With a nifty bit of juxtaposition, John Tabin fleshes out what I have written on elsewhere, namely, the danger that statist “conservatives” like Mike Huckabee pose to the real aims of the classical liberal movement.
McCain and Huckabee were the two worst candidates Republicans put on offer for 2008. Their successes in the primaries suggest that many in the GOP have bought into the Democratic spin that “conservatives” need to “mainstream” their message.
That this strategy continues to slide the country left — and benefits those doing the framing — seems consistently lost on people like Huckabee, whose participation in any discussion of “conservative 2.0″ is rather like having Jeffrey Dahmer as a guest judge on “Top Chef.”
Comment by Cepik on 11/21 @ 12:26 pm #
“. . . like having Jeffrey Dahmer as a guest judge on “Top Chef.—
Dude, succint point. May I borrow this analogy in future discussions with co-workers?
Comment by Jeff G. on 11/21 @ 12:27 pm #
Have at it. I’m a giver.
Comment by brian on 11/21 @ 12:33 pm #
Jeff, I suspect that you’re only half-right. I think the country IS moving left. Tiring of having to actually work for a living, many are opting for a life in the wagon as opposed to pulling it.
Which easily explains the rise of a “progressive” like Huckabee. I mean, the only difference between Huck and a left-liberal is that he embraces religion instead of shunning it.
But conservatism in general could stand a bit of ideological cleansing. The sooner we purge the RINOs from the party (or create a viable (non crazy) third party) the better for conservatism.
Comment by Thomas on 11/21 @ 12:38 pm #
Some people like their bread and circuses. If your intention is to rise above this you will have to move to one of the rising third world countries. Of course, once there, you will have to fight the battle to keep all those helpful Americans out.
Comment by Sgt York on 11/21 @ 12:50 pm #
Agreed.
And sorry, didn’t mean to piss you off…was just a little good-natured teasing…don’t give a darn what you wear, as long as you keep writing this blog. As long as that happens, I’ll keep paying.
Going for now…later.
Comment by Dan Are on 11/21 @ 12:50 pm #
Agreed. In action, Richardson is to the right of Huckabee, which is why O! may rapidly forget Richardson’s phone number.
Funny how the press kept covering Huckabee’s continued campaigning after McCain cinched it, but Paul was totally ingnored.
Comment by Makewi on 11/21 @ 1:04 pm #
Padma Lakshmi does look delicious.
Comment by Republican on Acid on 11/21 @ 1:21 pm #
The guy sets off my creep detector. Probably not sexually creepy, but creepy in the way that he is like this guy at work that is too fucking friendly and never shuts the fuck up creepy.
Comment by Republican on Acid on 11/21 @ 1:22 pm #
But he does play bass guitar! Yet another point on the creep scale.
Comment by Republican on Acid on 11/21 @ 1:23 pm #
He isn’t like me, he hasn’t been on Nyquil all week. He has Jesus and all I have is Nyquil.
Comment by Republican on Acid on 11/21 @ 1:23 pm #
I need to take a nap.
Comment by Dan Are on 11/21 @ 1:32 pm #
He puts out the true believer, born again vibe, which is initially off-putting. I no longer think that’s a bad thing, but I run into it so seldom these days.
Comment by alppuccino on 11/21 @ 1:36 pm #
And he’s still campaigning against Romney.
“Romney attacked me. Oh I know it’s not personal but still, all he did was attack me.”
Fuck. I would have loved to see Romney attack Obama. Fuck.
Comment by Rob Crawford on 11/21 @ 1:44 pm #
“Well, Bucky, maybe you deserved it. Ever think of that?”
Comment by parsnip on 11/21 @ 1:51 pm #
McCain and Huckabee were the two worst candidates Republicans put on offer for 2008.
Who was the best?
Rudy, Hunter, RonPaul, Fred or Mittens?
Comment by Celtic Dragon on 11/21 @ 2:06 pm #
He’s a religious progressive, but he’s a WELL SPOKEN religious progressive. And in todays media saturated culture, that’s all that matters. How do you think a Toom Tabard like the O! man got to where he is?
How much do you want to bet that the media will play him up as “conservatism 2.0″ and as the GOP’s front man for the future?
Comment by McGehee on 11/21 @ 2:07 pm #
I would have voted for Rudy (bearing in mind that the vote I did cast on Nov. 4 was for Palin, not McCain) almost as easily as for Fred. Duncan Hunter might have needed to convince me but mainly because I never really knew much about him.
I voted for Romney in the Georgia primary because Fred was gone and it was either Romney or Huckabee or McCain. Huckabee won the primary though. I’m still not entirely sold on Romney, but if the Palin-bashers in McCain’s tent felt the need to frame him for their bashing, that’s a point in his favor.
Comment by McGehee on 11/21 @ 2:08 pm #
Anybody would have to be a fool to bet against it.
Comment by Obstreperous Infidel on 11/21 @ 2:22 pm #
“But he does play bass guitar! Yet another point on the creep scale.”
Steve Harris is not amused.
Comment by dicentra on 11/21 @ 2:24 pm #
Tiring of having to actually work for a living, many are opting for a life in the wagon as opposed to pulling it.
