The Bankruptcy Of The Nation And Conservatism
By Cliff Kincaid
November 7, 2008
Page 3 of 3
In addition to his flip-flops, Gingrich has a well-known history of personal "indiscretions" that should disqualify him from any public role in a movement that purports to advocate traditional moral values.
Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, who called the bailout "Fleece in our time," is beginning to receive more and more attention. He is the chairman of the House Republican Conference Policy Committee, the principal source of legislative initiatives for the party in the House. He won re-election in part because he came across as a leader in a revolt by House conservatives against Bush and Paulson over the bailout plan.
In a discussion with a local newspaper, (web site) McCotter was blunt, alluding to McCain's double talk when he suspended his campaign to come to Washington to address the financial crisis. "McCain put himself in an interesting position," McCotter said. "At the White House meeting, he said he liked what House Republicans were doing. Then the next day, he decided it was his job to get House Republicans to support the bailout."
This erratic performance meant that McCain had blown any chance to exploit the financial crisis to his political advantage.
McCotter noted that it was a lot harder for McCain to complain about $70 billion in earmarks when he pushed for a $700-billion bailout. This sealed McCain's fate, making his warnings about Obama's socialism ring hollow.
Remaining true to his constituents and his own beliefs, McCotter rejected the notion (web site) that we need "just a little socialism to prevent a lot of socialism later" and said Republicans "abandoned principle for expediency" when they supported the bailout.
The same goes for the faux conservatives in the media.
Having recommended two phony "fiscal conservatives" for important positions in the House, Strassel also used her column to urge Republicans to quit "harping on immigrants and gay marriage." The term "harping on immigrants" means that she believes that Big Business should be able to continue to exploit cheap labor from abroad and conservatives ought to quit advocating secure borders.
As far as gay marriage is concerned, amendments to prohibit gay marriage passed in liberal California, Arizona and Florida on November 4. This is one of the bright spots for conservatives. But Strassel wants to throw this advantage away.
One thing that I have realized, in analyzing the coverage of the campaign, is that the media are populated by many "conservatives" who are not really so conservative. It is a strange phenomenon. It is a form of false advertising.
This category includes the Fox News cheerleaders for the Wall Street bailout, such as Bill Kristol, Fred Barnes, Charles Krauthammer and Bill O'Reilly, and columnists David Brooks (New York Times), Peggy Noonan (Wall Street Journal) and Kathleen Parker (Washington Post Writers Group), who ridiculed Sarah Palin because she doesn't enjoy the New York Times and appeals to ordinary people.
I am also getting tired of listening to former Bush adviser Karl Rove, who makes regular appearances on Fox News and writes for the Wall Street Journal and Newsweek, being constantly described as "the architect." It's true that he helped elect Bush two times, but considering what happened on November 4, isn't it about time for somebody in the media to ask him some pointed questions about what he built and why it didn't last.
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Cliff Kincaid is the Editor of Accuracy in Media, and can be contacted at cliff.kincaid@aim.org.
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Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA. >> Back -- Page 1 2 3
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