Featured Posts
  • The Church, Birth Control and Santorumatozoa

    The Church, Birth Control and Santorumatozoa

    The Republican presidential race appears to have shifted from debating the economy to discussing social issues - same-sex marriage, abortion and, amazingly enough, birth control. The year is 2012 and ...

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  • Romney Calls Santorum the ‘D’ Word

    Romney Calls Santorum the 'D' Word

    Mitt Romney believes that his best line of attack is making the claim that he has not spent a moment as a D.C. politician while his two main opponents, Newt ...

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  • Holy Rick Santorum, Batman!

    Holy Rick Santorum, Batman!

    No two ways about it, Rick Santorum had a good night. Not only did he sweep Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri but he also got off the best line of the ...

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  • “We the Rich…”

    We the Rich...

    Few would argue the fact that Citizens United has been a major player in the Republican primary...and many if not most would concede that none of it has been healthy ...

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  • A Romney Victory Is Ensured With Trump’s Endorsement ()

    A Romney Victory Is Ensured With Trump's Endorsement ()

    As if you needed another reason to not vote Romney. Celebrity business magnate Donald Trump endorsed Mitt Romney for president Thursday, telling reporters he will not mount an independent campaign if ...

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  • Why I Love Newt Gingrich

    Why I Love Newt Gingrich

    In a perfect world, the Republican contest to find a nominee to face Barack Obama would go on forever...or at least until August. You cannot attach a number to the ...

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  • Republican Cannibalism

    Republican Cannibalism

    I suspect there are a ton of conservatives secretly agreeing with Begala and while it's too early in the game for Dems to get cocky, it's difficult to not smile ...

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  • Romney Hood

    Romney Hood

    One of our readers sent me an email with an idea for an illustration - Mitt Romney as Romney Hood. I thought it was brilliant and came up with the ...

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  • Why Do People Take an Instant Dislike To Newt Gingrich?

    Why Do People Take an Instant Dislike To Newt Gingrich?

    Quotes don't get much better than this one by Bob Dole. "Why do people take such an instant dislike to me?" asked a perplexed Gingrich, to whom Dole bluntly ...

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  • Gingrich Takes A Thrashing

    Gingrich Takes A Thrashing

    After the beating Gingrich took last night, it's hard to imagine under what scenario he can make a comeback.  Florida is going to Romney and for Gingrich to regain the ...

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  • SOTU

    SOTU

    There's a lot out there on the President's SOTU, so I'll keep my thoughts short and sweet. The speech did what it had to do which was target liberals and independents ...

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  • Just Another GOP Debate

    Just Another GOP Debate

    The highlights from last night's debate. - Newt Gingrich can't wait to become president so he can revisit the early 60s and overthrow Castro in Cuba. War, baby, war. - Santorum, who ...

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  • No More Mister Nice Guy for Mitt Romney

    No More Mister Nice Guy for Mitt Romney

    It appears that the South Carolina verdict is forcing Romney to start taking Gingrich seriously. “We’re not choosing a talk show host, we’re choosing a leader,” Romney said, saying that their ...

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  • Mike Huckabee Solidifies His Birther Creds

    Mike Huckabee Solidifies His Birther Creds

    Mike Huckabee offers advice to Mitt Romney concerning his unreleased tax returns. Let him [Romney] make this challenge: "I'll release my tax returns when Barack Obama releases his college transcripts and ...

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  • Late Night Political Humor

    Late Night Political Humor

    Via Political Humor... "Mitt Romney is coming under fire because even though he is a multimillionaire, he only paid 15 percent in taxes. That's not a tax, that's barely a tip." ...

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  • The Last Word On Jon Huntsman

    The Last Word On Jon Huntsman

    Good line. My guess is that after Romney fails to beat Obama in the general, Huntsman will be back in 2016.  The most electable guy in the field and he could ...

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  • Does Romney Urinate Straight Down His Leg?

    Does Romney Urinate Straight Down His Leg?

    I found this pretty funny...and accurate. It comes from a reader over at Balloon Juice. So, let’s review. The contenders for the GOP nomination are A vulture capitalist who believes that any ...

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  • The Constitution – Libertarian’s False Idol

    The Constitution - Libertarian's False Idol

    Lively little debate going on at one of last week's posts with Libertarianism put under the microscope. ocLiberal: I know I am in sketchy territory here, (start the indignant shouting now) but ...

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  • Gingrich’s Delusional Politics

    Gingrich's Delusional Politics

    In the contest to determine the winner of the Far-Right Politics gold medal, rack up a few more points for Newt Gingrich. “I think an intelligent conservative wants the right federal ...

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  • Late Night Political Humor

    Late Night Political Humor

    Via Political Humor... "Congratulations to Mitt Romney. He won the New Hampshire primary last night. See, this is proof that even the multimillionaire son of a multimillionaire can beat the odds ...

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What Would A Modernized, Reformed Conservatism Look Like?

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David Frum (a “conservative with balls” as Stephen Colbert referred to him) is guest posting for Andrew Sullivan.  He asked Sullivan’s readers as well as his own at FrumForum to make improvements on his one sentence description of a “modernized, reformed conservatism”.

David’s description:

A reality-based, culturally modern, socially inclusive and environmentally responsible politics that supports free markets, limited government and a peaceful American-led world order.

He notes that by “socially inclusive” he means that “Republicans and conservatives needed to pay more attention to the economic interests of the less affluent”.  That would be a nice change from what we’re getting from modern conservatives.

Some of the suggestions he received:

Meritocracy tempered by compassion.

Free markets with a referee to ensure fair play.

We want the country promised to us by our grade-school social studies textbooks.

Killing bad Muslims with upper-class tax cuts.

Not just for white people any more, we promise!

Cute little exercise except I fear that there are not many in the conservative ranks who feel that a modern, reformed conservatism is necessary.  They appear to be content with what they now have, which is…

…a fantasy driven, culturally backwards, selfish, intolerant, non-inclusive and environmentally non-responsible politics that supports free markets, limited government and the notion that if it’s good for the rich then it’s good for the country…and if it’s good for Americans, then to hell with the rest of the world.

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Comments

  1. Jan says:

    …a fantasy driven, culturally backwards, selfish, intolerant, non-inclusive and environmentally non-responsible politics that supports free markets, limited government and the notion that if it’s good for the rich then it’s good for the country…and if it’s good for Americans, then to hell with the rest of the world.

    AMEN TO THAT!!!!

    And to continue with their complete ignorance, John Bohner want’s a moratorium on any new government regulations for a year. Brilliant, Bohner, just Brilliant!!!!!

  2. E.A. Blair says:

    Frum seems to be one of the few people on the conservative side of things who is more than just ideology; people like that are hard to find. However, I suspect that he is a falling tree in an empty forest. There’s a quote from another writer (not a political figure or journalist) who once said, “Conservatives wouldn’t change their underwear if they didn’t have to.” The years of Republican governance during my lifetime have been the most ideologically-driven period in the history of this country.