Prosperity is like living in null gravity: you lose bone mass whether you want to or not. I’m afraid we have to Learn A Hard Lesson every couple of generations because the young never can fully absorb the lessons their parents knew. Reality checks suck, but there’s no substitute for them, either.
Also, the loss of our arch-enemy a generation ago took away the living example of what socialism really was: a bunch of scary white guys who would toss you into the Gulag for looking at them cross-eyed, people risking and losing their lives to cross the Iron Curtain, and living in monotonous gray apartments, standing in bread lines, and finding comfort only in watered-down vodka.
Comment by N. O'Brain on 11/21 @ 2:28 pm #
OT, but…..
Bill Whittle at NRO on sexual harassment “training”:
http://tinyurl.com/6737u6
Sounds like Jeff.
Comment by Dan Are on 11/21 @ 2:29 pm #
So right, dicentra. The cold war was so quickly forgotten. Everyone cries “never forget” regarding Hitler, the depression, etc. but they forget the central LESSON.
Comment by happyfeet on 11/21 @ 2:30 pm #
Few are the slanders against the GOP that this retarded bulemic can’t lend some credence to I think.
Comment by BJTexs on 11/21 @ 2:32 pm #
Jeff, you’ll have to pardon me for basking in the transcendent irony of Huckabee attempting to use religion to move conservatives toward a more populist, “scripture based” government intervention.
Because, after all, it’s those fire breathing fiscally conservative and mindlessly pious religious social cons who are destroying the Republican Party. Democrat Lite is the wave of the future, Godbotherers!
Parker, Whitman, Brooks, Buckley, et al may collectively and earnestly kiss my ass. Also, Ted Stevens should save his stinkin’ crocodile tears for his sentencing hearing.
Yup, I’m a little bitter today. I’ll get over it.
Comment by BJTexs on 11/21 @ 2:38 pm #
I’m sorry to be so grumpy in front of happyfeet, as he always makes me smile even when he’s grumpy. The rest of you? not so much.
Oh, OK, dicentra, I’m sorry to be so grumpy. The rest of you are toughened right wingers who will welcome my grumpiness like a strawberry on an elbow earned when diving for a ball on astroturf. OUTLAW!!
Um, what was I talking about?…
Comment by maggie katzen on 11/21 @ 2:40 pm #
wearing an onion on your belt.
;D
Comment by Dan Are on 11/21 @ 2:46 pm #
I’d like to think this outlaw crew had thick skin. If it helps,
http://onlineslangdictionary.com/definition+of/push+out+a+grumpy
Comment by BJTexs on 11/21 @ 2:48 pm #
Dan Are; you are a sick twisted freak. I like it!
Maggie: wha?
Comment by maggie katzen on 11/21 @ 2:51 pm #
BJTex… kinda here.
Comment by happyfeet on 11/21 @ 3:00 pm #
It’s ok, BJ. I’ve been getting my grumpy on lately too. My philosophy is always don’t be part of the problem and that doesn’t seem to apply no mores when the goal of our dirty socialist government becomes one of helping our little country attain and adjust to backwater also-ran status and feel good about it in a vague hopey marxy at least now we don’t have to feel ashamed all the time kind of way. It’s a very spectator sport, watching people gleefully ruin what your little country worked so hard to achieve.
Comment by BJTexs on 11/21 @ 3:04 pm #
Hm, happyfeet, I’m thinking you weren’t trying to cheer me up just then. Were you? Cuz now I have an overwhelming urge to spit a polar bear over an open flame and burn a bonfire that just might be seen on Mars.
I won’t blame you, though.
Comment by Dan Are on 11/21 @ 3:11 pm #
happyfeet, although I had to watch that beautiful ferris wheel of a third sentence go around three times, I’m on board now. Try and take solice from the Hagakure-
“It is said that what is called “the spirit of an age” is something to which one cannot return. That this spirit gradually dissipates is due to the world’s coming to an end. In the same way, a single year does not have just spring or summer. A single day, too, is the same. For this reason, although one would like to change today’s world back to the spirit of one hundred years or more ago, it cannot be done. Thus it is important to make the best out of every generation.”
Comment by happyfeet on 11/21 @ 3:16 pm #
oh. The cheering up part is really quite challenging. What’s worstest is all these clueless liberals of the Jon Stewart tribe what are planning holidays and la la la like they have no idea how very deeply sincerely fucked them and their families are. Not a one of them is equipped for green collar work and I swear to God it’s like they haven’t noticed that the media is a suicidal junkie teetering precariously on an overpass above the 405. Hey that’s no junkie those are our clients. We’re so doomed.
Comment by happyfeet on 11/21 @ 3:22 pm #
oh. Thanks, Dan. Taking solace. See that’s why my philosophy blows now, cause taking solace is really hard to distinguish from being part of the problem I think.
Comment by happyfeet on 11/21 @ 3:24 pm #
I’m not solace averse or anything. It just seems unhelpful.
Comment by dre on 11/21 @ 3:25 pm #
“overpass above the 405″
I like hearing about the 405 during the Hugh Hewitt show. But then I’m 2500 miles east and shouldn’t really care.
Comment by BJTexs on 11/21 @ 3:33 pm #
Happyfeet: When will you have to pay for all of the Carbon Offsets from you LA people turning loose all of that trapped carbon in those poor trees and houses? I’d give to the Goracle’s company, like he does for his ginormous honking Tenn. mansion.
