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[Ya-ta Boy]

I could have called this thread 'Circular Firing Squads' but that has been used.

The non-loony Right seems to have come up with a new hobby--bashing their own in public. I noticed this weekend the trickle has become a flood. I let it go till I ran into another one this evening. I decided this trend needs a thread.

[Ya-ta Boy]

Exhibit #1

Bill Kristol quotes Peggy Noonan in his op-ed piece:

"According to the silver-penned Peggy Noonan, writing in The Wall Street Journal over the weekend, �In the end the Palin candidacy is a symptom and expression of a new vulgarization in American politics.�

For those who don't remember, Peggy Noonan was Ronald Reagan's chief speech writer for a time back in the early 80's.

The rest of Kristol's piece is not particularly interesting to me, but here it is: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/opinion/20kristol.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

[Ya-ta Boy]

Exhibit #2

"For a man who has just been, in his eyes, excommunicated from both a magazine and a movement founded by his father half a century ago, Chris Buckley, son of the sainted William F., is doing a creditable job of keeping his upper lip stiff. �I�m still sort of getting my apostate act down,� Buckley says with a chuckle when I phone him a few days after the unpleasantness unfolded. �I�m reading Apostasy for Dummies.� The apostasy in question is, of course, his endorsement of Barack Obama, which provoked such a torrent of outrage and abuse from the right that Buckley felt it only proper to offer to quit his column at National Review�an offer that was taken up, to his great surprise, �rather briskly,� as he puts it. �I guess it shows, be careful to whom you tender your resignation, because they just might accept it!�

Buckley�s good humor does nothing to conceal his melancholy and bewilderment at this turn of events. �I was really quite amazed by the reaction, and I think it shows just how bloody calcified the political discourse has become, and tribalist, and snarling,� he tells me. �I want to say that it�s a tempest in a teapot, but there seems to be something going on here, and maybe this has accidentally tapped into it.�

If the Buckley affair were an isolated incident, such talk would be easy to dismiss as self-flattery�but it isn�t. With the prospect of defeat for John McCain growing more likely every day, the GOP destined to see its numbers reduced in both the House and Senate, and the Republican brand debased to the point of bankruptcy, the conservative intelligentsia is factionalized and feuding, criminating and recriminating, in a way that few of its members can recall in their political lifetimes. Populists attack Establishmentarians. Neocons assail theocons. And virtually everyone has something harsh to say about the party�s standard-bearer. Election Day may still be two weeks away, but already the idea-merchants of the right have formed a circular firing squad.

When the weapons of choice shift from pistols to Uzis after November 4, the ensuing massacre will be for Democrats a source of political opportunity, not to mention endless entertainment. But for Republicans it will be a necessary passage toward either the revival or reinvention of conservatism. Nobody serious on the right doubts that the overhaul is at once required and bound to be arduous�but it may take longer and prove even bloodier than anyone now imagines.



To get a sense of the struggle ahead, a good place to start is with Sarah Palin, who has been the flashpoint for the most severe intra-conservative contretemps so far. In the weeks since her selection as McCain�s running mate, a startling assortment of name-brand pundits on the right�Kathleen Parker, George Will, David Frum, David Brooks�have pronounced themselves displeased with the pick. Brooks went so far as to declaim that Palin �represents a fatal cancer to the Republican Party.� Buckley, for his part, tells me that McCain�s vice-presidential choice was roughly 60 percent of the reason that he decided to endorse Obama. �I will readily confess that I was one of many who swooned the day after the announcement,� he says. �But it�s kind of like dating a supermodel. There comes a moment, unfortunately, where they start talking.�


There's more, which you can read here: http://nymag.com/news/politics/powergrid/51406/

[bangbayed]

Doesn't matter as long as Joe Six Pack Plumber likes her, eh?

Just pure speculation here, but it would be pretty interesting to see a split happening in the party in the near future between the social conservatives and the libertarians.

[agentX]

Apparently, even conservatives have their limits of how much they are willing to put up with.
They're disappointed with the McCain campaign and now they're disappointed with the racism of the voters. Of course, these same pundits helped fuel some of that racism, but they'll never really admit to that.

I hope the newfound-brave conservatives realize that the people they're bashing are notorious for mass shootings, false anthrax scares, bombings, and dragging deaths.

[bacasper]

[SirFink]

There's conservatives and then there's "conservatives." Ron Paul has never been a big fan of McCain.

What's fascinating about the McCain candidacy is that this guy was so unpopular back in the primaries. He was heavily criticized by the other candidates for being too liberal. He was trashed during his run in 2000. Ann Coulter said she'd campaign for Hillary Clinton if McCain won the nomination. Etc. Just Google "John McCain is a liberal" and you'll see what I mean.

At one point McCain's campaign had no money and he being written off by everyone. The fact that he came back to win the nomination is pretty amazing. And the fact that he has transformed himself into the right wing poster child is also pretty amazing. The guy has hired the same douchebags who were working for Bush and Rove back in 2000 who were saying he had fathered a "black" child out of wedlock. Talk about making a deal with the devil.