Posted on 07/25/2009 11:40:35 PM PDT by rabscuttle385
Can this political marriage be saved?
BY GARY BAUER
Psychologists have discovered that the most important factor in predicting whether a marriage will succeed or fail is the existence of contempt. When one or both partners display contempt -- the intense feeling or attitude of regarding someone or something as inferior -- the union, ultimately and almost inevitably, will fail.
Psychologist John Gottman has even developed a methodology that enables him to predict divorce with an astonishingly high degree of accuracy, up to 90 percent. While watching a couple interact, Mr. Gottman looks for the subtle signs -- microexpressions such as an eye roll or a patronizing tone -- that reveal not just displeasure or disapproval, but also the hostile inflexibility that is a hallmark of contempt.
As a political analyst and Republican of more than 30 years, I am saddened to say this, but contempt has contaminated the Republican Party. And much of the contempt has been directed at one partner in the party's marriage, religious conservatives. If the Republican partnership is to survive, the contempt must end.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Rarely is raising taxes a capitalist policy. This example is more protectionist than socialist. Socialism is more about equity in outcomes and wealth redistribution while protectionism is more anti-free trade and anti-competition.
Usually, in this case the problem is the government has made an environment that makes it uncompetitive for local producers to compete. However, instead of making policies that will allow local producers to be more competitive the government raises tariffs to block the consequences of such policies.
No dead babies.
As long as there is no body or body parts to dispose of and no one is killed, then I’m cool.
I guess that this thread pretty much proves the writers point.
By any chance were your eyes rolling when you said this?
Now, kindly explain how "gravitas" will help Palin, or anyone for that matter, think more logically and come to the most sensible solution to a problem. How would "gravitas" enable her to do the tasks required of the President? How will a lack of "gravitas" impede this?
As for TV "presence" you obviously prefer a phony, constructed and contrived image over an authentic, humble and engaging one.
nathan bedford, prepare yourself for a generous portion of crow in about 3.5 years. :^)
Actually, it’s simpler than that.
Pro-lifers believe that human life begins at conception.
Pro-choicers believe that human life begins the moment the child is passed out of the mother.
And that’s the critical difference.
If Barack Obama has been the most remarkable phenomenon of the recent political scene, Sarah Palin must be second. The emotional responses to each-- especially by the media and the intelligentsia -- go beyond anything that can be explained by the usual political differences of opinion on issues of the day.
That liberals would be thrilled by another liberal is not surprising. But there are conservative Republicans who voted for Barack Obama, and other conservatives who may not have voted for him, but who are quick to see in various pragmatic moves of his since taking office an indication that he is not an extremist.
Anyone familiar with history knows that Hitler and Stalin were pragmatic. After years of denouncing each other, they signed the Nazi-Soviet pact under which they became allies for a couple of years before going to war against one another.
Pragmatism tells you nothing about extremism. But the conservative intellectuals who seize upon President Obama's pragmatism to give him the benefit of the doubt are obviously bending over backward for some reason.
With Governor Palin, it is just the opposite. The conservative intelligentsia who react against her have remarkably little to say that will stand up to scrutiny. People who actually dealt with her, before she became a national figure, have expressed how much they were impressed by her intelligence.
Governor Palin's "inexperience" is a talking point that might have some plausibility if it were not for the fact that Barack Obama has far less experience in actually making policies than Sarah Palin has. Joe Biden has had decades of experience in being both consistently wrong and consistently a source of asinine statements.
Governor Palin's candidacy for the vice presidency was what galvanized grass roots Republicans in a way that John McCain never did. But there was something about her that turned even some conservative intellectuals against her and provoked visceral anger and hatred from liberal intellectuals.
Perhaps the best way to try to understand these reactions is to recall what Eleanor Roosevelt said when she first saw Whittaker Chambers, who had accused Alger Hiss of being a spy for the Soviet Union. Upon seeing the slouching, overweight and disheveled Chambers, she said, "He's not one of us."
The trim, erect and impeccably dressed Alger Hiss, with his Ivy League and New Deal pedigree, clearly was "one of us." As it turned out, he was also a liar and a spy for the Soviet Union. Not only did a jury decide that at the time, the opening of the secret files of the Soviet Union in its last days added more evidence of his guilt.
