Posted on 10/18/2005 12:46:18 AM PDT by rmlew
WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 - In the latest sign of the deepening split among conservatives over how far to go in challenging President Bush, Bruce Bartlett, a Republican commentator who has been increasingly critical of the White House, was dismissed on Monday as a senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, a conservative research group based in Dallas.
In a statement, the organization said the decision was made after Mr. Bartlett supplied its president, John C. Goodman, with the manuscript of his forthcoming book, "The Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy."
Mr. Bartlett, who was a domestic policy aide at the White House in the Reagan administration and a deputy assistant Treasury secretary under the first President Bush, confirmed that he had been dismissed after 10 years with the center but declined to make any further comment.
The statement from the organization said Mr. Bartlett had negotiated a deal last year to reduce his workload to give him time to write a book about economic policy and taxation for which he had received a six-figure advance. The statement said that the manuscript he showed Mr. Goodman was "an evaluation of the motivations and competencies of politicians rather than an analysis of public policy." The statement said the organization did not want to be associated with that kind of work.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
For years I have defended Neo Conservatives from the charges that they are neo-Jacobins and have given the mainstreme conservative movement the benefit of the doubt on its uxorious behaviour towards President Bush.
Thermador has begun, will the ACU be next to face the national razor?
It's times like these that make me grateful for my periodic unemployment.
BTW, there's no "a" in Thermidor.
:))
ping
He said that the French-Canadians he encountered while vacationing in Montreal were some of the most obnoxious people he had ever met.
He would ask them a question in French and they'd respond in English, and vice-versa.
Well, this is one way to make sure a book will be on the best-seller list.
The only bad publicity is...
To be fair, many neo-cons, such as David Frum and Bill Kristol, have been unabashedly on the side of Bartlett and other economic and traditionalist conservatives throughout the Miers flap. The dividing line is not betweeen neo-cons and other conservatives, but between real and phony conservatives.
ping
The Final Straw (Conservatives Finally Realizing "Bush is Not One of Them, and Never Has Been")
TownHall.com ^ | 10/18/2005 | Bruce Bartlett
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1504423/posts
"BTW, there's no "a" in Thermidor."
See my tagline.
I guess "Old Hickory" wasn't all bad.
:-)
How is this a sign of Conservative split, unless NYT is second-guessing the Center's reason for the dismissal?
Same French Ecentric language behavior in Belguim; go anywhere in the French-Flemish speaking country and people with speak either language, asking and answering by one person in either language. Worst, this French behavior in mandated by employers of the French Chain Stores who will fire their employees if they answer in Flemish....
bttt
"Uxorious" is one of my favorite vocabulary words, but given that its meaning is 'excessive fondness for one's wife' is there some 'subliminable' suggestion here on your part?
=====================================================================
This type of conflict only occurs during a period of vigor and strength. When a group is weakest, it hangs together rather than hang separately for the common good, because defeat is the only other alternative.
When a group is at it's strongest, it has the luxury of introspection. Only when a group feels "safe" or dominant, can it ask questions like "are we being true to our principles?". This conflict is a sign that the GOP "big tent" has just about expanded as far as it can without the far left and far right within the GOP compromising their core principles. The big tent is going to get a lot smaller, and when this shrinkage is complete, guess what? The GOP "majority" will not be left of center (e.g. "moderate" Republicans), because that's not where the heart and soul of the party is, or has ever been.
Contrast the GOP's "split" with the Democrats, who have no conflicts other than how hard they want to turn left. The entire 2004 election was about how politically leftward the Democrat candidates could bend, and still draw in the average independent or cross-over GOP liberal voter. The Democrats have no real conflict about their core principles; indeed, they will tolerate none.
"Conservative" has been such as sexy political term that everyone wants to be one, but about 15% of the GOP are closer to being a Hillary Democrat than a "conservative" Republican, on all but one core issue (e.g. the War on Terror, business taxes, etc.). Unfortunately, about 85% of all committee chairs in the Senate are among them due to the Seniority system (i.e. they were Bob Michael's Senators when the GOP did nothing but lose), which is why the GOP can get nothing done in the Senate.
I'd take the GOP's future with a "conservative split" over the Democrats lifeless, ideal-less monolithe, every day of the week.
SFS
Il faut écriver J'en suis désolé.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.