James Joyner looks at the carnage at CPAC and has the following to say:
Rick [Rick Moran- ed.] and are are [sic] in pretty much the same boat in this regard: Longtime conservatives who don’t feel at home in the Movement anymore but haven’t, for a variety of reasons, found ourselves overly sympatico with the Democrats, either.
The funny thing is James just described how most Democrats feel about the Democratic party.
Meanwhile, here is another guy who doesn’t feel comfortable at CPAC anymore. Must have a book to sell.
JK
OT
More wingnuttery
Photo Evidence: Michelle Obama Keeps Socialist Books In The White House Library
sayanythingblog.com/entry/photo_evidence_michelle_obama_keeps_socialist_books_in_the_white_house_lib…
General Winfield Stuck
We are disorganized. The GOP is deranged. We fight about tactics, they look under their toupees for splosives.
Laura W
Been there, done that, got the Hoodie and the Tote!
(Sales are very dead today. Need to pimp the store.)
jenniebee
It also describes the tea partiers.
It’s astonishing that at the same time that so many Americans across the political spectrum all agree that the modern Republican party is fucked the hell up, so many pundits are sure that Republicans are staged for a historic takeover of Congress.
DOES NOT COMPUTE
General Winfield Stuck
@Laura W:
I got called a “tote” today. So I’m a travel bag. How depressing.
schrodinger's cat
@jenniebee: Pundits thought that the 2008 Presidential election would be between Hillary and Giuliani, remember?
MagicPanda
@General Winfield Stuck: What Stuck said.
I get frustrated at the Democratic party because our leaders say they believe the things we believe, and then they go and shoot themselves in the foot.
Bloggers like Joyner get frustrated at the Republican party because they (the bloggers) believe in things like liberty, and the leaders believe in things like warrantless wiretaps and torture, which is like the polar opposite of liberty.
In other words, I’m happy to belong to a party of people who want to get to the same place as I do, no matter how incompetently. I’d be scared to be part of a party that was going in the opposite direction from where I wanted to go.
There’s a better parallel with the Hamshers of the world who seem to believe that the Democratic establishment has “sold us out to large corporations” or whatever. But I don’t think that *most* Democrats fall into that camp. I literally believe that she thinks the Democratic party is going in the opposite direction of where she thinks we should be going.
inkadu
I like how the headline “Why I’m not at CPAC” has a photograph below as an immediate explanation: Dick Cheney laughing before an American flag backdrop.
The article writes itself after that.
Brian J
Maybe it’s just me, but he seems to switch gears after he mentions Palin and Joe the Plumber. He seems to first complain that some people there are nuts, but then say they aren’t so bad, just boring and insane.
Laura W
@General Winfield Stuck:
Not necessarily. You have yer faggy purse dog in yer tote travel bag to keep ya company.
/Fuckhead
Mike in NC
Is “Beltway Echo Chamber” in the BJ Lexicon yet? The Villagers never venture out of it.
General Winfield Stuck
@Laura W: Yes, I remember that one. From the mind of a genius.
JK
As a Jeff Toobin fan, I was disappointed to read this story
CNN legal eagle Jeffrey Toobin in baby mama drama – with daughter of CBS News’ Jeff Greenfield
nydailynews.com/gossip/2010/02/18/2010-02-18_cnn_legal_eagle_in_baby_mama_drama.html
A song for Jeff
Love Child
youtube.com/watch?v=_MDzoOF0FvA
inkadu
Having just read some Taibbi, I found the change in tone to Mickey Edwards funny:
jenniebee
@schrodinger’s cat: Dewey defeats Truman, bitchez!
But you can’t really tell anything about what the real situation is from what the pundits say. In the summer of 2008, all they could talk about was McCain’s path to the White House. I suppose that viewers were supposed to infer from the narrowness of his options that McCain didn’t have a shot in hell, just like we’re supposed to look at Palin’s primary math and understand that when Nate Silver says that “she could also conceivably lose a war of attrition… if her organization and infrastructure is not up to par” and understand that Sarah “professional advice shmoshmeshional shmadvice” Palin is going down in flames in 2012.
El Cid
I’m unhappy with the Democrats like I would be with a company owner who kept avoiding every opportunity to have the greatest company success, and even kept up many of the prior owners’ bad business practices and principles, for a variety of selfish and foolish reasons. Under this form of leadership, things might be more or less okay, but not what they ought to be, and could be.
The Republicans are like replacing that owner with a screaming guy who wants to kill all the workers with an axe and thinks that wasps are continually flying around his head, and if he gave away enough of our company’s resources to his rich & powerful friends, the talking wasps would leave him alone.
Spiffy McBang
Edwards’ turn as an independent-minded conservative would be considerably easier to believe if he didn’t cling so hard to Reagan’s nuts.
