Tag Archives: Conservatives

Good Point

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo on one of the reasons CPAC gets such out-sized media attention:

“In recent years, especially since Obama became President, CPAC’s wild press popularity and attention has been driven by what we might call a tacit conspiracy of derp between the event organizers and the people who cover it. You be outrageous; we’ll be outraged. And everyone will be happy. (After all, crap like this doesn’t happen by accident.) This has become even more the case as the contemporary Conservative Movement has become less a matter of ideology than a sort of performance art.”

Does Sen. Barrasso Live on Brokeback Mountain?

Gay blogger Mark Rogers claims that ultra-conservative GOP Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming (where Brokeback Mountain is set) is also gay.  Rogers outs gay politicians whom he believes are hypocrites in their policy views and votes.

The Washington Post has called Rogers “the most feared man on [the] Hill” because of his accurate track record.

Rubio Sorry He Crossed Immigration Rubicon?

“The very issue Rubio…thought would be a game-changing, legacy-builder looks like a big liability for the Florida senator, at least right now.  In the process, the self-confident presidential hopeful suddenly looks wobbly, even a little weak, as he searches for what’s next.

“Rubio appears to have miscalculated how much Republican support he could win in the Senate – and how much conservative backlash he could avoid outside of it. And now he feels stuck. Conservative intellectual leaders – notably Rich Lowry of National Review… and Bill Kristol of The Weekly Standard — are crusading against his bill, backed by the vast majority of conservatives in the House.”

From “Marco Rubio Stumbles,” Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei, Politico

Feeding the Paranoia

So you have a bunch of people yelling and screaming that the government can’t be trusted and is coming after us.

What does the government do?  It feeds and justifies that narrative by the IRS specifically targeting these groups and subjecting them to extra scrutiny.

The IRS has admitted and “apologized” for the fact that tax-exempt groups with “Tea Party” or “Patriot” in their names were singled out for heightened review during the 2012 election cycle, including unlawfully demanding names of individual donors, that left-leaning groups didn’t receive.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Quote of the Day

“We’re watching the end of right-wing conservative talk radio.  The genre is dying among ratings and dying among advertisers … Rush is at the end of his career. His constituency is all wearing Depends. And he’s getting himself into trouble he doesn’t need.

“Sandra Fluke was simply the lightning that struck and hit an old building that collapsed.  She didn’t do it. She helped to bring it down at the end, but it was falling apart on its own.”

Jerry Del Colliano, publisher of Inside Music Media, which focuses on radio.

Scariest Story of the Day

Ted Cruz (R-Texas) may have been in the Senate only four months, but he’s getting ready to blow that popsicle stand and run for Prez in 2016, according to Robert Costa at National Review Online.

A consultant for a conservative group calls him the “purest of the young conservative senators.”  I guess purest is now a synonym for craziest.

The head of the SC Republican Party, Chad Connelly, says “Conservatives think he’s a rock star.”  Rock star, rock thrower, what’s the difference?

This guy really is the reincarnation of Joe McCarthy, people, a reincarnation this country definitely doesn’t need.

Costa writes:  “He’d outflank almost all of the other candidates on the right, and his debating skills, which once won him national awards, would be formidable.  It doesn’t hurt that much of the media already hates him with a passion.”

That’s all true.  What’s also true is that, ideology aside, the guy is incredibly arrogant, obnoxious, and unlikable.  His personality should do him in.  On the other hand, after two Dem terms, it will be time for the pendulum to swing, plus the transition to Obamacare will be as painful and bumpy as the GOP can make it.

 

 

 

A Low Tolerance for Tacky

Many in the South Carolina GOP don’t care if Mark Sanford loses his House race — in fact they’d prefer it that way.  They felt he should have resigned as governor, if not over the lying and adultery, then over the ethics violations that resulted in a $74,000 fine, the largest in the state’s history.

From their perspective, if Sanford loses, he’s dead politically, and that means more to them than giving up the seat for the rest of the term to the Dem, Elizabeth Colbert Busch.  They don’t need the seat now because the GOP controls the House, and they figure they can take it back in 2014 with someone they like better than Mark Sanford.  Maybe Jenny Sanford…  The power of incumbency once Colbert Busch wins?  Meh…  You can ask Scott Brown about that.  It’s a solid GOP district — Mitt won it by almost 20 points.

Will conservatives flock to the polls to vote for Colbert Busch?  I doubt it.  They’ll just stay home.  They won’t make her win, they’ll let her win.

I knew Sanford’s hubris had gotten the better of him yet again when I saw his mistress up on stage with him the night of his primary victory.  I knew Jenny wouldn’t let that slide.  What I didn’t know at the time, and what really pissed off Jenny, was that Sanford brought two of his sons up on that stage who hadn’t met his mistress before.  Jenny Sanford has a very low tolerance for tacky.

Jenny Sanford could have kept her trespassing claim against Mark quiet till after the election.  He chose to flaunt his mistress, Jenny chose to flaunt his violations of their divorce decree.