Republicans give themselves a tongue-lashing
Bay Buchanan has long struck me as a little … out there, even when compared to her brother, Pugnacious Pat.
But as the Rev. Joe Lowery likes to say, there’s good crazy and then there’s bad crazy. In a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference now underway in Washington, Bay got a little good crazy.
Of course, there’s a reason the Republicans governed so incompetently, and so much in contradiction to their stated principles: Their ideology, while appealing to many in the abstract, is unworkable as an approach to actually governing.
Ronald Reagan understood that. But with his skills as an actor, he could talk one way and govern another. He could preach about spending discipline while raising federal spending by 68 percent (compared to 32 percent under Clinton). He could preach tax cuts while signing three major tax increases. He could talk tough overseas while skedaddling from Lebanon as soon as our forces there came under attack.
His GOP successors lack that ability. Their philosophy — and their fixation on the mythical rather than practical Ronald Reagan — tells them that when they’re in power they should slash government spending by 30 percent, ban abortion, institute Christian prayer in schools, abolish the Department of Education and create an entirely laissez-faire economy. But none of that is remotely feasible, in part because many of their own voters may like that stuff in theory but would hate it in practice.
So, bereft of principles to guide them and realistic goals to achieve, they are left to govern with the sole aim of continuing to govern. The result is the Bush administration and the abandonment of conservative principle and any other sort of principle that Buchanan correctly attacks.
Now out of power, the Republicans are free to return to preaching their unworkable principles, as Buchanan and others press them to do. But the problem is, the public is now on to them. Memories are fresh. The public now understands that a.) those principles aren’t practical, and b.) if elected, the Republicans wouldn’t follow them anyway.
Buchanan is right; the answer to the GOP dilemma does not reside in Washington. He or she is somewhere out here in the hinterlands, as a governor or mayor, finding conservative ideals that can actually make sense as governing principles. I don’t know who that person is.
I do know it’s not Bobby Jindal or Sarah Palin.
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86 comments Add your comment
AJC/DNC Management
February 26th, 2009
3:48 pm
But the problem is, the public is now on to them.
Boy, are they ever!
President Barack Obama’s first federal budget lays out the most far-reaching agenda for American life since Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society.” But paying for it by having upper-income earners shoulder much of the cost is already provoking cries of “class warfare” in Congress.
Little barry’s hide is getting tanned, ain’t it?
“He is relying on a strong economic comeback very quickly. And he’s assuming that a lot of the new issues will be paid for,” said Robert Bixby, the executive director of the Concord Coalition, a bipartisan fiscal watchdog group.
You think the Repugs don’t see the door being opened………..wide?
getalife
February 26th, 2009
3:57 pm
The Cons Pe-nises Are Centimeters mob are hilarious.
rush demands no cons dare speak of Jindals disaster but Sanford calls rush an idiot.
One big comedy show.
NRB
February 26th, 2009
3:57 pm
If Jay doesn’t like Palin or Jindal, then they must be doing something right.
Brad Steal
February 26th, 2009
4:01 pm
Sorry Jay, I don’t buy your take on this. Ever since Republicans learn that they were losing almost all of their clout, they have been trying to convince themselves and their constituances that is because we have “weak leaders” or we have “abandoned or conservative principles.” Hogwash! It is because those “conservative principles” (manifested in the horrible Bush/Cheny policies and failures) are foolish and flawed.
Republican and conservative philosophies need to be re-tooled to reflect this century or at least something more current than the pleistocene period.
fed up
February 26th, 2009
4:02 pm
Great article, this could also be said about the democrats. Come on Jay write something worth reading. Bashing the GOP is getting so old.
NRB
February 26th, 2009
4:08 pm
Brad is correct.
We have become a nation of whiny, do-nothing, children. Spoiled brats who will spend $500 bucks per month on high speed internet, cellphone service, and cable tv….but then moan when we have to spend $1000.00 on an ambulance ride that saves our lives.
We really do need the government to step in and re-distribute the money, because 90% of the population is completely uneducated on the subject. We wan’t to be able to spend $4000 a month even though we only make half that.
And when the house of cards come down around us, we need the IRS and their armed agents to step in and make people who are smart with their dough to start coughing up. Or else.
