Crippled Conservatism

Human Events ^ | 7/16/08 | D. R. Tucker

[MartinaMisc]

Have you noticed that Barack Obama is actually running unopposed for the Presidency?

Not since 1996 has it been this dispiriting, this embarrassing to be on the right. A dozen years ago, we all knew Bob Dole didn’t stand the proverbial snowball’s chance of becoming President, since the conservative base loathed the former Kansas Senator and independent voters regarded the veteran as too old for the job. Now, twelve years later, we’re in the exact same spot with John McCain.

I hate to say this, but I have abandoned all hope for a McCain victory in November. The candidate is too tepid, his campaign too weak, his opponent too skilled. Obama can tell fifteen thousand “white lies” between now and November, and image-obsessed America will still elect him.

What happened to the Republican Party--and the conservative movement, for that matter? Who cut these giants down to the level of normal height? The notion of a left-wing candidate like Obama winning the White House would have been unthinkable twenty-five years ago. Now, his win is a guarantee.

Confusion is now the signifying trait of the Republican Party and the conservative movement. McCain and the GOP base are about as cordial with each other as Iran and Iraq in the 1980s. Rush Limbaugh is wasting valuable broadcast time attacking alleged pseudo-conservatives like Grand New Party author Ross Douthat and the editors of the Weekly Standard instead of fighting the real enemy (Obama and his minions).

Obama is chuckling all the way to the White House. He knows that McCain is token competition, and that this election is merely an exhibition contest. Had the GOP base unified behind a Romney or a Thompson or a Hunter, Obama would be in for a real fight.

[Nipfan]

McCain may be far from perfect but I think Obama has even more serious problems, including being taken seriously with all his gaffes and policy summersaults. The only reason his support hasn’t completely collapsed is media bias and coverups.

[Man50D]

I hate to say this, but I have abandoned all hope for a McCain victory in November.

This statement is a contradiction to the title and theme of the article considering McCain is a socialist.

The candidate is too tepid, his campaign too weak, his opponent too skilled.


The candidate is too much of a socialist.

What happened to the Republican Party--and the conservative movement, for that matter?

The GOP has deliberately chosen to appeal to socialists in the Democrat party to expand the Republican voter base with the misconception this is some how a winning strategy. As we have seen reaching out to the socialists in the name of "bipartisanship" and "compromise" has only resulted over the years in sacrificing Conservative principles while socialists did not cede any of their beliefs.

The candidate is too much of a socialist.

[yoe]

Not since 1996 has it been this dispiriting, this embarrassing to be on the right.

Apparently you are not listening....McCain is an adult. O-bama the flowery, over confident, presumptuous kid with nothing to his credit but activism and marketed to sell to you the age old Snake Oil. I am far from dispirited, I know my product, it is not everything I wanted but it will do....McCain is all American.

[NavVet]

McCain may win by default. As weak as McLame may be, B. Hussein Obama has enough baggage that Juan may yet pull it out. Not that a McCain victory would be much to celebrate other than he probably wouldn’t create the “reeducation camps” that the Comrades Obama have planned.

[gusopol3]

it’s looking like the best Obama can hope for is to be a minority (<50% , not ethnicity) President, and his performance in the debates , which will be a disaster for him next to the polished teleprompter image most people are familiar with (it’ll be like those pictures of the movie stars without the makeup),jeopardizes even that, given he’s only persuaded 45% so far.

[autumnraine]

There is something wrong with the primary process if a candidate disliked by 75% of his party gets the nomination.

[backhoe]

For whatever, or what little, my 2 cents is worth, I still think that The New, Improved Black Jesus is going to flame out, and The Lady McBeth of Little Rock gets dragged out of mothballs to challenge Cap'n Queeg...

[saganite]

McCain and Obama are tied in the most recent polls. Did Dole ever achieve a tie at any point in his campaign? I don’t think he did and comparing McCain’s campaign to Dole’s isn’t realistic at least from that respect.

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

But I can’t see Obama winning either. There is one person I can think of, who might ride in on her broom and save us from these two losers, but...
The primaries got us into this mess. Somebody needs to call a mechanic.

[nathanbedford]

Sadly, I can find nothing in this piece to disagree with.

My fear is that the trend is not merely a function of the unease which commenced with the failure to find WMD's in Iraq but instead it represents a watershed in American politics much like 1932 which set the balance of power in America for about two generations. The demographics are wickedly against us. The economy is liable to visit a prolonged and unhappy time on us. Instead of the people blaming Obama for the mess which erupts shortly, the electorate will blame it on the Herbert Hoover Republicans. As the banks fail and credit is reduced , jobs disappear, careers are lost, then the Democrats will demagogue and we will simply have no bully pulpit and no one to speak for conservatism, even if he got a hearing beyond talk radio and Fox..

Under this scenario which is not far-fetched, the Democrats will hold all the power points in our federal system and the checks and balances will be overwhelmed. There will be no defense within the states against the Democrat majorities in state legislatures and state houses or vis-a vies the Democrats in Washington, the judiciary will be at best unreliable and at worst intimidated, the Senate will be filibuster proof and the House will be bulletproof. Of course, the presidency, and that means the commander-in-chief, and the bully pulpit, and the treaty making power (unfettered by a tractable Senate), and the regulatory power will all be in the hands of the rats.

