Meaning this:
The Buckley rule is (in the words of Charles Krauthammer): support the most conservative candidate who is electable.
That means that Conservatives are supposed to take one for the team and should have nominated Mike Castle – the RINO establishment candidate who was supposed to be a shoo-in. A funny thing happened to the shoo-in, he could not get the Republican Senatorial nomination in Delaware.
In case anyone needs reminding, Buckley should be celebrated for not following the Buckley rule. He ran for Mayor of New York to take votes away from Republican John Lindsay, supported Democrat Joe Lieberman when he ran against Republican Lowell Weicker and led a successful campaign to unseat Republican Charles Goodell in favor of brother Jim Buckley running on the Conservative party ticket. In the last two instances, the insurgent won. There are no final electoral decisions until the votes are counted.
I have a great deal of respect for Krauthammer but he’s no movement Conservative. He’s a thoughtful pragmatist who’s very worried about the ability of a radical like Barack Obama to change America fundamentally from a free-enterprise republic to and all-encompassing corporatist state with leaders who don’t like America. In First Lady Michelle Obama’s immortal words, she has never been proud of America in her adult life until now.
Of course for Democrats in and out of the media the references to the Buckley Rule are self-serving, which is not surprising. In a time of particular political turmoil where all the energy seems to be on the Right, the Left is concerned that the tsunami has so far hit only Liberal Republicans. The real concern is how badly the Left will be hurt in November. It is useful for Democrats to be able to co-opt members of the Republican Party whose only quibble with the Democrats’ agenda is the price tag, not the issues themselves.
Make no mistake, the Tea Party movement, despite the rhetoric about deficits, is fundamentally about the role of government. If the government can be transformed from the all-encompassing omnipresent Big Brother to a government of limited powers envisioned by the founders, the deficits will recede.
The Buckley rule is a useful rule of thumb for ordinary times. But just as the constitution is not a suicide pact, the Buckley rule should not bind us in extraordinary times; just as it did not bind William F. Buckley, Jr.
To which I’ll just add this bit I wrote some time back, albeit in a slightly different context:
But back to politics: if, as I’ve argued, political realism as a strategy is doomed […] what is the alternative? As many pundits will patiently explain to you, ideological purity and idealism doesn’t win elections, so if not pragmatism, what?
To which I reply, pragmatism is fine. But why not use our idealism pragmatically — which is to say, why not make it our strategy to use idealism as our cudgel against the media and the left [and, I’ll today add, establishment types on the right] in such a way that their tactic of misrepresentation and outrage no longer pays dividends? Why not make it our strategy to destroy their tactics — and in so doing, reaffirm the very principles at the heart of classical liberalism?
It seems to me this is precisely what the Tea Party movement is attempting to do.
— Which, thank goodness for that.
Now. Go watch football or something. It’s Sunday, for Chrissakes.
Jeff, when you get on a roll you are fucking awesome.
But Jeff….O’Donnell is simply the wrong hill to die on.
She is just a crank, and whats worse, a crank that was a lot vocal.
Opposition research is gonna love this.
membah, all her interview clips are just as replayable as Tina Fey’s spoofing Palin on SNL.
Can’t stop the signal.
Throw your intellectual chops behind Christie or Rubio….Rubio is a good candidate, even if he is a gunga. ;)
“The leftists view their countrymen as in dire need of supervision — by elites like them, of course. ”
Well…that was Thomas Jefferson’s view. 50 years of IQ-baiting and anti-intellectualism masquerading as anti-elitism has ruthlessly culled every vestige of ‘talent’ and ‘virtue’ out of the conservative base. That is why your bench is nano-wafer thin. Your candidates can’t compete in a democratic meritocracy.
Then again, O’Donnell gene splicing theories on mice and men could explain a lot of the politicians we have out there.
It is not about O’Donnell anymore. Hell, neither O’Donnell or Castle would be my first choice (and definitely not Coons). It is about the GOP powers that be not wanting their authoritah questioned. And certain popular bloggers wanting to be…pop-u-lar.