We are indeed going to get the government we’ve asked for.
God help us all.
Bud Wiser
February 26th, 2009
4:13 pm
You may be partially correct in some of your assumptions, Jay, but what you say about ‘freshest memories’ will also be applied to these morons in Washington who are going off the Richter Scale now in their spending as well.
Good for the goose, good for the gander, you know the phrase.
Class of '98
February 26th, 2009
4:28 pm
Everything goes in cycles, and (dumb) people always blame their problems on the party that controls the White House.
The pendulum has swung wide to the left. It has already begun to swing the other direction. This debacle of a spending bill will only hasten in.
Davo
February 26th, 2009
4:32 pm
Apparently Jay doesn’t comprehend the difference between a conservative and a republican, and he’s more than happy to pass on that ignorance to his sheeple. And like a typical liberal he thinks that berating conservative values is all the rage now that socialism is here. Just wait till Obama finishes his magic unicorn ride in 4-8 years…these will look like the good old days compared to the stagnation he has planned for us.
Mrs. Godzilla
February 26th, 2009
4:32 pm
Hugs to all you Republicans! You are so needy now.
Sanford is your only chance.
Midori
February 26th, 2009
4:36 pm
Jay,
you must be a real glutton for punishment.
Two truth telling posts on Reagan in a row?
You’d better look underneath your car before turning the ignition.
Sam
February 26th, 2009
4:38 pm
Right Jay, President Barry is spending $25,000 in his budget for every tax filer OR $43,000 for all tax filers who actually pays income taxes, and YOU are talking about Reagan from 20 yrs ago……please. Why don’t you just go ahead and write for the Daily Kos and jump the sinking boat that is the AJC
RealityKing
February 26th, 2009
4:40 pm
No, no.., the answer to the GOP dilemma lays in taking control of the progressive media. A nightly love affair broadcast nationwide will make 68% of Americans follow anyone. Just like it did for Obama..
Redneck Convert
February 26th, 2009
4:41 pm
Well, I’m about to finish my run and start my weekend but I’m all bumfuzzled. First they say the librul Democrats are all wrong because they ain’t conservative enough. Then they say there’s a diffrence between a conservative and a Republican. I think I’ll stop by Billy Bob’s and see if Jim Earl and Joe Bill can make all this make sense to me. Anyhow, to my way of thinking the only conservatives are the rednecks. We don’t go in for no nonsense about not hurting peoples feeling by saying the wrong thing. And tell this Mrs. Godzilla I can do without her hugs, thank you. I wonder if her husband knows she calls him Godzilla. Have a good weekend everybody.
getalife
February 26th, 2009
4:43 pm
Gomer Pyle is their man.
RealityKing
February 26th, 2009
4:43 pm
Of course most love affairs that end.., do so because of money problems.
DOW -88.81-1.22%
7,182.08
YTD -18.17%
Nov 5th -25%
Bosch
February 26th, 2009
4:46 pm
I do a really funny Bay Buchanan impersonation, too bad y’all can’t hear it, but it goes something like this:
“Yack, yack, yack, yack yackyackyackyackyackyackyackyack.”
Good column Jay, but I must agree with Midori – you better look over your shoulder getting into your car tonight.
Yes, some things are good ideas, but when faced with practicalities it kind of goes out the window. I see this kind of with Obama – it’s one thing to say something out on the campaign trail, but when faced with the actual reality, you kind of have to regroup.
I’ve always laughed at those whose theory of governance is fiscal responsibility, and a smaller government – well, yeah, that’s what we all want, but who is making the administration decisions? THE GOVERNMENT!!!! The theory of fiscal responsibility and smaller government hasn’t been a reality in – well, has it ever???
Off to soccer world!!!
Taxpayer
February 26th, 2009
4:46 pm
The Republican party could become relevant again, maybe some day, if they would just concentrate on doing the right things for we the people such as slashing wasteful government spending by 50 percent or more in areas such as agribusiness and defense spending, ending the failed philosophy of preemption, forgetting about ever banning abortion, not trying to break down the separation of church and state, adequately funding the Department of Education (and other important departments such as EPA and FDA) and trashing once and for all the insane notion that a laissez-faire economy will ever work outside an Ayn Rand dream world. There. That about does it.
