That Didn't Take Long...
Over in DK, I posted:
And thanks to Sadly, No! I discovered that:
Since he wrote that roughly two hours before my post, I guess it really isn't a prediction. Nevertheless: "sigh."
GOP and conservative pundits will blame the co-opting of conservatism for any major loss the party suffers. They'll claim that people like Bush (and McCain) weren't authentic and ruined the brand.
And thanks to Sadly, No! I discovered that:
As we sort of discussed in the bloggingheads session, I think one of the things that many of the New Reformers (I want Yuval to start wearing a cape!), have yet to really grapple with is how Bush was supposed to be their guy. He was the "reformer with results." He was the guy who advocated not limited government but "strong government." He was the one who told Fred Barnes that Buckleyite conservatism was no longer relevant. The left is desperate to paint George W. Bush as the personification of pure rightwingery. In every single debate I have with Peter Beinart he insists that Bush was the most doctrinaire conservative ideologue we've ever had, well to the Right of Reagan. Sometimes, when I listen to, say, David Brooks I get the sense he agrees.
Suffice it to say, I disagree with that, strongly.
And I think a great many conservatives do as well. One reason why the Limbaugh faction is so strident on much of this stuff is that they/we gave the reformers a shot under Bush. And look at what it got us. And on an emotional level, I find it understandable. Brooks, Frum and others were very enthusiastic about the Bush administration at one time. Now, the argument sometimes seems like the Reaganites are to blame for innovations they never championed, while the would-be innovators are abandoning ship at precisely the moment the GOP needs all hands on deck. All the while, John McCain is even more of a New Reformer type than Bush. But because some of these folks think Sarah Palin is George W. Bush in a dress, they can't even back the guy at the top of the ticket in a race against the most leftwing president in — at least — a generation.
Since he wrote that roughly two hours before my post, I guess it really isn't a prediction. Nevertheless: "sigh."
Comments
Of course, the people tossing the blame around are the people in power in the GOP (including people like David Brooks, who wields far more power than, say, my Mother), and they are the ones who've fucked up. So now the primary "job" of each one of them is to convince voters that they arent the ones who need to be replaced, but that it's the fault of some other guy.