For the chirren.
Comment by Dan Are on 11/21 @ 3:33 pm #
Focus on the last sentence, we have to do the best we can even if, or ESPECIALLY if, it’s a losing battle. If we’re screwed either way, I’ll get screwed for who I am. From actually breaking the law (which is quickly becoming unavoidable) to a nagging “I told you so, that program couldn’t work” and everything in between.
Comment by dicentra on 11/21 @ 3:38 pm #
Oh, OK, dicentra, I’m sorry to be so grumpy.
Wha? Was something directed at me? I missed it if there was. I’m pretty clueless that way.
You can be as cynical and grumpy as you want. It’s just the comment section of a blog, after all. It’s not as if you can literally wee in our cornflakes.
Comment by dicentra on 11/21 @ 3:39 pm #
I had to watch that beautiful ferris wheel of a third sentence go around three times
That’s a nice turn of phrase, BTW.
Comment by happyfeet on 11/21 @ 3:45 pm #
I guess. I’m hoping it all becomes a bit more clear soon enough. I hadn’t expected Baracky’s media to keep running with the America in decline ball. Framing it as Baracky being in charge of managing that decline. In a good way, a cuddly feel-good kind of way. Failure is success. It’s creepy to watch.
Comment by happyfeet on 11/21 @ 3:50 pm #
Los Angeles. BJ … you saw our loser mayor was on stage with Baracky at his first press conference after his ascendancy. That should fill people with dread I think.
Comment by Dan Are on 11/21 @ 3:59 pm #
“Framing it as Baracky being in charge of managing that decline.”
Lowering expectation now that he’s locked in? Oy. I HATE knowing he’s pulling an FDR. I’d bet anything his first speech references the “war on poverty”, and the need for a president to have more power in time of war. The problem with that bet is FDR’s dream of socalizing the mortage industry wiped out too many of my investments to LEAVE me much to bet.
Comment by Dan Are on 11/21 @ 4:06 pm #
“That’s a nice turn of phrase, BTW.”
Thanks, dicentra. I’d admit to paraphrasing Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I’ve already had a helluva time convincing you I’m straight.
Comment by Spiny Norman on 11/21 @ 4:08 pm #
Those of us who live in SoCal cannot hear the number “405″ without cringing. The worst traffic in the entire country (it’s the main access to LAX, among other horrors).
Comment by baldilocks on 11/21 @ 4:10 pm #
Those of us who live in SoCal cannot hear the number “405″ without cringing.
“101″ comes close but “405″ is the topper.
Comment by Ric Locke on 11/21 @ 4:18 pm #
Oh, I dunno. As a non-resident, there’ll always be a soft spot in my heart for the 10-5-Hollywood interchange :-) But the 405 is extraordinary, I’ll give you that.
Regards,
Ric
Comment by Bob Reed on 11/21 @ 4:20 pm #
Unfortunately, much of our county’s leftward shift has as much to do with the proggressive indoctrination given our youth in the public school system as it does with the past era of sustained prosperity and the demise of the former Soviet Union.
That indoctrination has made them susceptible to the siren song of the nanny state politicians at both ends of the political spectrum…
Worse yet, is the inroads that the left has made in appealing to the religious element of our society; based on the righteous nature of the tenets of social justice…
To wit: the number of young evangelicals as well as Catholics that were able to put aside their discomfort with the notions of anything goes abortion, even under age with no parental notification, as well as the defense of traditional marriage.
While a Catholic, and an opponent of publicly funded abortion, I understand that laws cannot be made based on religious morality; render unto Caeser that which is Caesers, and all. Also, I realize that single issue voters don’t generally make the most reasonable electoral decisions. But taken together, the two trends I mentioned do pose a strong challenge to the GOP…
I certainly hope that Dicentra is incorrect this time, and it won’t take a real time of national trial and tribulation to motivate a return to the Classical Liberal principles our nation was founded on, but her comment does make a lot of sense…
Huckabee is a sellout, Democrat lite, RINO. He’s a prime argument for a return to an ideology, and policy base, that is centered on constitutional first principles…
That, and closed primaries!
Comment by urthshu on 11/21 @ 4:32 pm #
All this hatred of teh Huck. Man, I would hate to be you guys when that Walker, Texas Ranger guy rolls through.
Chuck will kick you in the nads.
Comment by dre on 11/21 @ 4:39 pm #
“All this hatred of teh Huck”
I don’t know about the hate but Huckaboob seems like a repub version of slick willey.
Comment by Jeff G. on 11/21 @ 4:40 pm #
Chuck is a good man, but his spinning back kick is no good here. I’ll snap his leg off and eat it like a drumstick with Wrangler Denim sauce.
Comment by happyfeet on 11/21 @ 4:44 pm #
See? Now with the spinning back kick, from a dead stop… What’s powering it? Raw enthusiasm?
Comment by happyfeet on 11/21 @ 4:44 pm #
That was for Dan.
Comment by Dan Are on 11/21 @ 4:47 pm #
Waving one leg around isn’t always the best plan ’round grappler types-let alone a ‘nad preservation move.
Comment by happyfeet on 11/21 @ 4:49 pm #
oh. That was a buffy quote. You were supposed to get that. You’re such a poseur.
