Jonah Goldberg is on fire again, and though he’s spot on for the most part just like yesterday’s column I linked…. well, this time, I have a few problems with a few points.
Go read the link and come back.
Read it? No?
I’ll wait. Go ahead.
Read it now? Good. Here’s my problems;
“Well, here’s the thing: I don’t take any giant amount of pride in being a Republican. I’m a conservative.
This is a distinction lost on the mainstream media. Most cable news networks consider conservatives, Republicans and – even more egregiously – libertarians utterly interchangeable.”
The answer on that one’s rather simple, Jonah; It’s because the Democratic party has moved so far to the left… and their minions in the MSM with them, that everyone looks conservative, next to them, including Republicans.
“Let me put it this way: I want the Democratic Party to move to the center on cultural and economic issues. Yes, it would mean that the Democrats would win more elections. That’s pretty much beyond dispute. Bill Clinton was the only Democratic president to be re-elected since Roosevelt, and it was because he moved his party to the political center.”
Sorry, wrong answer, Jonah. Clinton most assuredly did NOT move his party to the center, which is why Al Gore lost in 2000. He certainly gave that image, which as you say, is why Clinton won re-election. Trouble is, Clinton lied. I know it’s a shock, here, but Clinton lied, and stuck to the values of the far left in a bait and switch move that would give even used car salesmen pause. Well, it only took getting hit over the head for eight years for the voters to figure that out, and Gore paid the price.
As for the rest of it, it’s interesting you bring this up; I’ve always held that Bush is not a conservative, nor was his father, for that matter, which, I hold is why he lost in ’92; Conservatives felt Reagan’s legacy betrayed by 41. They didn’t get behind Clinton, but neither would they get overly excited about 41. And as the re-election of 43 showed clearly, in a close contest that excited support makes all the difference.
Bush 43 winning a second term, (along with the gains in Congress) though, is good for conservative values because it shows clearly, that the world isn’t going to end when liberal lockstepping doesn’t rule the field. As I said to someone yesterday, in someone’s comment section, and I forget where; (Update…Turns out it was at Q&O…. …/Bit) we didn’t get to this juncture of big govenrment being the norm in one week, one month, one decade, but over a century. The left likes to use the power of government to bypass the process of changing minds.
This mind-changng process is going to be a long term commitment to move us back in the other direction, to get us to the better place we conservatives desire. Bush being re-elected, and the Congress being more strongly Republican is a step in that direction. A small one, certainly. But this is one small step to start a journey of such.
Tags: BitsBlog
