Free Republic

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele had it right the first time. Appearing on the DL Hughley show on CNN, Steele quipped that Rush Limbaugh was not the leader of the Republican party – Steele was. Then Steele used the words “ugly” and “incendiary” to describe either Limbaugh’s program or Limbaugh’s speech to CPAC.

President Obama and Rush Limbaugh do not agree on much, but they share at least one thing: Both wish to see Rush anointed as the leader of the Republican party. Here’s Rahm Emanuel on Face the Nation yesterday: “the voice and the intellectual force and energy behind the Republican party.” What a great endorsement for Rush! (And we know Rush is fond of compliments – listen to his loving account in his CPAC speech of the birthday lunch given him by President Bush just before Inauguration Day.) But what about the rest of the party? Here’s the duel that Obama...

Please stop telling us what is wrong with… well, US. Seriously, I just cannot take it any more. It’s like Yankees who come South because it’s generally such a nice place to live and then tell us we’re all a bunch of idiots and that we need to “do it like they used to do it back in Detroit.” Spare me – move back to Detroit and leave me alone. We all recognize the problems we face as a nation, and as a Party. You want a frigging medal because you, too, can read polls and recognize that we need...

...The Goldwater myth shuts down all attempts to reform and renew our conservative message for modern times. And it offers a handy justification for nominating a 2012 presidential candidate who might otherwise seem disastrously unelectable...

We here at The Conservative Comeback have been asked a lot recently, "Hey, whats up with David Frum? Every time I turn around this guy is insulting conservatives (mainly Palin). What gives?

Gallup's latest polling reveals the continuing collapse of the Republican party's base vote. The news is so very bad that there will be only one possible response from GOP party leadership and our radio talkers: Ignore it. --SNIP-- Instead, our congressmen talk to and about Rush Limbaugh like Old Bolsheviks praising Comrade Stalin at their show trials. Rush is right! We see eye to eye with Rush! There is no truth outside Rush! Rush and Hannity and O’Reilly and Ann Coulter and the others have their place and their role. They spoke for an important section of public opinion, and...

Can David Frum forge a new majority? The veteran conservative pundit and former Bush speechwriter has launched NewMajority.com, a group blog intended to heal the wounds afflicting the ailing Republican Party and conservative movement. Just as I wish President Obama the best of luck in leading this country, I wish Frum the best of luck in leading the American right out of the wilderness. Frum’s “Diary” blog at National Review Online has been a must-read for the past few years and, unfortunately, a target of much unfair criticism. Frum has been smeared by the talk-radio world for allegedly being a...

After seeing a fellow National Review columnist told off by her editor ("embarrassing and outrageous") and readers ("my mother should have aborted me ... I should 'off' myself"), neocon David Frum has decided he is taking his anti-Sarah Palin views and following Christopher Buckley out the conservative journal's door. And amid the nasty internecine feuding on the National Review's website and elsewhere, he sounds more than a bit scared of what's left of the crumbling conservative movement:

Harrison spoke about the descent of intellectual conservatism. Here’s another example of it in David Frum’s resignation from National Review. Like some other conservative intellectuals, Frum criticized the Palin pick this election. After seeing fellow National Reviewers Kathleen Parker eviscerated for the same offense, Frum followed Chris Buckley’s lead and resigned from National Review writing. In a New York Times interview, he said a little distance will help people keep their heads: I am really and truly frightened by the collapse of support for the Republican Party by the young and the educated … The answers to the Republican dilemma...

In a span of 252 days, the National Review lost two Buckleys — one to death, another to resignation — and an election. Now, thanks to the coarsening effect of the Internet on political discourse, the magazine may have lost something else: its reputation as the cradle for conservative intellectuals and home for erudite and well-mannered debate prized by its founder, the late William F. Buckley Jr. In the general conservative blogosphere and in The Corner, National Review’s popular blog, the tenor of debate — particularly as it related to the fitness of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska to be...

Wow -that is some savage cutting & gutting that Nicole Wallace has just performed upon Sarah Palin. Nicole & I crossed swords once, during the Harriet Miers nomination battle. Watching what Nicole can do when she is seriously annoyed, I am grateful that I got away from that fight with nothing worse than a few bumps and bruises .... That said: Some of these stories do not ring quite true to me, especially the story about Palin allegedly not realizing that Africa was a continent rather than a country. Apparently she did not grasp that "South Africa" was not the...