Comment by Dan Are on 11/21 @ 4:54 pm #
Derailed ’cause I studied TKD a little, and Aikido a LOT. Former didn’t suit me at all.
The “raw enthusiasm” quote brought a smile.
The Buffy/Faith chick fight, to me, was da bomb.
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 11/21 @ 5:07 pm #
That should fill people with dread I think.
Yes, it should. Those with with a bent for history should look up what happened to the first several colonies that the Spanish tried to plant in that area, then think about how that would play out today, should the oil, water, food, and electricity ever stop flowing in.
Might be time to prepare yourself to get out, ‘feets.
Comment by Dan Are on 11/21 @ 5:07 pm #
…and regarding Huck’s spinning backkick, I hear he can, but he doesn’t like to.
Comment by Sean M. on 11/21 @ 5:20 pm #
Unless those people happen to live in L.A. Just think, he might be out of town for good.
Comment by urthshu on 11/21 @ 5:20 pm #
Ha. I was all Southern style kung fu, so the spinning kicks were always kind of amusing.
Comment by urthshu on 11/21 @ 5:22 pm #
I mean, I know what they’re for and all, but hardly ever would you run into that kind of thing in day-to-day life, I think
Comment by urthshu on 11/21 @ 5:33 pm #
A sparring dealio.
The guy in white is the Wing Tsun dude.
Its OKish. I wouldn’t say either are top-notch players, and the WT guy comes from a somewhat different branch of the art than I do, but its not bad as an illustration.
Comment by Dan Are on 11/21 @ 5:41 pm #
What with all the funny, I just got to the Bob Reed post.
I’m with you on the indoctrination issue, but I’m more concerned with it at college. I think pushing socialist ideals on the young may backfire when they hit rebellious stages. Unfortunately psychology is a science, so if indoctrination doesn’t work they’ll regroup and adapt. For college age, our only asset is the information explosion, and the ability to call out doublespeak for what it is. The only other option is to buy a hat, and ask a University w/hat in hand for a job. Guh.
Jeff’s notion that medical techlology (the future ability to transplant embryos) will reframe the abortion is facinating. When a developing human life doesn’t clash with the mother’s ownership of her body, the debate totally reframes.
Comment by Dan Are on 11/21 @ 5:56 pm #
urthshu, I went through a rough patch when my Sensei passed on. It was my intention to study a hard striking style, and I found a good Kung Fu instructor who always starts w/ Wing Chun. But the years, the knees, & other nagging injuries held me back. MAYBE this winter.
Aikido is just bitchin’, but for balance I’m thinking something hard. But I’m 47, so no Muay Thai or wacky crap like that. I’d at least like to observe some krav maga but it’s rare here in the flyover states.
(That “bitchin’ was a nod to happyfeet.)
Comment by dicentra on 11/21 @ 6:05 pm #
I hadn’t expected Baracky’s media to keep running with the America in decline ball.
The more they convince us that the sky is falling, the easier it is to Make Drastic Changes without catching flak. They’ll praise the nation to the skies after they’ve done their worst.
I understand that laws cannot be made based on religious morality
I think you mean “religious practice.” It would be inappropriate to mandate Sabbath worship, for example, or baptism or abstention from pork simply because a religious majority wishes it so.
However, “religious morality” is not problematic, because it covers everything from “thou shalt not murder or steal or bear false witness” to rendering unto Caesar, etc.
Just as an aside, I find it a bit hazardous to rely on Jesus’ answers to the people who were trying to trap him betwixt a rock and a hard place. The question about whether it was lawful to pay tribute unto Caesar was posed in hopes that they could accuse him either of treason to Rome or of being a Roman collaborator.
Same with the woman taken in adultery: they were hoping to get him to suborn violation either of Roman law (which reserved unto itself the death penalty) or Jewish law (that mandated stoning for adulterers). He said “let he who is without sin cast the first stone” not to his followers and the curious crowds but to the Pharisees and Scribes (aka the intellectual elite), whom he knew were all adulterers themselves.
Comment by Dan Are on 11/21 @ 6:25 pm #
Is that referencing the junkie discussion?
Comment by dre on 11/21 @ 6:32 pm #
Soulless Conservatism:
>
Comment by urthshu on 11/21 @ 6:40 pm #
Dan –
Good luck with that. Not so much into it all these days, myself. Significant injuries, can’t do the same stuff, etc.
Comment by Carin on 11/21 @ 6:47 pm #
The “raw enthusiasm†quote brought a smile.
The Buffy/Faith chick fight, to me, was da bomb.
The only Buffy quote I use with any regularity is “Bored now.” I mostly do it for my own amusement.
Sigh. I miss Buffy. That was back when I loved TV.
Comment by Dan Are on 11/21 @ 7:08 pm #
Yep, the South Park cripple fight scene notwithstanding.
Smart scripts, a fine cast, BTVS was a rare thing from such a simple premise. Almost like Road Runner.
House works for me. Terminator, with it’s decent cast, and the exploration of a technical Apocalypse, has possibility.
Comment by geoffb on 11/21 @ 7:19 pm #
TV, movies, books, it all comes down to the writing. Good writing I’ll watch/read. Bad writing, no director or actor can fix.
Of course sometimes we all like junk food.