Mrs. Godzilla
February 26th, 2009
4:49 pm
Convert…
I call him MR. Godzilla-punkin!
He needs hugs too.
@@
February 26th, 2009
4:53 pm
jay? and your party has a president who campaigned as a radical leftist; moved to the center towards the end of his campaign; now elected, has followed George Bush’s foreign policy principles as they relate to national security and trade, and has recently propelled himself back into the far-left stratosphere on spending.
What are ‘ya gonna do about it?
Paul
February 26th, 2009
4:55 pm
@@
Methinks your post is a bit much for some to digest.
Let alone, admit.
Brad Steal
February 26th, 2009
4:59 pm
Bay Buchanan is Pat Buchanan in drag, right?
@@
February 26th, 2009
5:07 pm
Paul:
Noooooo, ‘ya think?
I remember when Pat Buchannan was with the Reform Party back in 1999. He said, and I quote:
“I cannot endorse the Republican nominee as of now” because “my party at the national level has become a Xerox copy, basically, of the Democratic Party.
Pat’s an isolationist — an unrealistic principle to hold in a global world where one hand feeds, frees or needs the other.
@@
February 26th, 2009
5:16 pm
By the by-line, jay! I never saw you offer a tongue lashing to your liberal participants who have repeatedly called aspiring black conservatives “Uncle Toms”, “Sambos”, “House negroes” (politely put) and “Aunt Jemimas”.
Are ‘ya tongue-tied, reluctant or following Midori’s lead when she said she could call them whatever she wanted.
The hypocrisy is overwhelming, to say the least.
Paul
February 26th, 2009
5:21 pm
@@
If you think Pres Reagan cultivated the image, well, he can’t hold a candle to Buchanan. Born and raised in Washington DC. Even did his undergraduate work there (he really, really expanded his horizons when he did his graduate work in… New York City). Then he did a couple years work outside the Beltway, then goes back and marries – a woman who worked in the White House!
And this guy manages to sell himself as a Washington outsider, in touch with the mainstream of middle America.
Amazing. Absoduhlootly amazing.
radiowxman
February 26th, 2009
5:21 pm
When I was in college, the school started this asinine thing called “bias reports.” Basically, it worked like a crime report. But instead of calling the cops when your walkman got stolen, you could call this group if you were offended by someone’s speech or actions.
Bay Buchanan was scheduled to speak on campus. Nevermind it was the first conservative speaker on campus in the 4 years I had been there.
Hundreds of tolerant liberals called up the bias police to complain about her showing up. Apparently, some are offended when they hear things they don’t agree with.
AJC/DNC Management
February 26th, 2009
5:24 pm
That was a great speech by Buchanan, she was right on the money.
Washington is filled with spineless pseudo Conservatives, aisle reachers all.
Thanks for the tube, Bookman.
NRB
February 26th, 2009
5:26 pm
“Pat’s an isolationist — an unrealistic principle to hold in a global world where one hand feeds, frees or needs the other.”
Ah yes, the “we are one world” liberal theology. Then why all the frothing at the mouth about outsourcing? Since we’re one world, outsourcing jobs should never be an issue, but liberals turn purple over it.
Paul
February 26th, 2009
5:27 pm
radioxman
Do you recall any instances of a liberal speaker invited and having a similar number of conservatives calling the bias line to complain?
Taxpayer
February 26th, 2009
5:29 pm
The last thing the Republican party needs is “aisle reachers”. They need to put Palin and Jindal on all future WH races. They can toss a coin to see who gets the Presidential slot. I am 100% for that.
@@
February 26th, 2009
5:36 pm
Alright, I’m really pithed now. Hey jay!
Since you’re hoping to relieve conservatives of their conscience, I thought maybe you and the AJC might wanna relieve your own.
GBI: Assisted suicide group didn’t gather proof of illness
The organizers of the Final Exit Network said they had to have proof a “member” was terminally ill before volunteers would help with a suicide by inhaling helium.
Undercover agents said that was not the case.
In affidavits filed Thursday to support applications for search warrants in Cobb and DeKalb and arrest warrants Forsyth Counties, Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Wesley Horne said two people assisted by the Final Exit Network were not terminally ill.
