Divine Disorder

NRO ^ | May 23, 2003 | Ramesh Ponnuru

[WaterDragon]

Ralph Hallow, the chief political correspondent for the Washington Times, is a nice guy with a beautifully cultivated cynical streak, but he is a sucker for stories about impending factional wars in the Republican party.

Earlier this week, he wrote an article claiming that "conservative activists" are upset about their lack of influence over the Bush administration, influence which has been lost to neoconservatives who favor big government at home and abroad.

The story is built around a memo written by Donald Devine, a vice chairman of the American Conservative Union and an official in the Reagan administration (where he was described as the president's "terrible swift sword"), which does indeed make the claim that traditional limited-government conservatism is being hijacked by the neos.

Devine gets several things right, and conservatives ought to think about those things.

He fears that the conservatives run a risk of becoming "just a lobbying force for the Republican party," rather than a group that pulls the party, and the country, to the right. (I can't help but recall, however, that when I wrote an article that made a very similar point, Devine criticized me for it.)

He is also right to suggest that the lack of a political constituency for limited government is a major problem that conservatives need to address.

The rest of Devine's analysis is cracked.

I should note here that Devine's memo frequently criticizes National Review, a point that Hallow does not mention, perhaps as a kindness to us — or to him. I'll respond to various Devine distortions before getting to the larger problem with his analysis.

Devine tells a story about a remark by "the president's chief strategist. . . at a recent White House briefing": "Reacting to the first three questions from the conservative audience pushing him to fight harder for a judicial nominee then before the Senate, he replied: 'It is strange that conservatives are pushing us so hard on this when normally, you would be opposing us for nominating a judge with a relatively moderate record and who served under Bill Clinton.

The Democrats have been so relentless that the whole battle has been between the left and the political center.' Truly, this advisor is a political genius. He put his finger directly on the nub of the matter. Conservatism today is not even on the battlefield."

I find this story hard to believe, and a White House official in a position to know denies that Karl Rove ever said any such thing.....(Snip)

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