Comment by Dan Are on 11/21 @ 7:32 pm #
RE Sarah and the turkey, the press knew what was up.
To me, nothing sounds dumber than someone blathering on about the cruelty of hunting/the food industry when they’ve just had a Big Mac. Only once in my life have I heard that rant from a vegetarian.
Pingback by Michelle Malkin » Friday night open thread on 11/21 @ 9:03 pm #
[...] *Jeff Goldstein weighs in on the wisdom (or lack thereof) of including statist Mike Huckabee in discussions of the future of conservatism. I think it can be useful, in the same way watching that show “What Not To Wear” is useful. [...]
Comment by guinsPen on 11/21 @ 9:07 pm #
Jeff who?
Comment by Dan Are on 11/21 @ 9:16 pm #
“Michelle Malkin”? Sounds like some thick-ankled eastern european.
Comment by dre on 11/21 @ 9:50 pm #
“Jeff Goldstein weighs in on the wisdom (or lack thereof) of including statist Mike Huckabee in discussions of the future of conservatism.”
Hey Michelle You be pimpin’ PJM. Oh that’s right bro’s before ho’s.
Comment by dre on 11/21 @ 9:53 pm #
F%%k PJM!!!
OUTLAW
Comment by dre on 11/21 @ 9:58 pm #
Hey Allah and Cap’t Ed Morrissey: You be slaves of some idiot.
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 11/21 @ 10:40 pm #
What’s your issue with MM, dre?
I don’t agree with her on everything, but she’s a good reporter and writer nonetheless.
Comment by dicentra on 11/21 @ 10:41 pm #
I think it can be useful
What is the referent of “it”? Including Huckster in the discussions or Jeff’s observations? Cuz if it’s the latter, that’s kinda low, Michelle. If it’s the former, then that’s a big AMEN.
Comment by dre on 11/21 @ 10:46 pm #
Here’s some f##kin’ BADLANDS Outlaws
Comment by dre on 11/21 @ 10:51 pm #
Fuck the Communist
Comment by dre on 11/21 @ 10:59 pm #
The Pravda Media
Comment by guinsPen on 11/21 @ 11:09 pm #
What’s your issue with MM, dre?
Dennis the Peasant?
Comment by happyfeet on 11/21 @ 11:21 pm #
I’ve decided me and Michelle are starting fresh, and to be honest I think she would have been invaluable if the creepy septuagenarian had accidentally gotten himself elected.
Comment by guinsPen on 11/21 @ 11:24 pm #
the creepy septuagenarian
Bruce Springsteen?
Comment by Freedoms Truth on 11/21 @ 11:27 pm #
“McCain and Huckabee were the two worst candidates Republicans put on offer for 2008. ”
YES, BUT LEST WE FORGET WHY: It’s simple really. A well-groomed guy with a stellar resume was on his way to success in the nomination, positioning himself as the three-legged stool latter-day Reagan, and he oozed exactly the kind of competence and articulateness that could get the GOP out of its Bush-heck-of-a-job tailspin.
But apparently preacher-man Huck found out that he was Mormon and that was fighting words. I felt AWFUL on election day Iowa – the GOP had done something dreadful by letting prejudice and Elmer Gantryism get the better of them, on a day that the lily white liberal Dems went for that articulate black man. I called it a CLUSTER-HUCK.
If Romney was episcopalian it would have been a very different election season.
Comment by Mike Ditka on 11/21 @ 11:30 pm #
If if ands and buts were candy and nuts, we’d all have a Merry Christmas.
Comment by Freedoms Truth on 11/21 @ 11:30 pm #
“Also, the loss of our arch-enemy a generation ago took away the living example of what socialism really was: a bunch of scary white guys who would toss you into the Gulag for looking at them cross-eyed, people risking and losing their lives to cross the Iron Curtain, and living in monotonous gray apartments, standing in bread lines, and finding comfort only in watered-down vodka.”
The latter part doesnt sound much different from the welfare state, and that alas is the problem: You get enough people hooked on Government and they dont want off it. The Democrats depend on enlarging their client list, which turns them into poverty pimps and a grifters scam that tries to keep people poor and ignorant and dependent.
Comment by dre on 11/21 @ 11:31 pm #
What’s your issue with MM, dre?:
“of including statist Mike Huckabee in discussions of the future of conservatism.â€Â
Hey let us get Karl Marx in the action. What the heck. Billy Ayers you out there?
Comment by dre on 11/21 @ 11:35 pm #
“but she’s a good reporter and writer nonetheless.”
F that she’s a 2-5 trick pony. Ask Ms. M about the economy? Idiot central.
Comment by dre on 11/21 @ 11:43 pm #
F’ it I’m being OUTLAW. Kathleen and Malkin kiss my butt:
Screw You Losers Tour O! ‘08
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 11/21 @ 11:50 pm #
Yo, did y’all miss this part: I think it can be useful, in the same way watching that show “What Not To Wear†is useful.
I didn’t take that as complimentary toward Huckleberry, myself.
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 11/21 @ 11:55 pm #
Lest there be any mistake here: I held my nose and voted for McCain. No way would I have voted for Huckabee.
Romney either, for that matter (and it’s not because he’s a Mormon – it’s because the man exudes a slime trail wherever he goes).