On Wednesday, Final Exit Network founder and president Thomas “Ted” Goodwin, 63, of Punta Gorda, Fla., formerly of Kennesaw, and Claire Bleher, 76, of Atlanta were arrested in Dawson County.
Here’s the part in the article where you may want to relieve yourself…..
Goodwin had no trouble talking about the issue. In a February 2006 interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he talked of watching his father die after an agonizing 10-year battle with emphysema.
“That made me decide to get active,” he said. Goodwin was described as a driving force in the right-to-die movement by Derek Humphry, author of the best-selling book “Final Exit.”
Let me guess…..your paper painted this Goodwin fella as a champion of liberal compassion.
Let the prosecutions begin!
AJC/DNC Management
February 26th, 2009
5:49 pm
Here’s your tax cut for 95% of Americans-
President Barack Obama will propose raising new revenue through a greenhouse gas cap and emissions trading scheme when he unveils his first budget on Thursday, US media reported.
There goes the Big 8 Dollahs plus a whole lot more.
Anybody who heats their home, fills their car, powers their business with electricity is soon to be hit with a tax increase that rivals anything Dhimmy Carter ever dreamed up.
And you know what, the democrats think you libs are too stupid to understand it.
And they are right, bwahahahahahahahaha.
Taxpayer
February 26th, 2009
5:58 pm
If only the Republicans had shown some fiscal restraint over the last eight years. It just was not in them to demand any amount of spending restraint though. So, now the Republicans are going to have to fork over some big bucks in taxes and do with a whole lost less to boot to make up for it.
NRB
February 26th, 2009
5:58 pm
Thank you Management, for exposing the bait and switch.
Energy prices will go through the roof, except for ol Barry O. who likes cranking up the ol’ thermostat at the white house during winter.
Don’t worry though, Jay and all other liberal media will blame the “evil companies”, never the government.
Taxpayer
February 26th, 2009
6:12 pm
Energy prices can also come down through the roof — just install photovoltaic cells on the roof. I read somewhere that Georgia has a new business related to “solar” cells but I have not looked into it yet. It may be about time to do so especially if there’s a good tax break to go with it.
AJC/DNC Management
February 26th, 2009
6:17 pm
Taxie: You seem like someone ridiculous enough to put solar panels on your roof, but hey, at night, the house will get dim, just like you are.
Perhaps you are on to something, no?
NRB
February 26th, 2009
6:17 pm
You liberals will be dissapointed with Obama’s new 3.5 trillion dollar budget…I’m reading it right now (you can download it at CNN’s site). Here’s the part on page 30 that will drive the liberals nuts:
“increase funding for the department of
defense (dOd) The President is committed to supporting
the men and women who make our military the
best in the world.
He wants to increase the size of
the Army and Marine Corps, improve the pay for
our men and women in uniform, and improve the
medical treatment of wounded servicemembers.
To fund these efforts,
the Administration requests for DOD an increase
of $20.4 billion, or 4 percent, from the 2009 enacted
level of $513.3 billion excluding funding in the
recovery Act.”
AHAHHAHAHHA!!
Taxpayer
February 26th, 2009
6:26 pm
Andie,
The solar panels are a piece of a system and the system makeup depends on what you expect to accomplish. You can install batteries to provide a means of energy storage when the sun is not shining for example. You can also use the solar panels to simply offset your dependence on the grid. Then, there’s the original “solar” panels that actually were used to heat water and store it in drums for later use. There are lots of different options and they are getting better with time.
AJC/DNC Management
February 26th, 2009
6:26 pm
Hey Bookman- I was looking through the blog archives for the column you did a few weeks back that said we should all relax because it looked like Oblahmi wasn’t going to be an extreme left wing radical socialist, but I am unable to find it.
Did the new blog software eat it?
Perhaps you could recreate this masterpiece, repost it as a separate blog.
We could all laugh together then, no?
Mrs. Godzilla
February 26th, 2009
6:28 pm
a brief recap:
morons
Barry O
Dhimmy Carter
….in drag…
President Barry
Sheeple
Pe-nises
Repugs
Little Barry
I’m so proud of y’all. A “lite” thread.
I apologize for every nasty thing I’ve ever called any of you members of the loyal opposition. I’m going to try and stop that.
