The Best Article in a Decade

Wherever you live on the political spectrum, you absolutely must, must read Bruce Bartlett’s truly amazing article, “Revenge of the Reality-Based Community,” in The American Conservative.

He talks about the censorship that the right, especially Rupert Murdoch, has tried to impose on him and about how this former supply-sider has come to agree with Paul Krugman on how to deal with the Great Recession.

A little background if you don’t know Bartlett.  He worked for Congressman Jack Kemp, for Heritage, in the second-term Reagan White House, at Treasury under Bush 41, for Cato, and wrote for all the top-line conservative publications.

Some excepts:

“My book, Impostor:  How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy, was published in February 2006.  I had been summarily fired by the think tank I worked for back in October 2005.  Although the book was then only in manuscript, my boss falsely claimed that it was already costing the organization contributions.  He never detailed, nor has anyone, any factual or analytical error in the book.

“Among the interesting reactions to my book is that I was banned from Fox News.  My publicist was told that orders had come down from on high that it was to receive no publicity whatsoever, not even attacks.  Whoever gave that order was smart; attacks from the right would have sold books.  Being ignored was poison for sales.

“I later learned that the order to ignore me extended throughout Rupert Murdoch’s empire.  For example, I stopped being quoted in the Wall Street Journal.  Awhile back a reported who left the Journal confirmed to me that the paper had given her orders not to mention me.  Other dissident conservatives, such as David Frum and Andrew Sullivan, have told me that they are banned from Fox as well.  More epistemic closure.

“Annoyingly, however, I found myself joined at the hip to Paul Krugman, whose analysis [of the economic meltdown] was identical to my own.  I had previously viewed Krugman as an intellectual enemy and attacked him rather colorfully in an old column that he still remembers.

“For the record, no one has been more correct in his analysis and prescriptions for the economy’s problems than Paul Krugman.  The blind hatred for him on the right simply pushed me further away from my old allies and comrades.

“The final line for me to cross in complete alienation from the right was my recognition that Obama is not a leftist.  In fact, he’s barely a liberal — and only because the political spectrum has moved so far to the right that moderate Republicans from the past are now considered hardcore leftists by right-wing standards today.  Viewed in historical context, I see Obama as actually being on the center-right.

“At this point, I lost every last friend I had on the right.  Some have been known to pass me in silence at the supermarket or even to cross the street when they see me coming.  People who were as close to me as brothers and sisters have disowned me.

“So here we are, post-election 2012.  All the stupidity and closed-mindedness that right-wingers have displayed over the last 10 years has come back to haunt them.

“The economy continues to conform to textbook Keynesianism.  We still need more aggregate demand, and the Republican idea that tax cuts for the rich will save us becomes more ridiculous by the day.

“At least a few conservatives now recognize that Republicans suffer for epistemic closure.  They were genuinely shocked at Romney’s loss because they ignored every poll not produced by a right-wing pollster such as Rasmussen or approved by right-wing pundits such as the perpetually wrong Dick Morris.  Living in the Fox News cocoon, most Republicans had no clue that they were losing or that their ideas were both stupid and politically unpopular.

“I’ve paid a heavy price, both personal and financial, for my evolution from comfortably within the Republican Party and conservative movement to a less than comfortable position somewhere on the center-left.  Honest to God, I am not a liberal or a Democrat.  But these days, they are the only people who will listen to me.  When Republicans and conservatives once again start asking my opinion, I will know they are on the road to recovery.”  Emphasis added.

I haven’t had Bartlett’s distinguished career, but his story, especially over the past four years, is my story ideologically and philosophically.

 

No Love for Mittens

Politico has a story* cataloging the slings and arrows conservatives like Charles Krauthammer, William Kristol, Rich Lowry, Peggy Noonan, and Rupert Murdoch have been flinging at the hapless Mittens.  It shows how loathed Mitt is by his own team.  He’s kind of the A-Rod of the GOP.  From the article:

“But in the past few weeks, the critiques have reached new levels of intensity, as columnists, commentators, operatives and donors fret that Romney is losing control of the 2012 debate amid a Democratic assault on his personal finances and stewardship of Bain Capital.