Comment by geoffb on 11/21 @ 11:59 pm #
Spies,
I agree with your take, however as dicentra wrote in #80
The sentence is open to interpretation.
As you do I believe MM is referring to Huckabee.
Comment by dre on 11/22 @ 12:09 am #
“The sentence is open to interpretation.”
“Jeff Goldstein weighs in on the wisdom (or lack thereof) of including statist Mike Huckabee in discussions of the future of conservatism.â€Â
Maybe if you are Bosnian.
Comment by dre on 11/22 @ 12:14 am #
Yes let us bracket Jeff’s wisdom or (lack thereof). Hey ‘chelle you got the big butt like Mrs. O!.
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 11/22 @ 12:36 am #
Maybe if you are Bosnian.
Or if you cut that fragment of the sentence out of its context.
Comment by geoffb on 11/22 @ 1:11 am #
Let’s take the whole thing one piece at a time.
On the wisdom of including Huckabee Jeff G. said;
Which I take to mean, and agree, that it is unwise (“lack thereof”) to do so.
Then we get from MM;
The “it” pretty clearly refers to “including statist Mike Huckabee in discussions of the future of conservatism” and then MM states that she believes that including him can be useful as “in the same way watching that show “What Not To Wear†is useful.”. Which is a good slam on Huckabee. His only use is as a bad example. Like thor is come to think of it.
thor and the Huckster, twins in a way.
Comment by geoffb on 11/22 @ 1:41 am #
BTW
After reading the pub post by dicentra I think they should have had Jonah Goldberg on instead of Huckabee.
Even better would be a Goldstein, Goldberg match up discussing the new coming fascism and how to fight it.
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 11/22 @ 1:43 am #
That would be…er…golden.
Doubly so.
Comment by geoffb on 11/22 @ 1:56 am #
Now for some shuteye for this 2nd shift night owl. Pushing 3am here.
Nice to see you commenting Spies.
And dre we will have to just disagree on this one but I agree with you on quite a few other things.
Have a good night all.
Comment by Pablo Wilkes Booth on 11/22 @ 5:47 am #
Shut up, dave.
Comment by B Moe on 11/22 @ 6:48 am #
This “classical liberalism†has already been tried with the “Classical Liberals†(circa 1840s) and it fizzled out with their highest accomplishments, the Confederacy and the Irish Famine.
With an intellect like that, how could dave be anything but a Huckabee fan?
Comment by guinsPen on 11/22 @ 7:32 am #
I don’t know why you said what you said; so I’ll go ask an unrelated third party (deceased).
And a Journalist, to boot.
Comment by thor on 11/22 @ 7:47 am #
Geoffb and the Huck, conjoined twins, attached at the balls, in a way.
God, you’re so retarded in that lame redumblican way.
Comment by thor on 11/22 @ 7:56 am #
You held your nose, when? When you were on your knees crying from the electoral crushing the redumblicans suffered? On election night weren’t you screaming – Polls are for pussies! The MSM lies! We’ll win, have faith!!!sevanty!1!!!
Comment by Pablo Wilkes Booth on 11/22 @ 8:15 am #
Shut up, thor.
Comment by Jeff G. on 11/22 @ 8:29 am #
d’dave keeps showing up with new IPs and names to get around being banned, all so he can tell us he won’t read such drivel.
The irony, it scorches.
Comment by Nishi_Jenkins on 11/22 @ 8:35 am #
kk, cut talkin’ trash about Malkin.
I despise her, because we are philosphical mortal enemies. I am a bird-platonist and she is a frog-aristotelian.
You don’t need to be talkin about her butt.
Did you know that one reason she started blogging was from reading Jeff back in the day?
She is making a good point.
Comment by Nishi_Jenkins on 11/22 @ 8:36 am #
I mean, does the GOP need Huckabee?
Palin can hold the socons.
Comment by happyfeet on 11/22 @ 8:38 am #
Doesn’t he have free healthcare to go wait in line for or something?
Comment by cfbleachers on 11/22 @ 8:39 am #
I don’t give a flying Huck about his “faux cons” argument against libertarianism. Frankly, much like thor…it has the impact of fart vapors. The guy producing it doesn’t recognize the stench as being bad, it lingers in the air and attaches to the seat cushion, but it has no visible way to sustain itself and it makes every person of cognition leave the room if they can.
Fart vapor ideology is to classical liberalism what granulated eyelids (blephartis) are to the gift of sight.
Comment by Pablo Wilkes Booth on 11/22 @ 8:45 am #
Yeah, dude. Talk about how short she is instead. That always sells.
Comment by Nishi_Jenkins on 11/22 @ 8:50 am #
hehe, Pablow, i figgered it out.
McCain was wearin lifters.
Comment by N. O'Brain on 11/22 @ 8:51 am #
<iAquaman could take Mike Huckabee.
Comment by N. O'Brain on 11/22 @ 8:52 am #
Mad HTML skilz strike again!
Comment by Nishi_Jenkins on 11/22 @ 8:55 am #
Well, you guys should all go spam Malkin’s thread an put Jeff’s name out there for the conservo blogger symposium.
