Years of Pandering to Extreme Elements Contort GOP, by Kathleen Parker

[ErinBerin84]

(edited for copyright purposes-proud patriot moderator Democratic Underground)


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/6065155.html



Years of pandering to extreme elements contort GOP (Kathleen Parker)


WASHINGTON — Christopher Buckley's endorsement of Barack Obama — followed by his abrupt departure from the back page of the magazine his father founded, National Review — has caused a ripple of contempt from the conservative right.

Nay, make that a tsunami of hostility.

An avalanche of venom.

A cataclysm of ... well, you get the idea. People are mad. Good riddance, they say, and don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Let us proceed, gingerly.

I am not a passive bystander to these events. Buckley is a friend, as are other members of his family, especially Uncle Reid, with whom I have worked for several years.

National Review is home to many friends, and its online editor, Kathryn Jean Lopez, kindly subscribes to my column. Like Buckley, I have enjoyed a decent fragging for suggesting that Sarah Palin excuse herself from the Republican ticket.

What gives here?

(snip)

Parker is a columnist for The Washington Post Writers Group. She can be e-mailed at [email protected]

[Roxy66]

1. Wow....just wow.

[ErinBerin84]

2. the key line being

"They do not, in fact, deserve to win this time, and someone had to remind them why."

[Critters2]

3. They're eating their own. And it is a thing of beauty to behold! nt

[Marsala]

4. Looks like all those angry e-mails about her criticizing their precious Sarah struck a chord

It's going to get much worse for the Republicans before it gets better.

[symbolman]

5. Let's make a distinction here..

While I'm not making any excuses for the TRUE Conservatives, some of whom in the 60's would practically be considered Progressive NOW.. I've always Tried to respect Conservatives, and when I was a kid, back before the Media convinced us that 50% of us hated the other 50%, which I do not believe for an instant, the Democrats and Republicans all GOT ALONG, they agreed to disagree, then they'd hand each other a beer at family picnics, go play volleyball or baseball, laughing, enjoying each other's company as AMERICANS.

True Conservatives SHOULD have come out in Numbers when Bush STOLE the WHite House. They Should have berated him for his RADICAL Ways, refused to go along with destroying the fabric of our nation. But they didn't. They ALL became "Rubber Stamping Republicans", so they can go piss up a rope with the rest of them.

BUT, the point I'm trying to make is that Bush and Cohorts are NOT Conservatives, but as we all know are RADICAL NEO-Conservatives.

Hopefully TRUE Conservatives like Buckley will Take their Party BACK, and show some respect to Progressives under Obama, and work for the good of the nation.

Right now they are shitting the bed, their pants, while bullshitting the public with such Pubic Lice as Palin, PRETENDING that she has ANY Credibility, and the chickens are coming home to roost. Buckley is SMART, he can see the writing on the wall, that to back PALIN and McCain/Bush/Cheney is madness and will KILL their own Party.

The american people will no longer put up with their madness, and to the public they've officially reached the point, which they do EVERY Time after ruling for 8 years or so, of Speaking MARTIAN..

Glad she's bringing this up, but you TRUE Conservatives had BETTER SPEAK UP NOW, or forever Hold your peace. The Wedding of Fascists and UnGodly Holier than Thou Fundies will take place by 2012, when Palin is primed and pushed upon us - the honeymoon has not yet begun, while the ForePlay is Hot and Heavy.

[arewenotdemo]

6. Rat...sinking ship.

[DrToast]

7. My mind is blown...

I didn't know Buckley wrote Thank You for Smoking.

Oh, crazy article too.

[Omerrrta]

8. I didnt know that either...

I liked that movie.

[Miss Chybil]

9. Time for a new party?

The GOP is dead.

[Poseidan]

10. right, left, up, down, diagonal

Most people think as poorly as I draw (in 2-dimensions). The difference is, I don't put forth my drawings as if they were masterful works of art.

[political_Dem]

11. And she's finding this out now?

[beac]

12. K&R to read in the morning.... or later, since it IS morning...

After 11/4 I am REALLY looking forward to sleeping, bathing and eating on a more regular schedule.

[eridani]

13. Know what's really going on here?

It's a split between the haves and have mores and their populist End Times whackjob base. All the condemnations of Palin and statements of reluctant support of Obama are coming from the Masters of the Universe, who have decided that while it was fun whipping up the whackjobs to vote them huge tax breaks, maybe it really isn't a good idea to have the nuclear footboll in the hands or a real fundie whackjob who really believes that she will see Jesus return. They were all for Bush just because he's a fake fundie who doesn't go to church and who believes all that Left Behind whackjoberry about as much as your average member of the American Humanist Association.

[starroute]

14. "True conservatives" have always been playing with fire

William Buckley's Young Americans for Freedom had to struggle in the early 60's to keep from being taken over by John Birchers. By the early 70's, some of the YAF alumni who were building the political power of the New Right were perfectly happy to woo the followers of George Wallace and pitch to their ignorance and xenophobia.

I'm quite sure that Buckley Sr. dreamed of a "pure" conservatism -- well-bred, highly principled, dedicated to the ideal of the elite non-conformist. The trouble is that there have never been more than a handful of people like that, and while they may make good gadflies, they're hardly the basis of a political movement.

So the instant that conservatism attempted to become a movement and seek political power, it was forced to consort with the Birchers and the Wallacites -- both of which are the direct ancestors of today's Palinites.

Liberalism, in contrast, is broad-based and doesn't have to rely on questionable alliances. But the internal contradictions of conservatism are built into the system.