and the conservative movement had not combined to break the power of the liberal media.

In the Thanksgiving issue of National Review, editor Richard Lowry and former editor John O'Sullivan celebrate Bush's reelection triumph over "a hostile press corps." "Try as they might," crowed O'Sullivan, "they couldn't put Kerry over the top." There was a time when I could rant about the "liberal media" with the best of them. But in recent years I have puzzled over the precise location of the "liberal media."

-snip-


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: antiwarright; paulcraigroberts; soreloser
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1 posted on 01/22/2005 8:12:00 AM PST by quidnunc
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To: quidnunc
Honest question:

Who's Paul Craig Roberts?

2 posted on 01/22/2005 8:14:18 AM PST by Publius6961 (The most abundant things in the universe are hydrogen, ignorance and stupidity.)
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To: quidnunc
Huh I wonder if the neocon's are reprising the roll of white man's burden and manifest destiny to the world?
3 posted on 01/22/2005 8:15:11 AM PST by dts32041 (When did the Democratic party stop being the political arm of the KKK?)
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To: quidnunc
I wrote Roberts off when he advocated making Israel judenrein.

Like Pat Buchanan, if he isn't an anti-Senmite, he'll do until one comes along.

4 posted on 01/22/2005 8:15:26 AM PST by ScottFromSpokane (http://drunkengop.blogspot.com/)
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To: quidnunc
Many Christians think that war in the Middle East signals "end times" and that they are about to be wafted up to heaven.

I've never heard of such a "theology" from any Christian. Just like the left, Roberts takes a cheap shot to mock a wide swath of Evangelicals. Keep digging that hole, buddy.

5 posted on 01/22/2005 8:17:50 AM PST by inkling
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To: Publius6961
Publius6961 wrote: Honest question: Who's Paul Craig Roberts?

Honest answer:

He's a formerly-mainstream conservative economist and journalist who has decided to wallow in the fever swamps of paleocon crankery.

6 posted on 01/22/2005 8:18:48 AM PST by quidnunc (Omnis Gaul delenda est)
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To: dts32041; ScottFromSpokane; quidnunc
When did G. Gordon Liddy become a "neoconservative ideologue?"

(Genuinely baffled Smiley.)

-good Thames, G.J.P.(Jr.)

7 posted on 01/22/2005 8:19:53 AM PST by Do not dub me shapka broham (Anxiously awaiting the coming of the Tupacalypse.)
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To: quidnunc

He must have some French genes. French lesson:

#1 Don't take part in a fracas until you see which side is winning.

#2 Jump on the winning bandwagon.

#3 If you encounter any difficulty, adversity or setback...retreat.

#4 When you get wobbly........jump ship, change sides and cry uncle or call your mommy.


8 posted on 01/22/2005 8:21:30 AM PST by highflight (from a distance - buzzards might appear as eagles.)
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To: Publius6961

"Who's Paul Craig Roberts?"

I've been a Conservative for 40 years and I never heard of him. Maybe he's one of those odd briton/europeans who are called "conservative" but are unrecognizable by American standards.


9 posted on 01/22/2005 8:22:21 AM PST by hinckley buzzard
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To: quidnunc

Let's see what happens after all the arm waving stops and the dust settles.

Oh. Yeah, and the Gong sounds.


10 posted on 01/22/2005 8:25:36 AM PST by CBart95
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To: hinckley buzzard

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BIOS/cbroberts.html


11 posted on 01/22/2005 8:26:20 AM PST by ScottFromSpokane (http://drunkengop.blogspot.com/)
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To: hinckley buzzard

The "media" is full of wanna-be, would-be, has-been, losers that try to pass as real journalists. This is just another example of the decay in the MSM that has left us with cranks, losers, activists --- anything thing but informed, accomplished, respected journalists.

Only a few real journalists still survive. They are an endangered species.


12 posted on 01/22/2005 8:26:58 AM PST by EagleUSA
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To: quidnunc

"He was distinguished fellow at the Cato Institute from 1993 to 1996."

That's all you need to know about this guy.


13 posted on 01/22/2005 8:27:25 AM PST by bahblahbah
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To: hinckley buzzard
He used to be an editor at National Review and the Wall Street Journal, but a conservative wouldn't have heard of those. {/sarcasm}
14 posted on 01/22/2005 8:27:30 AM PST by gradient_salient
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To: Publius6961
He was assistant secretary of the treasury under Reagan in the first term and was key in designing his tax cut package. He was one of the architects of the supply side revolution.

That's his main claim to fame, and it's a good one.

Since then, however, he has drifted into some interesting precincts. Namely those inhabited by Buchanan and Sobran.

15 posted on 01/22/2005 8:28:06 AM PST by The Iguana
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To: quidnunc
We did it their way for the last 30 years, and got:

1. 9/11

2. 30 years of Islamic cults roaming the globe murdering innocents with impunity, all the while claiming to be "victims" of Israel.

3. War with Saddam and Sons

4. Surrender of Saddam and Sons

5. Saddam and Sons "contained" by troops in SA for over a decade.

6. Sanctions on Saddam and Sons, that consigned millions to his tyranny.

7. Saddam and Sons with billions for WMD

8. Numerous attacks by the Islamic cults on US military, citizens, institutions.

9. Israel's election of numerous PM's to find "peace" with the Islamic cults, and their benefactors, ie Saddam.

10. A UN tolerant of terrorists and Islamic terrorism against the Jews.
11. Afghanistan run by OBL.

l2. Arafat with a "peace" prize.

Give the neo-cons a chance, you have had yours.
16 posted on 01/22/2005 8:30:22 AM PST by roses of sharon
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To: quidnunc
Thank you I think.
Since I don't subscribe to the progressive unicorn of "neocon", I am still totally in the dark.

Damn!

17 posted on 01/22/2005 8:31:18 AM PST by Publius6961 (The most abundant things in the universe are hydrogen, ignorance and stupidity.)
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To: Publius6961

"Who's Paul Craig Roberts?"

He's got a daily column in The Washington Times. If you go to their web page you can check it out and see his picture. He's a strange looking fellow, that always put me off. His piece is always in the little box that also has the "inside the beltway" and "inside politics" gossipy columns.


18 posted on 01/22/2005 8:33:08 AM PST by jocon307 (Ann Coulter was right)
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To: ScottFromSpokane
"Like Pat Buchanan, if he isn't an anti-Senmite, he'll do until one comes along."

I can never understand how come Jews in this country have been so strong in their support of dems.The libs would give the PLO all of Israel in a heartbeat.
That is why I get pained when I hear Pat go on with his isolationist rhetoric which is based on discontinuing our support of Israel.

If the US ever abandons Israel it will be our biggest foreign policy mistake ever.
Without Israel sitting where it does the mid east would long ago have been conquered by a Saddam,an ayatollah,Assad Sr.,Qaddafi etc.
Think of the result of an arab superpower controlling the main energy source of the world.Look at the islamofacist movement of today and multiply that by 100.
I don`t believe conservatives should cede the Jewish vote to the dems or to endorse those on the right that want us to abandon them.It may not fit perfectly into some conservatives template but it is a pragmatic view of the world that exists today.

19 posted on 01/22/2005 8:34:14 AM PST by carlr
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To: The Iguana
Wow. I didn't know any of that. I am truly getting an education.

It must be true. 5% of all participants in any large human endeavor are very highly educated --- and certifiable.

20 posted on 01/22/2005 8:34:20 AM PST by Publius6961 (The most abundant things in the universe are hydrogen, ignorance and stupidity.)
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