[conservatism_IS_compassion]

You want to know why Republicans NEVER control the agenda? Because NO ONE has the back bone to stand up to a liberal. NO ONE! It doesn’t matter if we control any government branch - ever. republicans simply do NOT have an ounce of courage to stand up for their convictions. They are losers!

Leftism is simply the idea that criticism is a higher activity than doing things. In its tyrannical forms it is rejection of any limit on criticism, leading to arbitrary government. And since journalism does nothing except to "point out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better," journalists are the natural allies of leftists.

In fact, the idea around which "liberalism" coheres is that NOTHING actually matters except PR. It takes courage and conviction to swim upstream of the propaganda of which so-called "objective" journalism is capable.

• Look at the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. They had an open-and-shut case; they were the experts on the topic they were discussing. But with the support of journalism, the Democrats have been able to use "swiftboating" as a verb meaning "to slander." On the basis of nothing but the word of John Kerry and his friends, whereas the Veterans in question constitute everyone who knew John Kerry in Vietnam but was not under the command of John Kerry in Vietnam.

• Look at the "Killian Memos," the Democrats' 2004 October Surprise. Those documents purported to have been made on a typewriter before word processing was commercially available. And yet, despite the sophistication and subtlety of Microsoft Word - including true superscripting, kerning, and other features - those documents contained no artifact suggesting that they were not made on a computer using Microsoft Word under its default settings. IOW, they were were crude frauds. And yet CBS not only ran with them, it stonewalled the obvious conclusion that in fact they were an October Surprise for the Democratic Party - and no other "objective" journalism outlet stated the obvious fact that CBS was in the tank for the Democrats and John Kerry.

• Journalism's condemnation of Senator Joseph McCarthy was, as Ann Coulter thoroughly documented, based on no substance at all.

So it is after all understandable that public figures would be cautious in the face of that much unaccountable power. Even in the Internet/talk radio age.

[Obadiah]

You speak wisely and I believe you are correct, although it is my position that the Republicans, as a whole, must band together and work to overcome this natural proclivity. I agree that it is a tough slog for one person, or a couple of people to overcome, but just what is the Republican Party for? What is the answer, just throw up our hands and say that liberals have the advantage and therefore deserve to control everything via default?

My larger point is that Republicans never seem to really stake out territory and defend it unashamedly. I completely understand that it is infinitely easier to be a liberal than it is to be a conservative. It is always easier to give away other people’s money, it is always easier to try and relax moral standards, it is always easier to want to give away things that have no cost to the giver. I understand all this, but it seems that there is no coordinated effort to respond to Democrats. It seems that the response is always to shrink back, turtle-like, and almost apologize for taking up oxygen on the planet. Where are the real leaders? Where are the real group of leaders? Must all Republicans be completely feckless?