David Weigel gives a Red Baron salute as the conservative pundit class crashes to earth.
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Comments to "New at Reason":
Aresen | October 24, 2006, 2:43pm | #
I find myself very uneasy with the "they don't have any ideas" complaint.As a libertarian, I find the same argument thrown at me every time I oppose a proposed "solution" to whatever social ill is being addressed. {As in "You don't want to do anything about this and let it happen. You don't have any ideas." The fact that I object to spending other people's money to 'solve' someone's problem doesn't count as an "idea".]
I realize the cases aren't fully parallel, but I think it is fair for the Republicans to say "the other guy is worse", so long as they can back it up.
Saying "the other guy is worse" is not much of an idea when someone asks YOU what YOU would do. An obvious example - asks a Republican how Bush plans to salvage US face in Iraq, or what the Republican strategy is for the ever increasing influence of Islamic jihadists in nominal US "allies" like Pakistan or Egypt, or how surrendering our 4 oz tubes of toothpaste at the airport is making us safer. 9 times out of 10 the only answer will be "Kerry (or Gore) would have been worse)." Does that strike you as the answer of someone who has done deep thinking on the subject?
Did you really mean to write "Josh Trevino ... confronted Moultisas' arguments not by arguing that the GOP had more to offer Republicans"? I think you meant "the GOP had more to offer libertarians", but I like it better the way you wrote it.
Aresen | October 24, 2006, 3:05pm | #
VanyaAgreed, that's why I qualified it with 'as long as they can back it up.'
Davebo | October 24, 2006, 3:12pm | #
Why aren't GOP talking heads defending the GOP?Maybe the same reason Democrats haven't offered a full proof solution to our Iraq Fiasco?
Neither the credible defense, nor the full proof solution exists.
TrickyVic | October 24, 2006, 4:53pm | #
I think the GOP is realizing their ticket to the greatest concert on earth is a forgery.They are wondering around the gate stunned they can't get in.
damon | October 24, 2006, 5:56pm | #
I've never been much of a GOP Blog lover, despite somehow being grouped in with them in tha past, but as a right-libertarian I think the argument that "the other party is worse" is legitimate in a lot of cases.I find myself in exactly that position. I am furious at the GOP on so many levels, but frankly, I'm still a registered Republican because the libertarian values I hold are more at home on the right than the left. I put economics before social issues in most cases, and YES I am quite aware that Bush has been less than sterling on free markets, but I do not buy the banter from the left that's designed to make me, poor wayward libertarian, think that the Democrats will cozy up to my ideals if only they win. Poppycock. Quite the contrary. They'll court us until they don't need us.
For me, the only answer has been to judge each political race on its own, and put the party labels behind me. That being said, when all is said and done on election day, I'll be less happy with a Democrat legislature than a Republican one, although I wouldn't be unhappy with a little girdlock. I think saying that the GOP blogosphere is composed primarily of people who see no wrong in Bush is pretty untrue. Even the gimmicky-hacks and big names like Malkin and Co attack the guy on a pretty regular basis. If their critique has to become downright rebellion before it becomes "legit" then of course you'll never see that. They need a viable alternative first, and there aren't many right now.
There is a huge amount of soul searching going on in the GOP. Maybe the pundits don't reflect that, but put an ear to the street, and there it is. I hope they sort it out soon, because frankly I'm tired of deciding between two stinky cheeses.
The GOP needs a good kick in the pants. The DNC is still trying to figure out where the hell they put their pants to begin with.
What if the other guy really is worse (a not implausible scenario when it comes to Democrats)? Is that not a good reason to vote against him? There's far worse reasons out there.
Harpua | October 24, 2006, 9:55pm | #
I always have mixed feelings when it comes to stuff like this. I read and hear people piling on the R's so often, I almost feel sorry for them. But their policies are pretty sorry themselves, so they've pretty much brought iton themselves. There is more than one class of conservative pundit, so I'm kind of curious why he'd focus on Hugh Hewitt. My posterboy for R cheerleading is Sean Hannity. Somehow this guy can still say the GOP is the small government party with a straight face.But it's funny to me that people would accuse the R's of having no ideas. It's not as if the D's have a hatful of them. I was listening to NPR interview Bob Casey the other day and it didn't sound like his plan for Iraq was a lot different than the administration's. There are very few on the D side that want immediate withdrawal. Once you get into vague timetables, you really aren't proposing much more than the Bushies.
Either way, I don't really have a dog in this fight. No Senate election here and my Representaive could do what Foley did on live TV and still get elected (he wouldn't, but he could get away with most anything if he wanted). Besides that, what difference does it really make. Neither party is going to have enough of a majority to get anything done. The minute the election is over, they'll start gearing up for 2008. The only difference is that if the D's take the House, they probably impeach Bush. Not sure if that qualifies as a good or bad thing.
I just wish that the LP had candidates running in all the 2006 races so at least we'd have a real way of voicing our displeasure.
panurge | October 24, 2006, 10:35pm | #
Yeah, I worked part time at a bookstore earlier this year and I noticed that few of those political books flew off the shelves.The "bestsellers" did not stay at the top of the hit list for more than two or three weeks. The reason, of course, is that personalities like Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter have a firm base of supporters that will go out and buy their books the second they hit the shelves. But when those supporters had been satisfied, the books dropped down the list pretty fast.
Most of the other books just kind of sat there collecting dust. Once in a while, you would see some spooky looking person-- dressed in either a pinstripe suit with a white-collar shirt and flag pin, or in the baggy and shaggy look that went out in '95 (can you tell which one is R and which one is D?)-- buy one, but that's about it. Few people were interested in buying books about parties of death or impeachment procedures. They would rather read "The Da Vinci Code" in paperback, and I can't blame them.
Weigel, what name do you blog under on dailykos.com... I just get enough of these giddy predictions of Republican losses; I realize this is nominally a libertarian site so they have you under a quota here