The Hiss-Chambers confrontation of more than half a century ago produced the same kind of visceral polarization that Governor Sarah Palin provokes today.
Before the first trial of Alger Hiss began, reporters who gathered at the courthouse informally sounded each other out as to which of them they believed, before any evidence had been presented. Most believed that Hiss was telling the truth and that it was Chambers who was lying.
More important, those reporters who believed that Chambers was telling the truth were immediately ostracized. None of this could have been based on the evidence for either side, for that evidence had not yet been presented in court.
For decades after Hiss was convicted and sent to federal prison, much of the media and the intelligentsia defended him. To this day, there is an Alger Hiss chair at Bard College.
Why did it matter so much to so many people which of two previously little-known men was telling the truth? Because what was on trial was not one man but a whole vision of the world and a way of life.
Governor Sarah Palin is both a challenge and an affront to that vision and that way of life-- an overdue challenge, much as Chambers' challenge was overdue.
Whether Governor Palin runs for national office again is something that only time will tell. But the Republicans need some candidate who is neither one of the country club Republicans nor-- worse yet-- the sort of person who appeals to the intelligentsia.
To summarize baseball legend Reggie Jackson: nobody boos a nobody. That is definitely true in the case of Governor Sarah Palin. I don’t think I am going out on a limb here when I speculate that individuals who repeatedly attack her anonymously view her as a threat. And that includes members of the media hell-bent tearing down young Republican up-and-comers as well as some in Governor Palin’s own party — a party desperately in need of redefining — who are motivated, for whatever reason, to try and crush their rivals.
The most recent and grossly unfair attack came from Vanity Fair magazine. The writer clearly had an unshakable point of view from the start and talked only to those who would criticize. For example, he personally asked me at event preceding the White House Correspondents Dinner if I would talk to him about Governor Palin. I agreed. He didn’t call. He didn’t email. He never once tried to get my take. I also know he never contacted campaign manager Rick Davis, or John McCain.
I have known many political leaders over four decades including all Republican presidents and VPs. I have come to know Sarah Palin over the past year and can state unequivocally that she is smart, curious, hard working, charming, and effective. She also has something her detractors clearly lack – a sense of honor and loyalty.
I know this is petty, but it reminds me of the 2004 presidential election where it was commonplace and accepted in much of the mainstream media to call President Bush stupid and Senator Kerry smart and insightful. At the end of the day, when Senator Kerry finally released his college transcripts, wouldn’t you know: he did quite a bit worse than President Bush.
I have seen Sarah up close with leading heavyweights, and have seen her hold her own and then some. At the dinner at my home referenced in the article, she engaged comfortably and deeply with people ranging from Alan Greenspan to Madeleine Albright to Mitch McConnell. She asked for a foreign policy discussion on her June 7 trip to Washington, and I saw her engage in an informed and spirited manner with Frank Carlucci.
Governor Palin has many admirers and defenders out there who will not allow her to be branded by jealous rivals with their own agenda and the elitists in the national media. I am not sure who the unnamed Vanity Fair sources are, but without question they lack chivalry and have acted in a craven manner. They also lack the facts. I am ashamed of my former campaign colleagues, whoever they are.
I'm not sure what you mean by Americanism. I can tell you that not everyone that calls themselves libertarian completely shuns social conservatism in their private lives. It's just that some of them with libertarian-leanings believe that social issues should be decided at the lowest levels of government possible because not everyone is going to agree with social issues being decided across the United States in some uniform manner.
economics is not a big problem here at FR or among conservatives.
I really think you may be wrong on this one. A lot of FReepers suffer from anti-market and make-work biases.
Most people that don’t share the values of social conservatives vote democrat
Interesting. And most that do not share the values of fiscal conservatives are big government, nanny-staters and may be registered either Democrat or Republican.
That is all very pretty but the reality is that social conservatives are the conservative vote, the rest of you are helpful but you don’t carry elections, in fact the majority of you vote democrat.
I’m not interested in how people are in their private life inside their home, I am interested in the public space and air waves and culture and I prefer the pre leftist 1960s conservative public space.
What is your types position on homosexuality and the military?
Good rule of thumb for anyone wrestling economic questions [and I'm pretty sure I'm preaching to the choir in your case, 4rcane]: if it requires central-planning by the government, it sure the hell ain't capitalism.
