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We conservatives need to calm down
Chicago Sun Times ^ | 04/06/09 | DAVID HOROWITZ

Posted on 04/06/2009 8:55:07 AM PDT by Borges

I have been watching an interesting phenomenon on the right, which is beginning to cause me concern. I am referring to the over-the-top hysteria in response to the first months in office of our new president, which distinctly reminds me of the "Bush is Hitler" crowd on the left.

Conservatives, please. Let's not duplicate the manias of the left as we figure out how to deal with President Obama. He is not exactly the antichrist, although a disturbing number of people on the right are convinced he is.

I have recently received commentaries that claim that "Obama's speeches are unlike any political speech we have heard in American history" and "never has a politician in this land had such a quasi-religious impact on so many people" and "Obama is a narcissist," which leads the author to then compare Obama to David Koresh, Charles Manson, Joseph Stalin and Saddam Hussein. Excuse me while I blow my nose.

This fellow has failed to notice that all politicians are narcissists. So what? Political egos are one of the reasons the Founders put checks and balances on executive power. As for serial lying, is there a politician that cannot be accused of that? And once, a recent president set a pretty high bar in this category, and we survived it. As for Obama's speeches, they are hardly in the Huey Long, Louis Farrakhan, Fidel Castro vein. They are in fact eloquently and cleverly centrist and sober.

So what's the panic? It is true that Obama has shown surprising ineptitude in his first months in office, but he's not a zero with no accomplishments, as many conservatives seem to think -- unless you regard beating the Clinton machine and winning the presidency as nothing. But in doing this, you fall into the "Bush-is-an-idiot" bag of liberal miasmas.

It is also true Obama has ceded his domestic economic agenda to the House Democrats and spent a lot of money in the process. But what's the surprise in this? After all, George W. Bush and John McCain both proposed (and in Bush's case pushed through) massive government giveaways (which amount to government takeovers as well). This is bad, but it doesn't make Obama a closet Mussolini, however deplorable the conservatives among us may regard it. Moreover, he has run into political resistance even within his own party. Charlie Rangel has made it clear that the itemized deduction tax hike is not going through his committee -- and that should tell you the American system is still in place.

Even as astute a conservative thinker as Mark Steyn has been swept up in the tide that thinks Obama is a "transformative" radical. But look again at his approach to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In both cases, he is carrying out the Bush policies -- the same that he once joined his fellow Democrats in condemning. And that should be reassuring to anyone concerned about where he is heading as commander in chief.

In other words, while it's reasonable to be unhappy with a Democratic administration and even concerned because the Democrats are now a socialist party in the European sense, we are not witnessing the coming of the antichrist. A good strategy for political conflicts is to understand your opponent first -- not to underestimate him, but not to overestimate him, either.

As we move forward, Obama faces increasingly tough choices in the wars against Islamic fascism in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Gaza and Iran. Hopefully, he will make the right choices, and should he do so, conservatives will need to be there to support him. If he makes the wrong choices, conservatives will need to be there to oppose him. But neither our support nor our opposition should be based on hysterical responses to policies that we just don't like. Let's leave that kind of behavior to the liberals who invented it.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 60sradical; antichrist; bho44; calmdown; conservatives; davidhorowitz; democrats; first100days; horowitz; obama; obamatruthfile; ods; worst100days
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To: Our man in washington

We “stuck to the facts” prior to the election,
about his relationships,
his voting record,
his support for infanticide...

but when confronted with the most outrageous (and true) stuff, his supporters simply ignored or denied them.


101 posted on 04/06/2009 9:20:49 AM PDT by MrB (Go Galt now, Bowman later)
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To: ml/nj

Oh wow they changed the headline.


102 posted on 04/06/2009 9:20:51 AM PDT by Borges
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To: Voter#537

Amen brother! Come and get them!


103 posted on 04/06/2009 9:20:57 AM PDT by 3boysdad
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To: BornToBeAmerican
I agree!

Every con artist can speak well.

Obama is a master con artist, a flim flam man who's lies bring tears to the eyes of his cult followers.

104 posted on 04/06/2009 9:21:30 AM PDT by Kansas58
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To: ConservativeMan55; All

Is this thee David Horowitz??


105 posted on 04/06/2009 9:22:11 AM PDT by Las Vegas Ron (I'd rather the world hate us then laugh at us)
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To: Sola Veritas

See, that sounds like a moderate or a centrist. They simply fail at making up their mind and are afraid of error in taking a stand.

I don’t think David wants to be seen worrying about issues like abortion and morality.

David is interested in foreign policy and college indoctrination. He seems very conflicted on most other conservative issues.


106 posted on 04/06/2009 9:23:07 AM PDT by dforest
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To: chargers fan

Or perhaps wrong, depending on whether you believe the threat is obviously real, as it is, or imaginary, as it is not.


107 posted on 04/06/2009 9:23:07 AM PDT by AmericanVictory (Should we be more like them or they more like we used to be?)
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To: Borges

I have come to the conclusion that many people over a certain age believe this current situation is a phase, like others in their lifetimes. The actual age of people in this category varies. They are set in their ways, possess a way of thinking that is defined, and simply do not see the unfolding future and the real changes and danger we are in.

Perhaps wizened or fatalistic, or perhaps occupied stheir private and professional lives, they do not read or have access to the time for research such as that contained here and in foreign news sources or contacts. Their resistance to opposing viewpoints is thus contained within their own preconceptions of the world, making that resistance to opposition cause for dismissal.

As my sainted mother used to tell me:

“A person convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.”


