Quote of the Day

“That was a big steaming plate of shit spaghetti Trump just deposited on CNN for his supposed friend Romney.”  Former Bush 43 speechwriter David Frum, commenting on the Donald’s contentious and Birther-centric interview with Wolf Blitzer yesterday.

Frum Sounds Santorum Alarm

 

 

“The Santorum candidacy pushes Republicans toward an election in which the issues are religious, cultural, and sexual, not economic.  It’s a candidacy that pushes the party away from metropolitan areas, away from areas of growing population, and re-bases the party everywhere that is not dynamic, not growing.  The concerns of hard-pressed America are deeply worthy of attention and respect.  They call for responses and solutions.  That’s not what a Santorum candidacy offers. … Instead, a Santorum candidacy offers an airing of resentments and grievances.  Is that really where party conservatives want to go?”

David Frum, “Conservatives:  Do You Really Want to Do This to Your Party?,” The Daily Beast

Interesting that Frum, a former speechwriter for Bush 43, says “your” party, not “our” party.

My caption for the above photo:  “I think this is how long that transvaginal ultrasound wand should be.”

 

Review of Game Change

David Frum, former speechwriter for Bush 43, has an excellent review of Game Change (the Palin-is-a-moron movie on HBO this Saturday, March 10) up at The Daily Beast.  Here’s a morsel:

“Game Change the movie shows a Palin of almost unfathomable ignorance.  Staffers discover that she has never heard of the Federal Reserve and does not know why there are two Koreas; she answers a prep question about the military alliance with Britain by saluting John McCain’s excellent relationship with Queen Elizabeth.

“Efforts to instruct her send Palin into what one staffer describes as a ‘catatonic stupor.’

“The professionals soon discover their mistake.  ‘I don’t even like to say this, but has it occurred to you guys that she might be mentally unstable?’ asks one staffer about the woman the McCain campaign proposed to put next in line to America’s nuclear codes.  As they come to know Palin, the campaign professionals begin to  feel an awakening of conscience:  first qualms, then fears, and finally revulsion — not for the campaign, not for their careers, but for their country.

“Some of the best acting in the film is in the looks of unspoken dread that flit about the faces of Sarah Paulson’s [Nicolle] Wallace and Harrelson’s [Steve] Schmidt as they react to  Palin’s wilder and wilder provocations.  What have they done?  And if this campaign somehow wins — and Palin is put within reach of the presidency — what might they have done?”

There’s much more, all of it very scary.  Think about this.  Ron Paul is dangerous enough because he wants to abolish the Federal Reserve.  But at least he’s heard of it.

GOP Intellectuals Can’t Stand Newt, the Intellectual Candidate

It’s interesting that Newt Gingrich presents himself as the intellectual in the GOP primary race, and yet party intellectuals (George Will, David Brooks, David Frum, Peggy Noonan, Charles Krauthammer) can’t stand him and are arguing passionately against the passionate one.  They agree that he’s smart, but conclude that scary should make you run screaming from smart.