November 07, 2004
BOY, HE'S IN REAL TROUBLE NOW...:
The Antiwar Right Is Ready to Rumble (DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK, 11/07/04, NY Times)
AROUND 8 p.m. Tuesday, a gloomy mood was settling over the dozen conservative stalwarts gathered with martinis and glasses of red wine in an office in Arlington, Va., to watch the returns. Early exit polls showed President Bush trailing, and Richard Viguerie, dean of conservative direct mail, thought he knew who was to blame: the neoconservatives, the group associated with making the case for the invasion of Iraq."If he loses, they are going to have a bull's-eye on their back," Mr. Viguerie said.
Ronald Godwin, a top aide to Dr. Jerry Falwell, agreed. "I see a real battle for the Republican Party starting about Nov. 3," he said.
The euphoria of Mr. Bush's victory postponed the battle, but not for long. Now that Mr. Bush has secured re-election, some conservatives who say they held their tongues through the campaign season are speaking out against the neoconservatives, against the war and in favor of a speedy exit.
They argue that the war is a political liability to the Republican Party, but also that it runs counter to traditional conservatives' disdain for altruist interventions to make far-off parts of the world safe for American-style democracy. Their growing outspokenness recalls the dynamics of American politics before Vietnam, when Democrats first became identified as doves and Republicans hawks, suggesting to some the complicated political pressures facing the foreign policy of the second Bush administration.
Since he was chosen to cover the conservative beat for the Times, Mr. Kirkpatrick has written one story after another about the disgruntled base and how it threatens the President's grip on power. To look out upon the electorate that went to the polls on Tuesday--where the GOP achieved parity with Democrats for the first time since the New Deal and those Republicans voted 93%-6% for Mr. Bush--and see big trouble for the President makes Mr. Kirkpatrick sound even more ludicrous than usual. Posted by Orrin Judd at November 7, 2004 10:33 PM
Mr. Kirkpatrick has taken on the Kevin Bacon role from "Animal House" in which he stands before the charging parade mob and tells everyone "All is well! Don't panic!"
Posted by: John at November 7, 2004 11:19 PMWhat's really going on here, at base, is that the paleocons have been unseated by the neocons and they don't like it one bit.
Posted by: Joe at November 8, 2004 05:23 AMLet the paleocons stew in their juices, give their money to greasy Greeks like Taki, burn their crosses, set up their trailer parks and websites in rural Idaho and moan about the loss of the 'good old days' of Jim Crow. We are far better off as a party, a polity and a nation without them.
These A-holes have never been part of any America that I know of, or if they were part of one, it was little more than a dung heap better off forgotten except as a reminder of how not to do things, how not to treat our fellow man.
Posted by: Bart at November 8, 2004 06:24 AMGiven the way the Libertarians have been playing footsie with the Greens, I wouldn't be at all suprised to see some kind of weird alliance between the nuttiest and most disregarded ends of the political spectrum.
Posted by: Governor Breck at November 8, 2004 06:25 AM