“Electable” seems to be changing right before our eyes, at least in terms of what those in the know might perceive as electability. This cycle is downright screwy already, and it ain’t over yet. God only knows what those stupid voters are gonna do.
nikki haley is a good candidate too.
pick a better hill.
Pick yourself another country nishi.
shorter Little Girl Kate Mengele: blah blah blah you conservatives should all die blah blah blah
“It is useful for Democrats to be able to co-opt members of the Republican Party whose only quibble with the Democrats’ agenda is the price tag, not the issues themselves.”
In bleeping deed!
keep forgettin to change that. :)
No, Joe, the conflict is between populism and Jeffersonian meritocracy.
Douthat gets it….that is why he is desperately casting about for some alternate meritocratic values that conservatives can compete at.
bussing for IQ
Hey, here’s a big Jefferson fan at work:
Revisionist Recitation: Obama Omits ‘Creator’ While Quoting Declaration
In case you’re wondering, he’s like totally Christian. If you were wondering, that would be silly, because only crazy people don’t know how Christian he is.
Bullshit, nish.
You do not get to be a member of the “natural aristocracy” by declaring yourself “in”. Nor do you get into that club by having your parents buy you a credential from a “well-respected University.” The latter is no different from knights in the Middle Ages and Early Modern period. You couldn’t be a knight unless you had the horse, equipment, and armor — and the way you got that was by buying it. The resulting group wasn’t even necessarily the best available enforcer thugs, much less the Best and Brightest of society.
In fact (and going by yourself as an example) someone who looks at Jefferson’s words and declares to him or her self “Well, obviously that’s me!” is clearly excluded from the “natural aristocracy”.
Regards,
Ric
To be fair, Pablo, Obama did attend church today in DC.
He carried his prayer rug into the Episcopal church across the street from the Whitehouse.
Asked about the service, Barack reflexively claimed that he could not recall a single word the pastor had said.
No, Joe, the conflict is between populism and Jeffersonian meritocracy.
Well, the interesting thing about the Tea Party and the rising tide of anti-elitist/leftist sentiment in the country today is that it is the opposite of populism.
Populism has always been the politics of using government to give the people what they want. How can you do that when currently what the people want is less government?
Any obvious tension between today’s Democratic party and Jefferson’s meritocracy?
Well said, sdferr.
The silver lining: If FROTUS is this crazy and unhinged when he’s go these huge majorities, he’s going to be like Bobcat Goldthwaite after November.
It’s GONNA be grEAT!
Good point, XBradTC.
I’m going to stow that one away for later use.
why sdferr?
i love my country.
i loathe arrogant WEC stupidity…….like this.
you talk about base enthusiasm.
i would crawl on my knees over broken glass to vote to keep the warpimps and anti-science WEC retards like Palin and O’Donnell from ever tasting power again.
if Palin is on the ticket in 2012 Obama’s base will come screaming down out of the heavens like a swarm of MQ9 reapers on an Afghan wedding party, belieeeeeeve it.
NWBCW!
I think the Iraqi document release in October is going to remind the electorate of what conservative ideology really is.
“Make no mistake, the Tea Party movement, despite the rhetoric about deficits, is fundamentally about the role of government. If the government can be transformed from the all-encompassing omnipresent Big Brother to a government of limited powers envisioned by the founders, the deficits will recede.”
It’s difficult to argue with this proposition at all.
Interesting facts about Buckley, too, that I never knew, although most happened in my lifetime!
I must say, too, that I was very disappointed to see Rove on FNS still talking about his “doubts” regarding O’Donnell. I won’t beat the dead “unity” horse again, nor drone on-like yesterday-about my fears of the Obami cementing their changes to America via the apparent infighting among the righty coalition. The guys JeffG linked to articulated that pretty accurately:
“…worried about the ability of a radical like Barack Obama to change America fundamentally from a free-enterprise republic to and all-encompassing corporatist state with leaders who don’t like America. In First Lady Michelle Obama’s immortal words, she has never been proud of America in her adult life until now.”
We all do need to get behind the choices of the folks. This time, it’s not about the social-cons getting with the program of “the RINOs”, but is 180 degrees reversed. We’ll see who steps up, and who takes their toys and goes home…
And, although a forgiving sort of guy, I’ll probably be done wit those who do.