Recently I posted something that I knew would be pulled and later thought I should have asked it to be removed myself. I wouldn’t really want any body to forcefully expel anything from their rectal sphinctor as I’m sure it would be uncomfortable. However, I like that phrase for some silly reason. What it really means is “I think you are dangerously wrong, and am frustrated that you can’t see that”.
I need a good acronym. ITYYADWAAFTYCST is cumbersome.
Oh and….Stop that Budget! Too much spending on Senate Staff.
Hugs for Republicans! Democrats too.
AJC/DNC Management
February 26th, 2009
6:28 pm
Taxie: I’ll tell you what, go out to your Prius, turn on the headlights and radio full blast and leave it like that overnite, fool.
What are you gonna do, turn your whole back yard into a battery farm?
Taxpayer
February 26th, 2009
6:30 pm
Just because Obama has chosen to try and help people through this recession, that does not make him some so-called radical left wing socialist. It’s certainly better than being a No thank you, I’ve got nothing better to do and it’s taking up all my time Republican/Constitutionalist/Libertarian/Conservative/Do Nothing.
Taxpayer
February 26th, 2009
6:33 pm
Andie,
Those foolish batteries just keep getting better all the time. I also do not own a Prius so your suggestion would not be feasible. Besides, we’re not talking 1900s technology that you seem to be trapped in.
radiowxman
February 26th, 2009
6:38 pm
Paul — Never. We even had Sista Soljah speak on campus.
NRB
February 26th, 2009
6:39 pm
Actually, it does make him a socialist. He is using government force to make people give up their money so that he can give it to someone else.
It’s usually called robbery, but if it makes you feel superior to blather on about “helping the poor”, go for it.
AJC/DNC Management
February 26th, 2009
6:42 pm
Taxie: If these bright ideas you liberals have are so wonderful, why do you suppose it is that no solar farms or windmills have been sprouting up all over suburbia?
Why, pray tell, do the libs have to extract hard earned money from the successful people of the country so that they can ram these ridiculous things down their throats?
How come an idea that Dhimmy Carter promised would work while he was president, not only still doesn’t work, but has caused the moron liberals in Kalifornia to buy fossil fuel generated power from neighboring states, because they shelved all their plants for the same ridiculousness that you now advocate?
Do tell us.
AJC/DNC Management
February 26th, 2009
6:48 pm
Taxpayer February 26th, 2009 6:33 pm Those foolish batteries just keep getting better all the time.
So far, Chevrolet has said that the Volt will travel 40 miles per charge and that is only if they have a major breakthrough in battery technology, hahahaha.
And if it does happen that way, it will have to spend the entire night hooked up to the coal fired power plant so it can hopefully go another 40 miles the next day.
God you liberals are so ridiculous.
Taxpayer
February 26th, 2009
6:48 pm
Honest, the military will not storm you house if you do not pay your taxes. That is not the order that things are done in. First, you must have eight grueling years of wars, borrowing, spending,tax cuts, and de-regulation from Bush and the Republicans to drive the nation to the brink of destruction. Then, you must remove said Republicans from power and replace them with responsible democrats. After that, you must clamp down on said Republicans and make them pay for the feckless recklessness. At that point, if they refuse, we turn them over to the IRS auditor and allow him/her to use whatever waterboarding/Internet filming techniques deemed necessary. Compliance is all but guaranteed.
NRB
February 26th, 2009
6:52 pm
So 8 years of war under bush followed by 8 years of tax cheats in charge courtesy of Obama Bin Laden.
By the way we’re still at war, OBlahma is just diverting it to another country.
But you don’t know about it because the AJC just puts up fluff pieces about what his favorite rap CD is.
Got it.
Taxpayer
February 26th, 2009
6:55 pm
These things do not happen overnight, Andie. Those solar cell installations are under way out west and they have been under way in other countries for some time now. Further, we are way behind with the introduction of the electric vehicles but now that we actually have people in power that are not totally and inseparably in bed with big oil and other powerful lobbyists, we might just have a chance to do a few things differently. Believe it or not, it does take time and money to design and develop good products and the advances in battery technology are slowly but surely getting us closer to breaking that oil dependence, along with other technologies.