Buckley: Hands Off Dad's Torch, Rush

Birthers, Limbaugh, Beck fill vacuum as Obama tries to stay above the fray

(NEWSER) - As recently as this spring, the Tea Party movement seemed anemic and wonky. But in the months that followed, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and others whipped the right-wing fringe into such a frenzy that a “separate reality grew like a second head on the American polity,” Philip Weiss writes in a New York magazine deconstruction of the anti-Obama movement. Nobody gets off easy: "I blame the whole birther movement on bad PR by the Obama campaign," says a veteran journalist. "They really bungled it." More»

(NEWSER) - Sarah Palin might have had a shot at the presidency, writes Ross Douthat, but she blew it—10 months ago, when she accepted John McCain's offer to join the ticket. Instead of easing her way into the national spotlight, she was catapulted before she was ready, exposing her inexperience and putting her children "through the tabloid wringer." For the New York Times columnist, Palin's failed transformation from hockey mom to "Mrs. Spiro Agnew" was probably fatal. More»

Many pundits ruled out Obama victory early

(NEWSER) - With the election over, what's more fun than calling out all those whose predictions were off—way off. Der Spiegel lists some highlights:

• "He cannot win, Bill. He cannot win." Hillary Clinton, on Barack Obama
• "We'll win Florida." Rudy Giuliani
• "Virginians are really getting fired up for this ticket of McCain and Palin." George Allen
• "Romney for the Republicans, Hillary for the Democrats." Ann Coulter, on the nominees

(NEWSER) - The conservative movement is at a crossroads, torn between its intellectuals (think David Brooks) and its shouters (think Rush Limbaugh). As TV’s main conservative voice, Fox News could tip the scales, so Isaac Chotiner of the New Republic watched as much of the channel as he could. His verdict isn’t kind. “Once the network of optimistic, flag-waving jingoism,” he writes, “Fox has become a beacon of sky-is-falling fury.” More»

Movement needs 'plain spoken' leader like VP candidate, not 'over-delicate' Noonans

(NEWSER) - Conservative commentators who shamelessly jump on the Barack Obama bandwagon are blinkered to the new face of conservatism, Tony Blankley writes in the Washington Times. Just like “me-too” Republicans of the New Deal era, “they all cast their admiration for Mr. Obama in contrast to Sarah Palin—who they mischaracterize through a process of intellectual and historic dishonesty tempered by cultural snobbery and fear.” More»