The Obami need to go.
Ha, yeah, you pretend to love your country nishi, then foist Barack Obama off on it. moron.
At some point in the near future, we will be treated to the sight of lefty media drones forced to stand outside the Whitehouse, and report that Barack H. Obama has had a breakdown and barricaded himself in the Lincoln bedroom with a hostage, matches, and a pack of Kool Filter Kings.
Populism has always been the politics of using government to give the people what they want. How can you do that when currently what the people want is less government?
Give them what they want. But it just kills those in government to do that.
Good point, XBradTC.
I’m going to stow that one away for later use.
I can die a happy man now.
As to O’Donnell et al., if you’d told me in 2004 a man with the baggage of Obama would coast to victory in 2008, I’d have a hard time believing you, even if you were only talking about the Senate.
If the conservative shift within the party is to have any meaning, it will end up having a few folks on the very ragged edge of electability. And we won’t really know what that edge is unless we try a few on the wrong side of the divide. Better to try. O’Donnell wouldn’t have been my choice, but it beats the hell out of an admitted Marxist like Coons.
I don’t care about O’Donnell, nishi, least ways as a hill to die on. I care about the idea of O’Donnell as a hill to die on.
As for anti-science retardation, I give you all those who bought into the global warming hokum, or evolutionary psychology.
Ahem.
“…I was very disappointed to see Rove on FNS still talking about his “doubts” regarding O’Donnell.”
Hold on to your disappointment Bob, cause Rove is going to keep it up, bashing O’Donnell over the head with it until we get the idea that he’s got a mission we weren’t expecting.
Don’t forget, certain rightwing bloggers with special party access are holding some stuff back, and they’ll release it if you keep acting up, you little brats.
KNOW YOUR PLACE!
A good point by ECM
September 19th, 2010 @ 11:49 am at TOM:
sdferr.
those are great quotes.
But you should have addressed them to your man bush while he was spending a trillion dollars and 5000 soldier lives to make another islamic state where A LOT of muslims hate us.
you should have checked him when he was enabling the unregulated invisible hand of the free market to punch working americans in the face in the Econopalypse That Ate America’s Jobs.
you should have complained when Bush made America the Torture Nation.
its too late now.
you have chosen the side of the yeoman farmers that wannabe rulers….”you-are-not-the-boss-of-me.”
that is what Jefferson would have thought of you.
and my favorite.
Shit, I was half hoping I just dreamed that last night.
Sure. Fetch me one of those incandescent bulbs and some extra salt. I want to make soup in my overfilled toilet.
Some people at Hot Air get it.
Someone erred? President Bush even and in consequence anyone who supported his main efforts? Gasp. Shocking. Take a pill nishi. Then try to wake up.
Nishi consistently, if inadvertently, makes a strong case for prior restraint of speech.
Jeff, global warming is happening. that is science. the proportion of it that is caused by humans, or fixable by humans, is disputable.
the third culture is happening….evo psych, cognitive anthropology, SBH, SNT….every day we know more.
and the third culture is going to kill conservatism, like Wikileaks is going to kill warpimp tabletop wars of choice.
make book on it.
the times they are a-changing.
I wonder what Michelle Malkin is thinking of Patterico this morning? ‘S true, I do, but not enough to go find out.
Wow. Are you really this superficially team-oriented, nishi?
We here can see faults with the Republicans. We talk about our differences all the time. Yet you seem to be completely blinded to your side’s rather obvious faults.
JeffG,
I am still wondering about that, and never saw any clarification in the other thread. I guess I’ll have to e-mail him and ask him if he was serious, or what. It was certainly a disturbing pronouncement, given that it was not followed up with any indicator that he was only joshing; nor could serr8d tell.
sdferr,
I’m keeping my eye on fellows over this. I will say that John McLauglin came down on her side, said she would most likely win by 4 points, and preferred to talk about the failure that is the bearded Marxist, Coons, instead.
Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about.
When are they bringing back immigration reform, nishi? You always think there is this magic cure that will decimate the conservatives. When one doesn’t work out, you just move to the next. Wishful thinking is not analysis.
