Posted on 11/07/2008 1:07:40 PM PST by Publius804
David Frum to the Religious Right: Drop Dead
Posted by Tom Piatak on November 05, 2008
After weeks of expressing contempt for the delcasse Sarah Palin, David Frum has now expressed his disdain for the voters who liked Palin and who have propelled the GOP to victory after victory since Reagan’s election in 1980, the evangelical Christians and conservative Catholics who vote Republican because of their concern over issues like abortion. According to Frum, such voters need to be jettisoned because “College-educated Americans have come to believe that their money is safe with Democrats--but their values are under threat from Republicans.”
To pursue the burgeoning yuppie class, “will involve painful change, on issues ranging from the environment to abortion. And it will involve potentially even more painful changes of style and tone: toward a future that is less overtly religious, less negligent with policy and less polarizing on social issues.”
What Frum neglects to add is that none of these changes would be “painful” for him, a pro-abortion, non-religious denizen of a tony Washington neighborhood, who has long been uncomfortable with social issues and tolerated religious voters so long as they were willing to vote Republican without expecting much in return and serve as cannon fodder in the wars Frum wants America to fight, but now thinks he has found something better.
The question is, with National Review giving the boot to its founder’s son and Jeffrey Hart, why does it still keep Frum around? Is National Review, too, becoming embarrassed by religious conservatives? (Thanks to John Seiler for pointing out this latest revelation from David Frum).
(Excerpt) Read more at takimag.com ...
Anyone has link to original David Frum article?
Thanks in advance!
David Frum - “God is dead.”
God - “David Frum’s career is dead.”
Why? You thinking about running McCain again?
NRO’s problem isn’t just Frum.
In developing an agenda, Republicans and conservatives need to figure out what the top challenges facing the country are and how to meet them. But it would be pointless to devise an agenda that could not possibly win over a majority of the voters. And of course the same type of politics that might attract one group of voters will repel another. To generalize wildly: Upper-middle-class, college-educated voters tend to find the Republican party’s economics attractive and its social positions less so; vice versa for lower-middle-class voters without college degrees. Which group should the builders of a center-right coalition try hardest to get? I largely agree with Ross Douthat’s take on this question, but I would make an additional point.
I don’t think many people are arguing that if Republicans just emphasized their social conservatism more, they would attract enough additional lower-middle-class voters to win a majority. The argument that Douthat, his co-author Reihan Salam, and I (among others!) are making is that it is possible to craft conservative economic policies that would serve the interests of this group. These policies need not drive away upper-middle-class voters. The Democrats’ promises to help downscale voters have been compatible with an increased appeal to upper-middle-class voters, after all.
And if Republicans can appeal to lower-middle-class voters on domestic policy—health care, taxes, etc.—then they will have less need to make the type of cultural appeals to these voters (we disdain arugula, wave the flag a lot, etc.) that seem to drive some upper-middle-class voters batty. Such an economic agenda might thus help the party directly with the lower middle and indirectly with the upper middle. So I think the party’s best bet is to keep, while doubtless modifying in some respects, its social conservatism while searching for free-market economic policies that would help lower-middle-class voters.
My subscription to National Review will not be renewed. I can find their opinions on CNN for free...
Nevermind, article has a link to it!
ummmm unlike America, Canada just elected a conservative
The Bush regime and this election finally proved you correct.
Did I mention we didn't like Bush when he was Governor of Texas?
“College-educated Americans have come to believe that their money is safe with Democrats—but their values are under threat from Republicans.”
*****
Well then it sounds like these college educated Americans have already found a home with the dims if they agree with them on economic issues and at the same time dislike pubbie values. To accept Frum’s argument, what’s the point in even keeping the Republican party around?
****
“To pursue the burgeoning yuppie class, “will involve painful change, on issues ranging from the environment to abortion. And it will involve potentially even more painful changes of style and tone: toward a future that is less overtly religious, less negligent with policy and less polarizing on social issues.”
****
Gee, what a silly question let’s just merge the two. Somehow I would have been disappointed in any less from Frum. He’s already outed himself as one of the Vichy swizzle sticks.
Somebody please explain to me how the Republican Party became his.
Better idea. Jettison Frum. He can follow his money to the safety of the Dims.
Probably declasse, French for non-elite. Likely sarcastic.
“How many years in the wilderness are you willing to endure?”
Well, so far I’ve endured 60 years of this with a brief respite during Reagan.
You might find out though, because the Rino’s are outnumbered. Check the figures. YOU cannot win elections without us. America is still conservative, and if the public ever finds out what they’re really voting for it’s going to be MORE conservative.
That’s not my point. Frum who is Canadian thinks he can tell American Conservatives what’s right and wrong for them. It wouldn’t be any different if he were French, German, Polish, Japanese or whatever. He is not American and shouldn’t be condescending.
If these Yuppies we so desparately need to reach feel “their money is safe with Democrats, but their values are under threat from Republicans”, how in the heck is moving to the left on social issues going to win them over?
Why support Dem-lites instead of real Democrats. If the Democrats are as strong as us on the economy and abortion and values issues don’t matter, the GOP really doesn’t have much reason for existence, except to come in 2nd place.
To win these Yuppies over, we need to either:
1) Change their minds on values issues.
2) Convince them that their money (not to mention our national and their personal security) is NOT safe with Democrats. I think Comrade Obama will go a long way towards convincing them of this, if he gets his policies passed.
Where do you think you are now, Bunky?
The whole point is the GOP does not give a flying leap for conservatives. They have proven it over and over since 1992.
Yet, they can't win without us, our money, and our volunteering in the campaigns.
We're the redheaded stepchildren of the GOP.
The sooner we just acknowledge it, and leave, we can grow a party of real conservatives.
The GOP is now happily ensconced in the minority thanks to Yosemite Sam. And that is exactly where they want to be.
The Republic needs saving, not the Republicans.
Frum is right!
Sister Sarah is the past.
GOP needs to move on and move on now.
Why not just purge the RINOs and take over the GOP?
Since when did a college education automatically give one common sense? They elected a potential dictator, known liar and who knows what else only because he promised “change”. That’s pretty brilliant I’d say.
According to Lorraine X on Rush’s radio show the other day - it was the Dems crossing over during the primaries that gave it to the McPain. He was the worst candidate ever to run for the WH...(since Dole)
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_110308/content/01125113.guest.html
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