Comment by happyfeet on 11/22 @ 8:55 am #
Cause I was riding my bike and ok what happened was then I was going from school and my shoelaces got wrapped up in my pedals and I sorta lost control. Bike’s ok though. Me and thor are gonna play starwars later you want you can play too. See? Got my bandaid on. It’s scooby doo cause that’s all we had.
Comment by Nishi_Jenkins on 11/22 @ 8:59 am #
I would, but my IP is still banned at Malkin.
However, Allahpundit, the Creator of Worlds, He Who Pastures the Stars, the Sublime, is letting me comment at HotAir now.
amazing.
;)
Comment by Nishi_Jenkins on 11/22 @ 9:02 am #
Aww….I missed Baldilocks?
Let’s play her song anyways.
<3
Comment by Nishi_Jenkins on 11/22 @ 9:09 am #
“Me and thor are gonna play starwars later you want you can play too.”
sry, feets, i have a date with my guildies at Drak’ Theron Keep.
keep it real.
Comment by Mossberg500 on 11/22 @ 9:11 am #
Where do you go from here?
Comment by Mossberg500 on 11/22 @ 9:20 am #
Jeff, I didn’t see this on your wish list. It is the sign of the apocalypse.
Comment by happyfeet on 11/22 @ 9:32 am #
Thank you. Me and Sonny Moore we have been relating a lot. Have a good weekend and when you come back whenever I still want to hear what you think of Hillary. I don’t see what it means for the hope or the change and she’s easily way more stupid unqualified to be Secretary of State as some people thought Mrs. Palin was to be vice president. Is it just cause Baracky has been notably the misogynist one you think? Baracky likes to keep the bitches in their place. I can’t tell if putting Hillary under his thumb is more of that or if we’re supposed to reappraise him for it. It smells like condescending affirmative action of the worstest kind or is it supposed to be part of where they thoroughly demoralize and shatter the spirit of the people who didn’t vote for them?
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 11/22 @ 9:44 am #
Obama will probably expect her to make the coffee.
Comment by Nishi_Jenkins on 11/22 @ 9:48 am #
lol, good i checked back.
kk feets.
Putting hilary in there as sec state is bloody brilliant.
He could have picked someone more qualled, but she brings the rain on additives.
1. Unites the party. The Pumas will swoon.
2. She owes him. And she will work like a demon…. not for him, not for America, but for herself. He is channelling her energy and talents, its bricolage.
3. Avoids alternative– he’d have to wall her off like a cancer and she’d always be workin against him.
4. He hasn’t won her loyalty–but he has channeled her cooperation.
5. Exploit Bill’s international contacts under the table.
I could go on.
Think of a bitter primary battle in 2016 where Jindal/Romney gets elected. Then Jindal makes Palin HHS.
Obama is freaking brilliant…..you guys should be watching and learning….be real outlaws…steal his best stuff and make it your own.
Be subversive, be subtle.
Otherwise you are never comin back.
Comment by Nishi_Jenkins on 11/22 @ 9:54 am #
Also, it makes Obama look really good.
Noble, gracious.
Like Jeff says, appearance is reality.
gtg.
l8rz
Comment by Pablo the Ripper on 11/22 @ 9:55 am #
Where have I heard that “never coming back” bit before?
Comment by happyfeet on 11/22 @ 9:56 am #
That’s more or less what I thought too but I think it remains to be seen if Baracky is brilliant or just insecure though. I think he’s got a major Hugo Chavezy insecurity streak. Hopefully being president will be very healing for him.
Comment by Nishi_Jenkins on 11/22 @ 9:59 am #
ooo…..one more thing I forgot….never too early for triage.
Jindal could be The Great Man….Palin never….no skillz.
I mean, that turkey thing…open mouth insert foot.
But Palin could be Hilary to Jindal’s Obama.
Get rid of Huck. He will kill the GOP.
Comment by Nishi_Jenkins on 11/22 @ 10:01 am #
kk, Pablow, I miss-spoke.
Of course you can come back…..but why make it 40 years from now?
Don’t be stupid, don’t be evil.
my new credo.
Comment by happyfeet on 11/22 @ 10:04 am #
nishi is right about Huckabee. He’s no more than all about leveraging the GOP into speaking fees and book sales so he can pay for surgery to get rid of all the excess skin that hangs off his bulemic caracass like spanish moss.
Comment by happyfeet on 11/22 @ 10:05 am #
oh. That was carcass is what it was supposed to be.
Comment by Nishi_Jenkins on 11/22 @ 10:06 am #
lol, I really gtg……but….the thing about Palin…she has no skillz, no knowledge, but fosure skillz and knowledge can be developed over time.
The really bad thing is she has no political instincts.
zip, nada, zero.
I don’t think that can be developed. Its kinda binary.
byeeee
Comment by sdferr on 11/22 @ 10:35 am #
I like that nishi would be giving instructions on political skills to a successful politician. It’s a very American thing to do.
Comment by cranky-d on 11/22 @ 10:40 am #
The trolls don’t know what to do with themselves any more. They have been fighting for this moment for years, and now the fight is all they have left. Pathetic, really.
Comment by geoffb on 11/22 @ 10:52 am #
All this talk about it being the third Clinton term is correct but they have the wrong Clinton in mind.
Hillary ran a real “shadow presidency” during Bill’s two terms. Bill was the front man, Teflon coated, smooth talking, flak catcher, shielding Hillary from fire.