The Republicans will be shattered and scattered. Conservatives will decide whether to abandon the party and start their own or to contest rinos for what is left of the party so they can then lead it out of the wilderness. Conservatives will do well to confine their fire to the Rinos and not succumb to the temptation to blame each other. Even united, conservatives will be dismayed at how few options are available, what little money, and what long odds they face.

This is the fate which awaits us and I see no way of avoiding it unless John McCain gets on a diet of political Viagra. He must change the rules of the game, kick over the table, take chances and become dramatic and urgent and his criticism of Obama and his appeals to the people to vote for their own survival. As the author points out, McCain shows no disposition to do any of this.

There is another possible way to avoid calamity, that is to sit back, campaign as Republicans, apart from Ronald Reagan, have always campaigned , and pray for a dux ex machina that God spares us from that which we so richly deserve.

[Tallguy]

McCain would be roadkill against any reasonable center-left candidate that the Dems might have nominated in this year’s electoral environment. The problem the Dems have is that they have nominated about the furthest left Senator in their caucus. Obama is so desperate to prove he’s a reasonable choice for president that he’s flip-flopping more that a freshly landed trout. Obama might be 1 of the handful of Dems that McCain CAN beat.

[chatham]

If McCain doesn’t name a guy like Romney to be his V.P. then he is cooked...Big Time.

[bestintxas]

this is why Madame Clinton stayed in so long - she knew she would be up against a patsy in McCain.

[TADSLOS]

The deal was sealed when McCain walked away with the Florida primary, NB. At that point, the only political fight left was between Obama and Hillary. All this other stuff is just so much an obligatory political circus show. McCain has become the media’s and the DNC’s model stalking horse.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

“Tied in Recent Polls”?

RCP has the electoral results if the election were held this week, Obama would win by over 100 points. Quinnipiac has Obama with a solid 7 point lead nationally among all voter groups.

If I were you, I would be more careful how you assess McNasty’s status. You are setting yourself up for a severe disappointment.

The American public is so far gone, it will take a major melt-down to snap them out of their Socialist coma. And, the GOP has joined them.

[puroresu]

What we're facing is something very dangerous. For most of American history, our internal squabbles were between people of good faith. There may have been occasional unscrupulous individuals, but the factions fighting each other over slavery, silver vs. gold, more overseas involvement vs. less, and other issues, were both motivated by a desire to benefit the nation. We may look back at one side or the other and say they were badly mistaken, but neither side was motivated by a desire to destroy the nation and do harm to those who disagreed with them. Even in the most extreme case, slavery, where it snowballed into a civil war, neither side hated the Founding Fathers, Christendom, Western Civilization, or the concept of America herself.

That hasn't been true since the 1960s. Modern liberalism is hostile to our civilization and seeks not only to overthrow it, but to eradicate any opposition to itself. The goal is to unleash anything that is socially destructive while punishing those who disapprove with censure and sanctions. It's to flood the country with people who not only don't give a damn about our country and its history, but can't reasonably be expected to give a damn. The very purpose is to eradicate our nation and civilization in the name of diversity and multiculturalism to the point that it simply no longer can stand.

This is happening in all Western nations, where we're told that our only values are “tolerance & diversity” toward other people and their values. In other words, only other, non-Western peoples, are actually tangible people with values and rights worth respecting. Our only function is to provide, with our tax dollars, infrastructure, and established prosperous nations, a venue for those other people to come and live. We only get praise and recognition to the extent that we deviate from what made us Americans or Westerners in the first place (i,e., if we become Muslim, atheistic, homosexual, feminist, or something like that).

And the thing is, it's been such a successful bait and switch operation that even the conservative parties are self-policing. Bush & McCain are totally comfortable with America becoming a non-Western nation and with practically apologizing for its failure to be non-Western for most of its history.

[Teacher317]

I think McCain would beat Obama in November. I’m just not convinced that Obama will be the Dem candidate in November.

[meandog]

Dear Mr. Tucker;
McCain didn't cripple conservative hopes, the father/son Bush team did!
In 1989, after Ronald Reagan's legacy engineered the fall of monolithic communism in Eastern Europe we had pretty much a unified party and hope; we even had 90 percent of the American people behind us in 1991 when Gulf War I occurred. However, just as we had Saddam Hussein reeling on the ropes after a brilliant 100-hour assault that trapped Iraq's entire army in a corridor "Highway of Death," instead of victory, we were handed a stalemate as Gulf War I came to a close. Later, we got a "Read My Lips" rubber stamp of a Democratic plan to raise our taxes. We also got Justice Souter on the SC and an economic recession.

Flash forward to 2002 and Iraq. Again we had Saddam on the ropes and his army corralled. But instead of mopping up with an overwhelming force to put down any residual flare ups, we had a diluted "Mission Accomplished" plan for occupation that resulted in widespread looting, crime and the beginnings of insurgency and very quickly the campaign to kill Al Qieda in Iraq became asymmetric in trying to deal with terrorism. This came on the heels of prescription drugs for seniors, No Child Left Behind and a reluctance to veto any other boondoggle programs of the wild spending Congress. It was followed by Dubai Ports and Harriet Myers's name being mentioned for the SC before a backlash campaign resulted in Justice Alito. There was also a marked reluctance to cancel Bush 41's executive order to drill for oil off our coastline.
Now we have $4 gasoline, record inflation and a looming sharp recession.

Is there any wonder why Republicans are feeling "Bushed"?

[bestintxas]

Never, Never again do we need a Bush as President.