108 posted on 04/06/2009 9:23:34 AM PDT by combat_boots (The answer to 1984 is 1776)
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To: chargers fan

We must de-fang Obama by ridding him of his majority in the house and senate. We must rid ourselves of the RINO Fellow Travelers who will vote with the Liberal Democrats. Only in this way can Obama be stopped. Lacking a solid Conservative Party we have but these things we can do.
1. Find Conservatives to run for office. I do not care if they are Republicans, Independents or even Democrats just as long as they are Conservative.
2. We must support them in all the ways we can. Money yes, but our time and toil as well. We can support them on the net, with letters to the editors and even bumper stickers.
3. We must not give up when they are smeared, made to look like fools (Sarah Palin) or because of their religion (Huckabee and Mitt R.) or beliefs.
4. We must support the Anti-MSM. (The right thinking newspapers, radio and TV). We must encourage them and make them show a profit. Keep them on the right path as well.

What can we do RIGHT NOW?
A) Lets put together a list of True Conservatives out there in the land. People who are in power and doing right. As I said, their are many even in the Democratic Camp who are patriots.
B) Lets also put together a list of Liberals that need to be voted out—The powerbrokers who got this once proud nation into the mess she is in. (Barney Franks)
C) Lets see who is up in the next election and these should be in the state houses as well as the National Government.
D) Lets get a list of Conservatives running for these open seats—get their bios, see what they have said and what they have done.
E) If an election is being contested by a RINO—lets do all we can to eliminated them in the primaries and replace them with Conservatives.
F) Lastly, If there are no Conservatives running—find someone or run yourself! Put your money where your mouth is. This is the future of your nation! Are you a Patriot?

Get Harry and Nancy out and Obama can do little to harm the nation. Remember Bill Clinton? When facing a Conservative Republican congress he balanced the budget.


109 posted on 04/06/2009 9:24:21 AM PDT by Forward the Light Brigade (Into the Jaws of H*ll)
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To: combat_boots

Oops.

stheir should be their.


110 posted on 04/06/2009 9:24:53 AM PDT by combat_boots (The answer to 1984 is 1776)
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To: Borges

YOU calm down David!!


111 posted on 04/06/2009 9:25:33 AM PDT by cubreporter (Rush the greatest voice of CONSERVATISM! God Bless Rush Limbaugh!!!)
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To: pissant
"Jimmy Carter nearly lost the cold war to the USSR in four short years."

Yes, but failing to lose that one, he more than made up for it with Iran...the gift that just keeps on giving.

Obama is well on his way to out doing Jimmy in every category and it's only been a few months since he's gotten started. We've got a few YEARS worth of more obama to get through and survive. Imagine that legacy if you dare.

Sooner or later, Horowitz may forced to come around to the reality of the obamanation.

112 posted on 04/06/2009 9:26:05 AM PDT by GBA
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To: Borges

Horowitz wants “nice, sweet, take the beatings and don’t respond” conservatives to fade into the background?

I think not.

It’s time for a Tea Party. Time for people of valor, principle, and virtue to step forward and say to the liberals, Democrats and MSM: “ENOUGH!”

When people speak the truth that other people don’t want their sensitivities to have to deal with, it’s just too bad. Because we will not be silenced this time.

This is a repeat of 1773 and we know who represents the ‘British’ by their efforts to ‘calm down’ the Patriots.

There will be Three Political Parties . . .
Democrat . . .
Republican . . .
And
Tea.


113 posted on 04/06/2009 9:26:42 AM PDT by HighlyOpinionated (The Constitution & Bill of Rights stand as a whole. Remove any part & nullify the whole.)
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To: Borges

Thanks for the opinion David. It’ll be filed in the appropriate place.


114 posted on 04/06/2009 9:27:21 AM PDT by Cementjungle
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To: Borges
I like David a lot and understand his point BUT this is different. B Hussein is tearing apart everything...the Constitution...Bill of Rights...Capitalism.

No! when you can see your freedoms evaporating before your eyes...when you see shackles being put upon your children and grand children....It is time to ACT!

115 posted on 04/06/2009 9:27:34 AM PDT by blasater1960 ( Dt 30, Ps 111, The Torah is perfect, attainable, now and forever)
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To: ConservativeMan55

So you too believe that our government orchastrated 9/11? You believe that FEMA camps plan to kill 90% of our citizens? This is the kind of black helicopter stories that abound. Step back and think!


116 posted on 04/06/2009 9:27:38 AM PDT by armymarinemom (My sons freed Iraqi and Afghan Honor Roll students.)
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To: armymarinemom

I don’t believe those theories per se.

But I try to not rule things out too quickly..

As during my short lifetime I’ve seen the impossible
happen.


117 posted on 04/06/2009 9:28:40 AM PDT by ConservativeMan55
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To: MrB

That was an interesting link.

“A narcissistic leader is likely to justify the butchering of his own people by claiming that they intended to kill him, undo the revolution, devastate the economy, or the country, etc.”


118 posted on 04/06/2009 9:29:43 AM PDT by Canedawg (Conservatism is the antidote to tyranny- M. Levin)
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To: Borges

David doesn’t believe there will be an Antichrist, so it’s disingenuous for him to say that it isn’t Obama.

All I know is, when I heard Zero talk about world disarmament and negotiations with Ahmadinejad based on “mutual respect” (”respect” for a genocidal apocalyptic terrorist), I got chills. Horrible chills.

Sorry, David. The chills were involuntary. There’s nothing I can do about the fact that every bone in my body is telling me this man is a special kind of evil.


119 posted on 04/06/2009 9:29:47 AM PDT by WhistlingPastTheGraveyard
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To: ConservativeMan55

Don’t loose your head due to fear. Our side is not going to be able to turn any of this around if we sound like kooks.


120 posted on 04/06/2009 9:31:14 AM PDT by armymarinemom (My sons freed Iraqi and Afghan Honor Roll students.)
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