“Most of the criticism falls into one of several categories:  Romney’s not a reliable conservative.  He’s inarticulate about policy and light on vision.  He’s not tough enough for a presidential campaign.  The aides who surround Romney aren’t up to the job.”

I would add that all this was true when he ran last time, yet there was no serious Stop Mitt movement in the GOP.

I would also add that there may be years when Mitt paid no federal income taxes.  Whether we assume that from his silence or we find it out because he’s eventually pushed into disclosure, that is devastating.

* “Conservative elites club Mitt Romney,” Alexander Burns and Maggie Haberman

The GOP’s Buyer’s Remorse

Rupert Murdoch isn’t the only one beating up on Mitt and comparing him to John Kerry.  Bill Kristol from The Weekly Standard, who helped bring us Sarah Palin, makes the same comparison and throws in Michael Dukakis for good measure.

He urges Mitt to “get off autopilot” and “actually think about the race he’s running.”  But Mitt is too cautious to do the kind of fundamental campaign overhaul he needs, and besides, there’s no such thing as a personality transplant.   Mitt is too “conservative” as a person to create and run the campaign conservatives want.

I don’t think the GOP’s comparing President Obama to Jimmy Carter is resonating, but their comparing their own hapless/hopeless guy to Kerry and Dukakis rings true.

Murdoch Merciless on Mitt

Rupert Murdoch’s frustration with Mitt has moved from his Twitter account to the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal.  The WSJ blasts Mitt today in “Romney’s Tax Confusion”:

“If Mitt Romney loses his run for the White House, a turning point will have been his decision Monday to absolve President Obama of raising taxes on the middle class.

“For conservative optimists who think Mr. Fehrnstrom misspoke [when he said the health care mandate was a penalty, not a tax] or is merely dense, his tax absolution gift to Mr. Obama was confirmed by campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul….  In any event, Mr. Fehrnstrom…wouldn’t say such a thing without the candidate’s approval.

“In a stroke, the Romney campaign contradicted Republicans throughout the country who had used the Chief Justice’s opinion to declare accurately that Mr. Obama had raised taxes on the middle class.

“Why make such an unforced error?  Because it fits with Mr. Romney’s fear of being labeled a flip-flopper, as if that is worse than confusing voters about the tax and health care issues.

“Perhaps Mr. Romney is slowly figuring this out, because in a July 4 interview he states himself that the penalty now is a ‘tax’ after all.  But…the campaign looks confused in addition to being politically dumb.

“The latest mistake is of a piece with the campaign’s insular staff and strategy that are slowly squandering an historic opportunity.    Mr. Obama is being hurt by an economic recovery that is weakening for the third time in three years.  But Mr. Romney hasn’t been able to take advantage, and if anything he is losing ground.

“But candidates who live by biography [Mitt’s reliance on his Bain background] typically lose by it.  See President John Kerry.

“The biography that voters care about is their own, and they want to know how a candidate is going to improve their future.  That means offering a larger economic narrative and vision than Mr. Romney has so far provided.

“Mr. Romney promised Republicans he was the best man to make the case against President Obama, whom they desperately want to defeat.  So far Mr. Romney is letting them down.”  Emphasis added.

Hey, Rupert, tell us how you really feel!  Although Mitt has four months to turn this around, I don’t see him making the kind of changes either in personnel or policy that he needs.  I see him plodding along in the same out-of-touch, soulless vein and losing.

 

 

Disney Glorifies Rebekah Brooks

Why is Disney glorifying Rebekah Brooks?  The heroine of Disney’s new animated feature Brave may be called Merida, but she looks exactly like Brooks.

Why would Disney want to  make a role model of a power-mad woman who flattered and toadied to prime ministers and media moguls to get ahead, her ethics and morals as tousled as her riotous red locks, who would interfere with the murder investigation of a child to further her demented ambition?

Becky Brooks makes Becky Sharpe look as selfless and virtuous as Melanie Hamilton Wilkes.  Becky Brooks belongs in a prison cell, not an animation cel.