1. Palin is great on life issues. She has solid conservative stands on the issues across the board. When she parts from the country clubbers, it is a good bet that she is right and they are wrong.
2. She was a terrible candidate. Listen to the Couric interviews.
Palin is only a good public speaker when the text is prepared in advance. Impromptu she is frequently a disaster. If she runs for national office, we are likely to get killed.
Grab a shovel and start digging, perhaps you’ll come across a clue.
LowCountryJoe raised a very valid point that you failed to recognize, ansel12. Regardless of the social outcome being pursued, it must not come at the cost of increased centralization and greater concentration of power at the federal level.
and I prefer the pre leftist 1960s conservative public space.
The "pre-leftist" public space you refer to had many good characteristics that are sorely lacking in today's world, but I would not favor a return to those days, which included such things as government-sanctioned discrimination on the basis of race, bans on interracial marriage, and even...gasp, eugenics and forced sterilizations.
One cannot do the tasks required of a President until one is elected President. Sarah Palin cannot get elected President until she acquires "gravitas."
As for TV "presence" you obviously prefer a phony, constructed and contrived image over an authentic, humble and engaging one.
Come on, jla, you know me better than that and you know that I have supported Sarah Palin from the very first day and you know I have the posts to prove it. I am not part of the cheerleading squad, I calls' em as I sees' em. Before the election I wrote long posts to the effect that Sarah Palin should go to a serious venue, I suggested the National Press Club, make a serious speech about a serious issue, I suggested energy, so that she could acquire the gravitas necessary to be treated respectfully. I warned her against Katie Couric and Gibson and advised her to make a very boring "gravitas" speech instead.
God only knows who advised her to make the speech of resignation which she made. Her poll numbers among Republicans have sunk below Romney's and clearly are not good across the electorate. Before you rule you must get elected. She is not ready for the big leagues. She will not take advice, she will not bring herself up to speed on the issues, she will not be forgiven by the independents and moderates were actually elect a President for these lapses.
We conservatives might be able to nominate a presidential candidate, but we cannot elect one. That does not mean we have to moderate our principles, it does mean we have to articulate our principles in such a way to attract independents and moderates into our tent. My complaint about Palin has nothing to do with substance but it is couched in the reality that she needs forensic study. Wishing Palin were President will not make it so. She has to be able to do the things candidates must do to get elected. She is going to be overwhelmed by media opposition. She has got to be ready for it, she is not and, worse, she shows no disposition to get ready.
Like affirmative action and social justice?
even...gasp, eugenics and forced sterilizations."
Like killing the unproductive with this Nationalized Health Care bill? A democracy or republic by itself is not moral or knowledgeable.
ALL issues should be decided at the lowest level of government possible. The city should do nothing the private sector can handle. The county should do nothing the city can handle. The state should do nothing the county can handle and the federal government should do nothing the state can handle.
The federal government should do nothing except the tasks specifically assigned it in the Constitution.
I have disdain for the Democratic Party as it is comprised today. So I certainly am not part of this majority that you speak of.
What is your types position on homosexuality and the military
Being a minarchist, I personally do not care about the sexual orientation of individuals. I do however have problems with homosexual couples wanting to have recognized marriages. If marriage is allowed to be redefined, then any kind of union would and should get equal protection. The real problem is the Social Security survivor benefits that spouses can receive when the other spouse passes away. I can envision all sorts of 'marriages' taking place simply as a means to gain access to these survivor benefits. But, if the benefits did not exist, I'd have no dog in that hunt.
As to the military [and I'm assuming that you didn't specifically mean homosexuality in the military], I am a 10-year active duty veteran of the United States Marine Corps and was a Staff Non-Commissioned Officer. The military (at least the Corps) is great; it's the never-ending foreign policy-induced entanglements that the U.S. gets herself into that has me distressed. Don't take that the wrong way; Afghanistan needed the Taliban removed and Iraq was non-compliant with 1991 cease-fire agreements. It's playing soft with N. Korea [making a deal with them during the Clinton years]; the Bush apology to the Chinese when they downed our spy plane over international waters in April of '2001; appeasing the Saudis for recent presence even though our presence in '90-'91 kept Saddam from marching his troop southward; negotiating with Isreal's terrost-state neighbors for some half-assed peace accord that its insatiable radical neighbors want; eceterra.
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