OPINION
Defeat likely to send party further to the right, ensuring future losses
New York Times Nov 11, 08 9:30 AM CST
(Newser)
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A battle between reformers and traditionalists for the soul of the GOP lies in the party's immediate future, David Brooks writes in the New York Times —and the reformers don't stand a chance. The conservative old guard, with Rush Limbaugh as its loudest mouthpiece and Sarah Palin as its heroine, has a lock on Republican institutions that it will take more losses to loosen, Brooks writes.
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OPINION
Bloated government is only one (though huge) legacy of GOP reign
Weekly Standard Nov 10, 08 6:05 PM CST
(Newser)
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Modern conservatism is dead, and conservatives are to blame, PJ O’Rourke writes for the Weekly Standard . “Anyone who is still on the left is obviously insane and not responsible for his or her actions,” he contends. “No, we on the right did it.” Ideal after conservative ideal has been ill-served more or less since Reagan. “We neglected to convey the organic and universal nature of freedom.”
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OPINION
Movement needs 'plain spoken' leader like VP candidate, not 'over-delicate' Noonans
Washington Times Oct 23, 08 7:14 PM CDT
(Newser)
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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.”
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OPINION
Angry base has handed election to Obama, writes Cohen
Washington Post Oct 21, 08 10:10 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Eight years ago George W. Bush made it to the White House as a "compassionate conservative," with plans to reform education and build a multiracial coalition. In 2008, writes Richard Cohen, that vision of the GOP is dead—replaced by "a mean, grumpy, exclusive, narrow-minded and altogether retrograde Republican Party." And John McCain's campaign bears a disturbing resemblance to that of another Arizona senator: Barry Goldwater.
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2nd Amendment call was a question for states: legal scholars
New York Times Oct 21, 08 8:10 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Last summer's Supreme Court decision that ruled citizens have an individual right to possess guns drew hosannas from the American right wing. But now the court's ruling is coming under attack—from conservative legal scholars. As the New York Times reports, two Reagan-appointed judges have called DC v. Heller the conservative version of Roe v. Wade, unjustly transferring a political question from the states into the courts.
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OPINION
Noonan: VP choice bad for the right and the country
Wall Street Journal Oct 17, 08 11:20 AM CDT
(Newser)
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For seven weeks, Peggy Noonan has really, really tried to find Sarah Palin worthy of the role she's running for. She's scrutinized every appearance for signs the Alaska governor could turn out to be the next Harry Truman. Unfortunately, she writes in the Wall Street Journal , "there is little sign that she has the tools, the equipment, the knowledge or the philosophical grounding one hopes for, and expects, in a holder of high office," and it's time for the right to admit it.
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OPINION
Anti-elite attitude personified by Palin drove away base
New York Times Oct 10, 08 10:55 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Anti-intellectual populism has reduced the Republicans to a resentful rump party, writes David Brooks in the New York Times . A movement that once prized good ideas began to rely on bashing the educated as a political tactic. “What had been a disdain for liberal intellectuals slipped into a disdain for the educated class as a whole.” In the process, the party drove away much of the country.
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OPINION
Individualism can't solve everything for a social species
New York Times Sep 12, 08 6:51 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Barry Goldwater wrote that the key to conservatism is “maximizing freedom,” and since his time, individual liberty has been the party’s central tenet. But people are a “deeply interconnected,” social species, as study after study has found —and today’s conservatives need to recognize that, writes David Brooks in the New York Times . The failure to do so “is the main impediment to Republican modernization.”
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OPINION
Evangelical love for Palin family highlights dramatic switch in 'family values'
Slate Sep 5, 08 5:31 AM CDT
(Newser)
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The enthusiastic evangelical reaction to a working mother with an unwed pregnant teenage daughter on the GOP ticket highlights the dramatically changing face of conservative Christian America and could spell trouble for the Dems, Hanna Rosin writes in Slate . Evangelicals now actually score worse than the rest of America on the traditional values that preachers and conservative pundits laud, with families often failing to resemble the "oh-so-perfect" Obamas.
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ANALYSIS
Gingrich's 'Drill Now' online drive has seen huge conservative response
Politico Jul 1, 08 2:08 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Insiders warned it was risky for John McCain to reverse himself on offshore drilling, but the issue might yet prove the nucleus for a “right roots” movement to counter MoveOn, Politico reports. In the few weeks since the proposal entered the national conversation, 1.2 million people have signed a Newt Gingrich-sponsored petition favoring drilling, and conservative activists have been closing ranks.
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ANALYSIS
McCain offers some differences, but largely agrees with Bush
New York Times Jun 17, 08 9:06 AM CDT
(Newser)
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With President Bush posting record disapproval ratings, Democrats have gleefully dubbed a John McCain presidency a "third Bush term." The claim is at least partially justified, reports the New York Times in an analysis of the "McBush" charge—McCain agrees with Bush on taxation, health care, the war, abortion, and judicial appointments. But they diverge on questions of the environment, diplomacy, and nuclear proliferation—which the McCain campaign is playing up.
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analysis
The conservative counter-revolution has failed
Salon Jun 10, 08 2:55 PM CDT
(Newser)
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After 4 decades, the conservative revolution launched by the likes of Goldwater and Buckley is not only washed up, Michael Lind writes in Salon, it failed "completely, undeniably and irreversibly." The structure of 20th-century American liberalism is intact, if battered, he writes, and liberals should stop worrying so much. No matter who wins the election, “prospects for the moderate, reformist center left” are better now than in half a century.
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