Last week, I criticized my friend Robert Bluey’s reading of Michael Gerson’s position on immigration. My criticism was, on a broader level, that the conservative movement has very little capacity to understand conservatives who disagree with it on principal. More specifically, when deeply held beliefs begin to come into conflict Read more…
Ralph Hallow’s Washington Times article from yesterday talked about the possibility of a Newt Gingrich candidacy. There was an interesting paragraph: "If this election is about money and structure, then we already know who our nominee is," said Mr. Evans, alluding to the well-organized and financed Giuliani and Romney campaigns. Read more…
It seems that every couple of months, there is a discussion about the state of disarray of the righty blogosphere. This time it is mostly a different crowd moving it. Dean Barnett of HughHewitt.com writes, ironically, in the Weekly Standard. But then, in response, we get both Dave Wiegel at Read more…
So, it is the day after labor day, and I am catching up on the news, including some big labor endorsement news from John Edwards, via Marc Ambinder: In Pittsburgh this morning, ex-Sen. John Edwards will proudly receive the endorsement of the United Steelworkers and the United Mineworkers of America, Read more…
Ross Douthat ends a discussion of Mike Huckabee with: The most important thing, to my mind, is that a Huckabee-Giuliani-Romney race would be a lot healthier for the GOP than a Thompson-Giuliani-Romney race, which is reason enough to wish the Huckster well. Now, assuming that these aren’t battles over personality, Read more…
Reihan Salam responds to one of my recent posts about Mike Huckabee. I had said: On a deeper level, I hear in Huckabee an instinct towards the isolationism that Eisenhower fought against. … Reihan responds: I say "somewhat strangely" because Eisenhower was the peace candidate (i.e., the one who pledged Read more…
Yesterday, I wrote a response to Peter Beinart’s op-ed about the Republican Party and the conservative movement. I got some very positive feedback. My friend Patrick Hynes wrote on a related topic. Patrick’s thesis is basically: First, let’s be clear, American conservatism has devolved from a movement into an identity Read more…
Peter Beinart, fomerly of The New Republic and a victim of the anti-war online left, wrote an interesting op-ed in today’s WaPo. Basically, he compares the state of the GOP with the state of the Democrats in the 80s: Imitation may be flattering, but in this case, it comes with Read more…
Patrick Ruffini takes up my challenge to put some meat on the ideological bones. While I agree with most, I would re-emphasize. First, we have a set of broad principles: Win the War on Terror and advance human rights around the world Embrace globalization and economic competitiveness as a way Read more…
Patrick Ruffini wants a "Movement 2.0." While I agree with the sentiment, I want some specifics. Ruffini starts with: A common thread is that the other shoe won’t likely drop until we have Hillary to unite against. I’d like to pick apart that assumption. The basic assumption is sound. The Read more…