Jonah Goldberg: Compassion sucks but we probably need to sell it anyway

[BeyondGeography]

More "let's start playing footsie with the kids" stuff from the deep thinkers on the Right. And, oh, do they miss the Cold War:

George W. Bush was right

...The end of the Cold War gave way to what Charles Krauthammer dubbed the "holiday from history" of the 1990s and the "war on terror" in the 2000s. People forget that Mr. Bush was elected during the former and had the latter thrust upon him. But at the end of the 1990s, he was one of many voices on the right trying to craft a political rationale to deal with the changing electoral and demographic landscape. He campaigned on a "humble foreign policy" in 2000 and promised something very, very different than a "leave me alone" domestic policy.

He called his new approach to domestic policy "compassionate conservatism."

...I hated -- and still hate -- that formulation. Imagine if someone said, "I'm a different kind of Catholic (or Jew, or American, etc.): I'm a compassionate Catholic." The insinuation was -- by my lights, at least -- that conservatives who disagreed with him and his "strong-government conservatism" were somehow lacking in compassion.

...I still believe all of that, probably even more than I did when Mr. Bush was in office.

But, as a political matter, it has become clear that he was on to something important...

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bal-compassionate-conservatism-redux-20121115,0,7375783.story

[Flashmann]

1. Just my opinion

But the very notion of compassionate conservatism,is an overflowing crock of shit......There is no such animal.......

[marmar]

2. Goldberg was, is and always will be a worthless meat sack.

nt

[madrchsod]

3. still pulling his mom`s dress hem...

why is this guy still creditable? oh wait a minute ..he never was.

[struggle4progress]

4. "Maybe we can create nostalgia for W's presidency"