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I commented recently on the ongoing battle within conservative ranks on the direction the Republican party should take. As I wrote, conservatives David Frum and David Horowitz are on opposite ends of this debate.  Frum is old school conservative whose belief is that the Republican party should stand for more than simply a vehicle to get them into power. Integrity and adherence to the basic tenets of conservatism take precedence over lies and deceit as demonstrated by the likes of a Glenn Beck.

Horowitiz takes an opposite and much more delusional view of the matter.

I don’t agree that conservatism is a “very troubled” movement; I don’t think conservative intellectuals are subservient to an entertainment complex, and I don’t think that Fox News has helped to “trap conservatives in a cycle of shrillness, rage, and paranoia that is radically off-putting” to voters. I think this is a slander of Fox and conservatives more suitable to Huffington Post than a conservative website. Fox is a tremendous asset to the conservative movement precisely because it sets the record straight to a mass audience that leftists have so maliciously distorted.

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I also have a problem with your basic presumption that Republicans must clean their house before they can appeal to centrist voters and defeat the left. This implies that the left’s attacks on conservatives have merit and will be blunted if we purge our ranks of embarrassments to our cause – the shrill, the enraged and the paranoid – who in your mind – seem to be Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and now Glenn Beck. Did you notice that these are also our most powerful and feared and charismatic conservatives?

When one side begins their argument with “[Fox] sets the record straight” then you know there’s no real room for discussion. What amazes (and troubles) me, is to realize once again what blind ideology does to one’s sense of honesty and integrity. I have no doubt that Horowitz truly believes that Fox and Beck are for the most part factual in their reporting and as for the “shaky” parts, well I’m sure they dismiss it as acceptable. It’s all for the cause, you know.

It is this energized, unapologetic, in-your-face (but also civilized and intelligent) conservative base on whom the future not only of the movement but the country depends.

If Horowitz is right and the future of the conservative movement depends on the ‘civility’ and ‘intelligence’ of a Glenn Beck or a Rush Limbaugh, then it is safe to surmise that the movement has no future.  It would be more wise and prudent to believe that the future for conservatives and republicans as an influential and beneficial force depends more on the rational and honest thinking of a David Frum.

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