It’s good to see steady ol’ Colin Powell out on the jack-jaw curcuit this morning, still demonstrating how he can keep his head jammed up his own ass and talk at the same time. Some things are just dependable that way.
Nishi and so many others on the left always seem to think that there has been some change to the basic human condition. There just hasn’t been. Here’s a tip: you will not- can not- make a perfect society. The true strength of conservativism is its recognition of the fallibility of man. Since no man is perfect, it behooves us to restrict the power any man may have over us.
Jeff, your side is the side that supports ignorance and the suppression of freedom.
not my side.
anti-reproductive rights for me and my sistahs, anti-science, anti-SSM…….anti-citizen freedom.
sure, my side has flaws….but ideological purity isn’t one of them. :)
im still a teenage anarchist at heart……aren’t you (outlaw)?
bh the magic cure is the demographic timer. immigration reform is only a part.
nishit is a fucking imbecile, bh. She is still on her knees in front of Teh One hoping for the bukakke party.
Nishi,
We should have reigned in Booooooooooosh!; you are correct.
Reigned him in him when he expanded medicare part D…
Reigned him in when he expanded the Dept of Education…
Reigned in him when he cut discretionary spending increase deals with the Demoocrats, in the name of continued war funding…
Reigned him in when he didn’t move forward with Social Security reform, like he promised during the campaigns…
I could keep going, but I don’t want to sound so sour grapes. Bottom line though, Bush was a Rockefeller Republican with social conservative leanings.
Nishit appears to be trying to spit out all 8 of her memes in one thread.
She still hasn’t figured out Barry is a limp-dick who can’t can’t can’t squeeze one off unless he has Michelle’s permission JD? Hokey-smoke she’s simple.
Not everyone at Hot Air is on the wrong side of this issue.
Okay, then prove your good faith here. List some.
A leftist barcky supporter like nishit should get slapped in the face every time they whine about Bush spending.
Y’know, I see the political left whine and wheedle all the time about American combat deaths in Iraq while they blame George Bush, and no one else, for them.
What I don’t see all this time are vast numbers of members of the US Military, you know, the very people who were fighting and sometimes were injured or saw comrades fall, out in public blaming George Bush for the deaths of those comrades or the injuries they themselves suffered. On the contrary, I see men and women of the US armed forces embrace the man with what appears to be genuine love and affection. How strange is that, if matters are in fact as the left wants to portray them?
Malkin no longer returns my emails. She’s been to my house, met my family…
That’s the kind of campaign some of our big names on the right have waged against me behind the scenes. And I know who they are. Hell, I’ve even met some of them.
Like I said earlier, they’ll circle the wagons, link exchange each other, and come out of all this just fine. It’s who they are. But at least some of us will remember.
Riehl is still watching fairly close what’s what and who’s who.
JeffG,
I wish I knew what that was all about. I first came to PW owing to links at American Thinker/Hot Air/Pajamas Media/etc. I don’t seem to remember you doing anything sudden or drastic to threaten thise folks, or explain their behavior.
And none of the commentariat will ever forget any of the “good man” stuff.
I have a feeling as things go folks will start linking to your stuff more; even oif ot is from the archives, in sort of an, “I told you so”, vein.
If nothing else Jeff, it shows who is really your pal, and who’s just the fair weather type.
See Jett, Joan: zen.
It’s not global warming now, nishfong, it’s global climate disruption. The Ministers of Science have thusly decreed.
From sdferr’s link to Dan Riehl.
“If Right-side new media lags behind the Left out here, that Hot Air is still considered by some to be a leading Right-side site is better proof of any gap, than some missing technology application.”
It get’s tougher…
Heh Bob, maybe Abe Greenwald was wrong about Barry’s thesis that “all conflict can be explained as a function of economic struggle”, except that Barry hasn’t got hold of the dynamism of the thing, nor the right end of the tool, and bang, he shoots himself.
Yeah sdferr,
BarryO certainly has seemed crasp the wrong side of the knife to do the cutting!
Since Nishi is still pimping for the Cap and Trade crowd with her Global Warming grift talking points, I feel compelled to help a sister out with a handy guide to the players.
