Jim Geraghty is one of the many grifters who posts at NRO. He has a special place on the site, which suggests a quid pro quo of some sort. His blog is lightly read and rarely commented upon so I can’t believe they are paying him. But, someone is paying him, unless he married a rich women. He has been banging the drum for conservatives to stop “sulking” and come out to support the various bowls of mush GOP Inc. is offering up this November. He’s been peddling the old lines from the 70’s like the “Buckley Rule” which dates back to the 60’s.
William F. Buckley was asked, in 1967, whom he would support in 1968 for U.S. president. Buckley responded with what would late be called the ‘Buckley Rule” for primary voting: “The wisest choice would be the one who would win. No sense running Mona Lisa in a beauty contest. I’d be for the most right, viable candidate who could win. If you could convince me that Barry Goldwater could win, I’d vote for him.”
You’ll note his aphorism is about the primaries. I’ll note that no one bothered to quote this line until the Bush years. That’s when GOP Inc started labeling their bowls of mush “Bill Buckley Approved” and repeating this line, omitting the bit about the primary. Buckley never advocated merely voting for the least liberal option in the general. I have no recollection of him addressing it. If one party offered up a rapist who is a communist and the other party offered up a child molester who was a libertarian, I doubt Bill Buckley would have argued you had a duty to support the child molester.
Anyway, Jim seems to have figured out these old lines about voting for the least awful option were not convincing anyone. He has been given new instructions. Now, not voting means the terrorists have won.
Take your pick; there’s no shortage of things to be outraged about. Hundreds of millions wasted on state insurance exchanges that don’t work. The IRS abuses. Lois Lerner, refusing to answer questions from Congress. No one at the State Department getting fired over the security decisions leading up to Benghazi. Assurances about Ebola that don’t pan out.
Republicans are ‘blah’ about the midterms because they’ve lost faith that winning them will make a difference. Obama’s contempt for Congress, and lack of interest in working with it on his true priorities, is obvious. He’s pledged to unilaterally rewrite immigration enforcement to suit his needs. Large chunks of Obamacare are adjusted, nullified, improvised, and revised on the fly with no change to the written law. The president begins wars without waiting for any authorization for the use of military force. The U.S. attorney general is held in contempt of Congress with no real consequence.
No one can blame conservatives for being frustrated to the point of fury. But if American rank-and-file conservatives and Republicans conclude that the game is rigged, that it’s not worth playing, and withdraw from political life . . . then that will be the ultimate triumph of this president.
Got that? if you accept reality for what it is, the bad guys win. Therefore, the only moral choice is to keep marching off to support a political party that despises you and wants you dead. The only thing missing in these missives is “or else” thrown in to make the point.
I’ll grant that Jim is never going to bite the hand that feeds him. He makes his living carrying water for the GOP. But, there comes a point when the sales pitch is not working and further attempts crass into insult. This post is insulting. The GOP’s troubles are the fault of the GOP, not Obama or the system. Even Mike Huckleberry has lost patience with his party and he is probably going to run for the nomination.
Meanwhile over in England UKIP keeps gaining ground…
The Democrats and the Rove Republicans have become nothing more than opposite ends of the same steaming turd. The only difference is whose cronies get to slop at the government trough when THEY are in charge. Nothing shows that better than the race for governor of Florida this year. Candidates are sitting Governor Rick Scott for the GOP – who decided to assign Angela Corey to persecute George Zimmerman EVEN AFTER the Sanford police had carefully investigated and determined that Mr. Zimmerman had committed no crime – and “Orange Man” Charlie Crist for the Democrats. It is worth noting that… Read more »
I’ve been thinking about this article: http://dailycaller.com/2014/10/09/moe-tucker-conservatives/
I think they might be on to something. It’s pointless to insist on self-reliance, when you have a population accustomed to government assistance. You change the culture, then change the programs.
“if you accept reality for what it is, the bad guys win” …By which you mean these days whichever party wins the election, the bad guys have won. I can buy that. Too often it’s either the DemocRats or the DemocRats Lite. Watched two Congressional candidates from my district being interviewed on TV last night. For once, the moderator did a nice job of asking tough questions on a wide range of issues and he called out both of them when they avoided giving a direct answer. On a personal level, I’m sure they are both very nice guys, but… Read more »
I let my wife vote for me.
It’s worth that much.
Nope. It gets worse every year that goes by when the sucking on Rich Lowry’s manbit gets wetter. Really not worth a bucket of warm spit now.
if NRO seems bad now, it must have been much worse in 2004 at the height of the Bush presidency