Why Do Conservatives So Quickly Abandon Their Own?

Cathryn Crawford

[Cathryn Crawford]

Isn't it true that a lot of the bashing of Bill Bennett is simply due to the fact that conservatives naturally rejoice in the misfortunes of their own? The ability of the conservative movement to abandon their own people when they are even slightly attacked by the liberal/media establishment is absolutely astounding.

Why are conservatives so quick to judge their own? Are we afraid? Are we so afraid of being tainted by a scandal that we will so easily turn away at the first sight of blood?

This is a serious and long-term issue among conservatives that deserves to be adressed.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Isn't investing the stock market, technically "gambling" as well?

Well yes, but Vegas is safer.....

[iconoclast]

I'm a product of 12 years of Catholic education.

Congratulations, I'm very pleased for you.

Now go to work on combining some common sense with it and you'll have something!

[iconoclast]

His nose was fine. He didn't do anything wrong.

If WRONG bothers you, try SICK or STUPID.

[aristeides]

Is what you mean by "common sense" Protestant morality?

[iconoclast]

The claim is that Irving Kristol somehow single-handedly persuaded Reagan to nominate Kristol's "liberal" friend Bennett instead.

I'd guess it's accurate to presume you are big-time booster of the Kristols, Irving and Bill, as well as Mr. Bennett. All left-wingers, all former Dims (or worse), and all neo-cons. And, of course, you'd be considering yourself a conservative.

Just curious, are you over 35?

[iconoclast]

Is what you mean by "common sense" Protestant morality?

Popeye's got more common sense than you, my brother.

"I says what I means, and I means what I says".

[Cathryn Crawford]

Actually, I never heard him complain. I'm the one complaining.

And he was the drug czar, not the gambling czar, right?

[Cathryn Crawford]

The point is that conservatives dispense everybody.

[Cathryn Crawford]

Exactly my point.

[Cathryn Crawford]

Stupid, maybe, but not wrong.

[Cathryn Crawford]

I think you are right.

[BADROTOFINGER]

Your premise is, er, well, um, how can I say this, wrong. Conservatives dont eat their own, but arent going to bend over backwards to help someone who has plainly damaged themselves. Bennett's case is really a non-case, what he did was legal and he never tried to hide it. What if he had spent millions on Hostess Ding-Dongs? Gluttony is about as serious as casual gambling.

That having been said, conservatives do tend to lack vigor in defense of their fellows, and that can be a problem. Something about the rugged individualist nature of conservatism, the value of being responsible for ones own actions, that prevents other conservatives from jumping into the fray uninvited...JFK

[PISANO]

Brit Hume's panel just got through annihilating Bennett on this evenings show. Bill Bennett is quoted as saying his gambling was legal, he paid taxes etc..........BUT THAT HE WILL NO LONGER PARTICIPATE IN ANY TYPE OF GAMBLING in the future. For that "admission of problem gambling", Mort, Mara and Fred treated him as a FELON who can only redeem himself by leading the ANTI-Gambling lobby in Washington. It was a truly shameful display, IMHO.

[Cathryn Crawford]

I just watched it, too. I thought was rather pathetc, but I don't like Mort and Mara anyway. Fred's alright; I love Brit.

[Cathryn Crawford]

You are entitled to your opinion; yet, I think it is a problem. Conservatives are too quick to judge other conservatives, they are slow to defend and quick to ostracize.

You don't call that a problem?

[BADROTOFINGER]

Isn't it true that a lot of the bashing of Bill Bennett is simply due to the fact that conservatives naturally rejoice in the misfortunes of their own? The ability of the conservative movement to abandon their own people when they are even slightly attacked by the liberal/media establishment is absolutely astounding.

Why are conservatives so quick to judge their own? Are we afraid? Are we so afraid of being tainted by a scandal that we will so easily turn away at the first sight of blood?

You bring up two issues here. First of all conservatives do not simply 'naturally rejoince in the misfortunes of their own'. I would ask for a more than a few examples of this being true before I would seriously consider that as fact. The fact that they are conservatives doesnt mean that they should automatically defend them for any reason. That is what the left does, and it is why we are better than them.

To the second issue. You are right on the tendancy of conservatives to not speak up loudly enough when defending conservatives, but then the tendancy of the mainstream media to ignore conservative viewpoints in favor of the more highly invective remarks by libs could also be a consideration here. They seem to prefer a 5:1 soundbite ratio in favor of the left, and usually only have time for 4 of them, so the conservative doesnt get air time in most cases...JFK

[Cathryn Crawford]

All right, already. I'm tired of being compared to the liberals. Maybe they defend too easily, but, hell! We don't defend at all! As a matter of fact, we gleefully join the liberals in bashing each other if blood is drawn. Isn't that hypocritical?

[Saundra Duffy]

Well, I'm sorry but I don't think gambling is a very constructive thing to do with one's precious life - especially when you have a wife and kids at home counting on you - and especially when you've written a book about how people should behave. Sorry.

[BADROTOFINGER]

Where do we join in on the bashing? That is the question. Many here do not see that happening at all...JFK

[Cathryn Crawford]

He didn't write it. He compiled it.

And he and his wife stated that it didn't have anything to do with his relationships. I guess you could say the same thing about a woman who likes to shop or a man who likes to fish. If you spend all day shopping, are you letting down your kids at home who "count on you"?