The Scam Artists: this group consists of anyone with a vested financial interest in the outcome of the global warming debate. These are people who are going to make money off of trading carbon credits, either directly, or through their broker’s efforts.
People on this list would be Al Gore, Laurie David, and Barbra Streisand. You can readily spot people who are pushing global warming from the top due to the massive size of their houses, the fleet of SUVs parked outside, and the fact that they take private jets to go to the 7-11.
The Marks: these are the ordinary people, the suckers, who are going to be expected to pay eight dollars a gallon for gas and triple their current cost for electricity so that those people in those massive houses who are pushing global warming can get a winter place in Vail Colorado too.
Shills: the shills are the members of Congress, and the media who are working night and day to shove this preposterous notion that the earth is getting warmer, colder, or maybe this week it’s slightly warmer with a little mix of colder, down the throats of the people.
They do this partially because they are pretty much whores for a dollar at this point, and partially because they have no moral center. It’s a gift.
What I find amazing, although not particularly surprising, is that despite the entire fraud being exposed in the East Anglia e-mails, the people behind it are still continuing to push it, using up what little credibility they had built up in the first place.
What I find less amazing, and not particularly surprising, is that there is a group of people who in the face of all the evidence, and having no financial interest in the outcome, continue to push it for free. We refer to these people as ‘morons’.
Nishi is a moron.
And maybe, after this election cycle, the Shark Jumpage at Hot Air may be self-evident.
It’s not global warming now, nishfong, it’s
global climate disruptionGaia Rape.“…the Shark Jumpage at Hot Air may be self-evident.”
Seems like the Allahpundits or Aces are at one and the same time aware of that possibility and equally incapable of abandoning their own drives to make it so. It’s a nasty feedback loop, it is. But in the words of the old brush off, it’ll be: see ya, wouldn’t want to be ya.
the entire fraud being exposed in the East Anglia e-mails
nope, you were scammed. Ignorance in action.
No fraud involved.
stop throwing radar chaff.
the truth is the right wants to tell other citizens what to do, to restrict freedom for female citizens, SS citizens, black citizens, hispanic citizens, young citizens….
A truly revoltin’ development, to be sure, sdferr…
But, it’s football time. time to see your boy Harvin rack up yards against the Dolphins.
[I say your boy because you first alerted me to the possibility of his success in the NFL, after you saw him in college ball]
Be back later.
You do not get to be a member of the “natural aristocracy” by declaring yourself “in”.
Actually, declaring yourself to be part of the natural aristocracy is one of the basic tenets of communism.
nishi — it ain’t the campus Republicans promulgating the speech codes, you puling hypocrite, or chasing speakers off the stage…
The idea that nishit cares about facts or the truth or science is laughable beyond words. All she cares about is keeping her place in line so she can get some barcky love spunk on her chin.
Newsweek!
Heh.
Couple random thoughts:
1. Is it just me or do some people act like Twitter isn’t public?
2. Is it just me or does the above fact allow us to know what we’ve only suspected?
Answers: not just me. You could make a flow chart of the loyalties and you’d see exactly what you’d suspect from observing blog posts and linking/not linking.
There’s something very un-Army of Davids, overly centralized and territorial about it all. Add in the varietal stagnation of the two larger aggregation sites (Hot Air and Pajamas) and we’re seeing something that very much runs counter to the earlier ethos of the blogosphere.
And the Vikes go for it and *bloop* . . . schade.
Gotta like Percy Bob, he’s a good’un. Watch the WVU kid Noel Devine next year. He’s another.
But Jeff….O’Donnell is simply the wrong hill to die on.
That is exactly the right hill to die on.
The unspoken overarching theme with what O’Donnell is facing is that were she to lose, it would be game over. What establishment republicans and leftists fail ( or refuse ) to understand is that this is a journey, not a destination. If O’Donnell loses, there are other senate seats, there will be other elections, special and otherwise.
If republicans fail to take over the house or the senate or both, we will live to fight another day.
We ain’t staking everything on this one card.