Obama will serve the same purpose for Hillary’s third term. Her minions will run things from behind the scenes.
Obama’s value is that he has and is the ultimate political shield in American politics. A much thicker and slicker Teflon than even Bill, as long as his Teleprompter works anyways.
Comment by geoffb on 11/22 @ 11:02 am #
A perfect example of the value of the trolls. Their reality is precisely 180° out of phase with the real world. Inverted they make sense.
Comment by Jeff G. on 11/22 @ 11:29 am #
datadave / d’dave IPs banned today alone:
68.142.54.37
68.142.61.241
68.142.38.182
Nov 10:
68.142.59.252
Nov 8:
68.142.55.145
Sept 1:
68.142.51.222
You can call me a liar, but you’ve been asked to leave and you keep coming back. That’s bad form, plain and simple.
I don’t even read your comments. I see your name, get the IP, and ban. I have no desire to hear from you. I don’t care about your opinions. I don’t like you at all, and what you have to say about me you’ve been able to say elsewhere without being banned (like, eg., that I’m a Nazi; which if you ever said that anywhere within striking distance, you’d find a boot on your neck — at which point you’d at least have point of comparison). So go forth and name me your scourge. But stop posting here.
You aren’t welcome. Clear enough?
Email conversations with others who used to post here in which you discuss the nature of my soul doesn’t give you any insight into me, because the guy who likes to discuss such things with readers I’ve banned doesn’t know me well at all.
Comment by happyfeet on 11/22 @ 11:52 am #
jeez. what an empty empty life and how truly sad that is cause this is really a fleeting moment what dirty socialist datadave people can say to themselves that they are in the moment what brought dirty socialists to power and yet they are empty empty empty as faggy David Brooks sitting in Manhattan cultivating his collection of Baracky Administration dirty socialist trading cards what list the Ivy League degrees on the back getting them all arranged just so for when can trade them at parties with his Manhattan pals what lovingly introduce him as our little contrarian. Don’t worry he’s housebroken and they laugh and laugh.
Comment by happyfeet on 11/22 @ 11:59 am #
oh. for when *he* can trade them I meant. David Brooks. I just want people to like me is that so wrong hey do you think these glasses make me look smart? I think they make me look smart. Maybe not as smart as I looked in college but then I went to a very good school have I told you?
Comment by N. O'Brain on 11/22 @ 12:05 pm #
“Comment by Nishi_Jenkins on 11/22 @ 8:59 am #
I would, but my IP is still banned at Malkin.”
Weren’t you banned here, too?
Comment by ian cormac on 11/22 @ 3:46 pm #
Right, she was on the city council, they thought she was a harmless hockey mom; within four years she had brought down the mayor. She drastically reformed and cut back the city structure. She ran for lieutenant governor, she lost; she ended up with the oil commission, she forced out the campaign treasurer, and resigned over the total corruption involved. She ran for Governor, against the Stevens/Murkowski regime and the Democrats, reformulated the oil leasing fees, put forward the natural gas pipelines, left the Big 7 out of the picture; went with a Canadian company, no skills right.
Comment by parsnip on 11/22 @ 3:50 pm #
Maybe if you’d formulate your questions in an intelligible manner they might get answered, sdferr.
Comment by datadave on 11/22 @ 11:52 pm #
jeesum dude, what’s the matter with you? You must have some other guy’s IP. Just check’n back to see waz up? It’s sort of humorous like that time you attacked the guy at “No more mr. nice blog” for having an IP that obviously you couldn’t track anymore than you can mine and mine that’s never been adjusted…but for some reason you can’t find it. Remember your attacks upon on Steve M.? wrong IP obviously, that you used to accuse him of sending a slighty nasty comment.
good thing you have that wife and trust fund keeping you in the black. g’luck.
Oh, here’s your clown-clutz female nazi at the Turkey butcherie and stupid fest” Mrs. Palin h/t Steve M. Pretty stupid woman with the stupid bloodied wingnut behind her looking like her in-bred cousin. Can anybody tell us what she’s saying?
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 11/22 @ 11:56 pm #
Can anybody tell us what she’s saying?
She’s saying “You’re a friggin’ psychotic, Dave.”
Hope that helps.
Shouldn’t you be busy working on Obama’s Utopia? Also, will you pay your taxes now?
Comment by datadave on 11/23 @ 7:24 am #
horsesass.org
I learn things here, spies.
I was just helping, showing that Jeff seems to have a problem with IPs.
Oh, I pay taxes. Do you?
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 11/23 @ 10:17 am #
I learn things here, spies.
You’re incapable of learning, datadipshit.
Oh, I pay taxes.
Liar. You’ve admitted being a tax cheat before.
Comment by Nishi_Jenkins on 11/23 @ 7:42 pm #
More on Hillary for sec state, feets.
It will be so awesome to have Niccolo Machiavelli as president in stead of Bottom the Comik Rustik.
;)
Comment by Pablo on 11/23 @ 8:43 pm #
Malkin requires registration. She’s lost her account and her IP has nothing to do with it.
Comment by Pablo on 11/23 @ 8:44 pm #
What part of “Fuck off” do these people not understand?
Comment by Rob Crawford on 11/24 @ 11:18 am #
All of it.