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...

Ms. Palin has emerged as a flash point for a split dividing talk-radio populists and conservative traditionalists from some of their former intellectual allies at National Review and the Heritage Foundation. “These are the people who are embarrassed by Sarah Palin,” Rush Limbaugh recently declared on his radio program, pointedly criticizing several columnists by name, “ ’cause she’s not an intellectual and she didn’t go to Harvard or have a college degree from approved universities and she drops her g’s from words like ‘morning’ and says ‘mornin’.” One of the columnists, David Frum, fired back on National Review’s Web site....

There are many ways to lose a presidential election. John McCain is losing in a way that threatens to take the entire Republican Party down with him. A year ago, the Arizona senator's team made a crucial strategic decision. McCain would run on his (impressive) personal biography. On policy, he'd hew mostly to conservative orthodoxy, with a few deviations -- most notably, his support for legalization for illegal immigrants. But this strategy wasn't yielding results in the general election. So in August, McCain tried a bold new gambit: He would reach out to independents and women with an exciting and...

When it comes to politics, it's often smart to bet against the elites -- on the left and right. Bet against them about Sarah Palin. Palin is the latest in a long line politicians who have been discounted by those comfortably ensconced in positions of power and privilege. Since, at least, the early 1800s, the chattering classes, especially, have managed to bet against men who went on to notable, if not historic, presidencies. They disparaged Andrew Jackson and ridiculed Abe Lincoln. In recent times, elites turned noses up at Truman and Eisenhower. And, of course, they disdained Ronald Reagan as...

David Frum, CBS On MondayÂ’s CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith discussed the presidential campaign with former Bush speech writer David Frum and declared: "There is growing concern among some Republicans about McCain's campaign. They're calling on him to stabilize it." Later in the segment, Smith asked Frum point blank: "Was Sarah Palin a mistake?" Frum replied: "I think Sarah Palin was a huge mistake...Americans can be pretty jokey about their government when times are good, but when times are bad, they want to know do -- can you do the job? And when you have a candidate who so...

A month after Gov. Sarah Palin joined Senator John McCain’s ticket to a burst of excitement and anticipation among Republicans, she heads into a critical debate facing challenges from conservatives about her credentials, signs that her popularity is slipping and evidence that Republicans are worried about how much help she will be for Mr. McCain in November.... "I think she has pretty thoroughly — and probably irretrievably — proven that she is not up to the job of being president of the United States," David Frum, a former speechwriter for President Bush who is now a conservative columnist, said in...

Are certain conservatives setting Sarah Palin up to fail? With the recent news that conservative commentator Kathleen Parker has joined the ranks of anti-Palin conservatives George Will, Charles Krauthammer, David Frum and Ross Douthat (as well as moderate-conservative David Brooks), one has to wonder how these folks will respond if McCain and Palin lose to Barack Obama and Joseph Biden on November 4. It’s likely that Parker, Will, Krauthammer, Frum, Douthat and Brooks will attempt to blame Palin for a GOP loss, arguing that she was not ready for prime time and that her supposed lack of knowledge drove away...

By the way, a propos the post below, I would caution our pal David Frum to ease up on this kind of analysis: The Palin choice will intensify GOP support among downscale white voters - while adding to the GOP's difficulties among more educated white voters.You'd be surprised how crowded it is down at the "downscale" end.

<p>I am writing to you on behalf of Out of Office Films in London.</p> <p>Our request is for you to take part in a documentary commissioned by the Al-Jazeera Network, looking at means to resolve conflict in troubled areas of the world. The six-part series will explore the status and impact of the ‘War on Terror’ globally in the aftermath of 9/11. It will be contemporary but also historical, thoughtful and analytical. It will stand back from contemporary news events and offer prescriptions on conflict resolution from leaders the world over. The series will be presented by the British journalist Phil Rees (who won more than a dozen international awards during his career covering international affairs for the BBC), lasting for approximately twenty minutes.</p>