Well you are on the same side of this issue. Malkin is your natural ally on all of this. But yeah, there has been a campaign against you. They don’t like it that you are calling them out on being stupid for so long. And I am not talking about Malkin.
“Malkin is your natural ally on all of this.”
Yeah, so doesn’t that mean that Malkin has some (re)thinking to do? And if she doesn’t do that (re)thinking, what is that going to tell you about her Joe?
Go Falcons.
More Delaware Republicans voted for O’Donnell over Castle was not because O’Donnell was so great, she was just better than Castle. They know who O’Donnell is (she has run for office several times) and they definitely know who Mike Castle is. They were voting against Castle.
And O’Donnell is far better than Chris Cooms.
Fortunately (given that Al Franken is in the Senate) one Senator cannot do a lot of damage. When the number gets over fifty and the President is of the same philosophical ilk as that majority, they can do a lot of damage. The primaries are over. It is time to win the general.
sdferr, Malkin is not acting like Patterico on this issue.
Who said Malkin was acting like Patterico Joe? Stop and think.
sdferr – Shhhhh. It has a fight to pick.
Da Bearz!
Pittsburgh vs Tennessee should be an excellent game.
Josh Freeman is a better qb than people give him credit to be I think. TB has some serious other problems though.
“Jeff, global warming is happening. that is science. the proportion of it that is caused by humans, or fixable by humans, is disputable.
the third culture is happening….evo psych, cognitive anthropology, SBH, SNT….every day we know more.
and the third culture is going to kill conservatism”
Rom 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
I love how the “Global Warming” scientific establishment investigated itself and found itself innocent of fraud…
How Charlie Rangel of them.
Jeff, global warming is happening
which is why, of course, Obama’s “science” adviser Holdren is all about reframing the language by declaring it will no longer be global warming or climate change but climate DISRUPTION
You may all “oooo” and “awww” and listening to the horses scream in terror.
The problem with some on the Right is the desire to re-create the mythical “unbiased media.” I say mythical because it never existed, not during the days of the Founders or at any time after. So we have people like those at Powerline feeling compelled to comment on the warts of Conservatives so they can say “see, I’m more fair and balanced than the MSM.” That and a buck gets you a lousy coffee at Mickey Dee’s. These are people who are doing the victory dance in the end zone before the touchdown.
Perhaps they don’t fully appreciate the stakes. Politics is a deadly serious game with possible catastrophic consequences. So far as I can see Christine O’Donnell is a potentially important part of a coalition that will fundamentally make necessary corrections in our national political landscape. Unless it comes out that she is not who she says she is, there is no reason for anyone on the Right to give ammunition to the “bearded Marxist” and the less hirsute ones in the Obama administration.
The leftists view their countrymen as in dire need of supervision — by elites like them, of course.
I’m inclined to believe less and less that they actually see us in need of their supervision and rather just want to be in charge, regardless of our actual capacity for self-government.
Nishi:
If AGW is happening, then it’s the first time in Our Very Old Earth’s 4.5-billion year history that CO2 has driven climate change of any kind.
dicentra – Don’t get all fact-y on it, its head might assplode. On second thought …
I don’t know if this has been addressed yet, but can Nishi the Dawn Slaying Nightking tell me where I go to get my advanced degree in Agricultural Yeomanry?
I thought Pittsburgh v Tennessee was a most excellent game JD.
BMoe – I am going to be in Atl and Dalton for a week. How far is that from you?
Almost like they are somehow bound to act in this manner.
Bounders all.
global warming is happening
Yes it is,little Nishi, but it isn’t being accomplished by the anthropomorphos. It is being done by that great big incandescent ball in the sky, the sun.
We will soon be , if we are not already, into another solar minimum wherein there will be much global cooling.
You beclown youyrself.
I think you are in love with the idea of science rather than dirty, nasty, sweaty actual business of science. Which is hard.
dirty, nasty, sweaty business
You wouldn’t be flirting with Nishi, Rusty, would you?
[…] fact, supporting the “idea” of a candidate, as certain bloggers have suggested they are doing with Christine O’Donnell (while pointedly disclaiming that they are fully invested in the notion of the candidate herself as […]