Posted on 09/11/2007 3:29:55 PM PDT by LexBaird
I believe you are going to have a choice between Rudy and Hillary. Get ready to hold your nose and pull his lever. I will vote for Fred in the primary if I get the honest sense he can beat Hillary. Right now I do not believe he can. Rudy has many faults as the GOP candidate. But he scores well in my estimation on the most important issue of our age: the WOT. I will be voting for him if he is running against Hillary because I believe Clintons returning to the White House will result in a national catastrophe. Politics is not always the way I want it to be.
That's correct and that's not advancing conservatism. That's aiding and abetting partisanship. Want to be a partisan or conduct partisan discussions. Post on freerepublican.com or cagop.org. or flashreport.org. They'll love you to death.
Conservatives don't develop candidates or party platforms. Partisans do that. The only action a conservative can take is at the voting booth. It's a conservative's responsibility to vote for the most conservative individual qualified to run for that office. Voting for any else is advancing other than conservatism. Voting for a liberal Republican, whether Schwarzenegger, Giuanlni or Romney, is advancing liberalism
Oh, nonsense. You set up a false choice between being a partisan and being a conservative. Being a conservative means having a particular guiding philosophy; being partisan means declaring your philosophy to the world and your intention to do something about advancing it.
There is no place for passive philosophies in politics. It is inherently partisan. If conservatives stand aside and cede their input into the development of platforms and candidates, then when the elections roll around there will BE no conservative candidate to choose.
Standing aloof from the process until election day and then criticizing the outcome does little to advance anything. The only thing worse than having your point of view stifled is having it ignored because you were to proud to speak up when the menu was decided on. Being the Silent Majority is the same as being the Passive Minority, because it doesn't matter what you want or think, when the "progressives" are in a win-win situation at the ballot box.
Partisanship is the advancement of political self interest within the framework and necessary leveling of an organized, political party. The aim of the political philosopher is to advance his chosen philosophy and the aim of the partisan is to win.
If conservatives stand aside .
They don't. Republicans have a difficult time winning in California without the 15% of the actively voting electorate who claim conservatives credentials. Conservative forums such as FR have an influence on Republican politics in California because they are a voice for those 15%. The CAGOP, the Wilsonegger gang and most national, political aspirants monitor this forum to gauge contemporary conservative whim and launch trial balloons. Recently, the Wilsonegger gang went through extraordinary effort to seed shills in this house hoping to shape conservative opinion.
You can't do the first without doing the second. Partisanship doesn't have to be about "just win, baby", but losing gains you nothing. At some point, you have to engage in the fight if you want to achieve anything. The election win isn't the victory in politics. The victory comes with what you can do once you've won.
Says the partisan, comfortable in the womb.
Partisanship doesn't have to be about "just win, baby"
Only a partisan would assume his audience a fool. Even FO wasn't that clumsy.
The victory comes with what you can do once you've won.
Indeed. Republicans can thank conservatives that the Austrian, the mayor and the Mormon aren't going to be unleash on an unsuspecting populas at the national level.
See, I won't let you get away with the Lib tactic of redefining a perfectly good word like "partisan" to whatever you wish it to mean, and then use it to bash those who disagree with you. A partisan is simply someone who ardently supports one side of a particular issue. You are a partisan for conservatism, as am I.
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