Comments on: Rush is Right and David Frum is Wrong [comments enabled]

By: Rod_Patrick

Rod_Patrick — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 06:40:34 +0000

Instead of being distracted by Obama’s Alinsky Strategy, we need to make a holistic plan to resist Obama’s socialistic programs and do it quickly. We must also have an alternative program, or else, all our “criticisms” will be considered as unnecessary “rants” and “whinings”.

That’s the missing ingredient.

We cannot expect Rush to do the leadership for us, conservatives and republicans alike. Rush is just like the rest of us looking for the right conservative leader will provide the guidance and vision that we need.

Without a common program to rally on, Rush will continue to say anything, anything he thinks is right for the cause.

By: Flagstaff

Flagstaff — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 06:02:16 +0000

that John McCain, the moderately conservative Republican, lost as well.

People like Frum are always looking through the wrong end of their opera glasses.

By: Finrod

Finrod — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:39:19 +0000

I agree with you for the most part. Rush is right and Frum is wrong, but we can’t just sit back and wait for government to return to us in 2010 and 2012. Sure that worked for the Democrats in 2006 and 2008, but they had the media making it all downhill for them. If Frum focused on what the GOP needs to do instead of attacking Rush, then he would be being helpful, instead he’s just giving our enemies ammo and doesn’t even seem to realize it.

By: Brian Darling

Brian Darling — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:59:17 +0000

I side with Rush, because I agree with Rush far more than I agree with the new majority types. Frum wants a carbon tax. What purpose would that serve other than to tax the energy sector to the detriment of economic growth in the midst of a recession.
I don’t like people trying to change the brand name of conservatism to suit a neoconservative definition or a libertarian definition. Frum and his posse may be Republicans but they are not conservatives in the traditional sense.
Rush is a conservative and I urge everybody on RS to watch is speech to CPAC with a critical eye to see if he says anything they find politically objectionable.

By: Brian Darling

Brian Darling — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:52:20 +0000

We didn’t lose, President Bush lost. He lead the party in a time when the American people stopped trusting Republicans. He pushed for No Child Left Behind – a massive expansion of the role of the federal government in education. He pushed for the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit – a massive new entitlement program. He pushed through the TARP – a failed policy to buy troubled assets to allow credit markets to work again.
Frum, Douthat and other new majority types lose me when they preach that we need to embrace liberal big government solutions to problems, because they are popular in independent voters. I guess you could argue that they are libertarians with regard to marriage and abortion, but I don’t think you can kick the social conservatives to the curb and expect to ever win another election. People try to read too much into the last election and deem it a rejection of conservatism. I think people wanted change and they were attracted to a candidate that spoke of “Change” and one that is a far better communicator than President Bush. Many are experiencing buyers remorse (see Jim Cramer as a good example of a liberal democrat who is not all that excited for the Obama policies to destroy weath in America).
I have read parts of “Grand New Party” and fundamentally disagree with the argument that NCLB was a lost opportunity for Bush to be a better technocrat and the conservatives have “been unwilling to tailor its thinking to the problems facing its constituents in working-class American and the scope of challenges ahead.” Agreed that consevatives need to do a better job of pleading a case for limited government and traditional values, but to claim that the country has changed in any radical way from 2000 or 2004 is a misreading of the past two elections.

By: Rod_Patrick

Rod_Patrick — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:37:23 +0000

Rush is the best Talk Show Host in reminding me how important conservatism is for America. Other conservative hosts are really good. But I think I like Rush better.

And thanks, Rush…..

My family and I are ultra-conservative… we strongly value freedom, family, country, hardwork, and simple life. And we’re proud of it.

And that says a lot.

By: Kevin Holtsberry

Kevin Holtsberry — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:28:10 +0000

As I said in my Red Hot but failed to enable comments, I am contemplating a much longer post on Frum, his book, and the Rush imbroglio which I plan on posting as a diary. But for now let me throw this out.

First off, I agree with the larger argument that Rush was mostly right and Frum was wrong on the issue of the CPAC speech. Rush just said what Rush always says and none of it should have been particularly controversial or offensive. I think Frum’s response was poorly handled and I think the idea of Rush as GOP Leader is a distraction for the most part.

But there is a larger issue. Brian seems to say: “Rush is a rock and Frum is a squish end of story.” But the point isn’t that Frum is squishy on some issues – he is – or that he loves to kick conservatives – he does. The problem, IMHO, is that a large segment of conservatives seem caught up in a combination of anger and nostalgia that leads them to believe that they don’t need anything but traditional conservative rhetoric and policies to win. That if they just shout louder than the left they win. That the American people are with them but just don’t know it yet. This is a foolish and dangerous position.

We lost. We are losing, Just saying tax cuts and limited government ain’t going to cut it. And neither is screaming socialism! No matter how true. Contra Rush, I think Frum, Douthat, Reihan, and other reformer types often have good and interesting things to say. In fact, their very ambivalent status within the conservative “movement” gives them some insight.

By: E Pluribus Unum

E Pluribus Unum — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:09:42 +0000

I come down on the side of ‘Frum is as self-agrandizing gas-bag who would not normally occupy my attention but has really annoyed me with this one’ category.

By: Brian Darling

Brian Darling — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 19:57:58 +0000

I did not complete my thought in the above posting that the sentiments expressed by Rush are shared by so many in the conservative movement. Rush is a satirist and political analyst. I watched his CPAC speech and agreed with his attack on the squishes in the Rs party who counsel Democrat Light policies to win back the hearts and minds of Americans.