Ash Can
I’m with Magic Panda and Stuck. We’re simply impatient with the Dems, wishing they’d move faster in the general direction in which they’re already pointed. Edwards, Joyner et al., on the other hand, are looking at CPAC and realizing not only that their train has left the station without them, but that it’s barreling down the track and crashing through the “BRIDGE OUT” sign at top speed, and it’s occurring to them that it’s just as well they’re not aboard under the circumstances.
Mark S.
@Brian J:
I don’t get his piece either.
What was he expecting, a bunch of Polynesian transsexuals in Revolutionary War garb? It’s the party of middle aged white men.
I guess he’s bored with the same cliches we’ve been hearing from these clowns for the last 30 years. Well, we all are. Oh, and most of those ideas have sucked.
MagicPanda
@inkadu: Not sure what you’re getting at. When I read the quoted passage, it seems to me that you have a conservative who is looking at his recent leadership (W, Yoo, Beck, Limbaugh) and saying that he is revolted.
What’s wrong with that? Is the issue that he’s trying to wash his hands of his complicity in how we got here? Is the problem that he changed his mind?
To me, that’s fine as long as it helps people start to wake up. I’d much rather have conservative authors change their minds and start talking about how some of their leaders are insane rather than continuing to bang the drums and leading the country into crazytown.
inkadu
@inkadu: Ha! And I just read what Rick Moran had to say. Keep in mind the above quoted piece.
Rick Moran writes,
The neo-rightists who smell blood in the water and wish to take control of the conservative movement are arrogant enough to believe that they have a corner on love for our founding document, and take the simple minded approach that if you criticize them, your devotion to First Principles are suspect. They constantly refer to themselves as “patriots” as if designating oneself thusly actually confers legitimacy on the honorific.
As I mentioned previously, I have never heard of this kind of self-reverence until tea partyers began to identify themselves as “patriots.” Real patriots allow others to append that appellation to them and eschew doing the honor themselves. That’s because some of the prerequisite qualities for being considered a patriot are humility and self-abnegation – not much of which will be on display at CPAC this year.
This is hilarious. Tea Partiers drape themselves in the flag because they learned it from CPAC assholes like Rick Moran and Mickey Edwards… and now, after 50 years of impaling hippies on sharpened flagpoles, old-school conservatives are crying foul.
Brian J
@jenniebee:
I’ll admit, I haven’t been following the individual races that closely, but I don’t understand why some are predicting 35-40, almost as a minimum. While the general congressional ballot is indicative, it’s still many months away from the election. A lot can happen to change the underlying conditions, but more than that, if the Democrats campaign hard enough, I sincerely believe they can minimize their losses. Granted, losing 20 seats doesn’t sound good, but the Democrats have such an overwhelming advantage right now, and there could be enough vulnerable Republicans that they can lose 25 of the seats they have now but gain five new ones.
I could go back and forth about this, but suffice it to say that while a decent loss of seats is probably going to happen, I don’t think it has to be as bad as some are predicting. The Republicans are seeing a good number of Reps. retire, and they aren’t likely to be replaced by anybody but Teabaggers.
KG
I remain committed to the same idea I’ve had over the last couple of election cycles: one party deserves to lose and the other doesn’t deserve to win. You can figure out which is which.
I’m still saddened by so many of my conservative friends who seem to have forgotten everything they use to stand for in their race to the bottom. I’m also saddened by simple things that I thought we all agreed on (like, for example: we don’t torture, because we are the USA and we’re the good guys), are now open for debate, and that so many of my conservative friends ended up on the wrong side of the debate.
Bad Horse's Filly
@Laura W: Dammit, if I didn’t have to save up to pay my taxes, I’d be buying out the store. Saving my pennies for my mug and my apron (of course I’m going to get an apron!).
joes527
@inkadu: He talks a good game through 90% of the article, but he gives himself away at the beginning and the end with his Reagan fanboyism.
Reagan wasn’t as loathsome as today’s republicans. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t bad, just that he did not aspire to outdo Lucifer like Cheney does.
Brian J
@Mark S.:
To me, he seemed to indicate that they were nuts but then say they were merely no longer captivating to him. Which is it?
I think the big problem, as Joyner himself claimed (or some other right-leaning blogger said) last year, is that the the left appears intent on actually trying to solve problems. Many of those, but not enough, on the right are doing the same. But generally speaking, the right is consumed with things like birth certificates and other nonsensical scandals, while the left is debating the merits of carbon taxes and health care reform. Many of those on the right want a small(er) government but still want this government to function well. They are just out of luck with most of the Republican party.
KG
@Brian J: the general congressional ballot polls are fucking worthless. When it gets down to the actual candidates in the actual races in the actual (gerrymandered) districts, I just can’t see the Dems losing many seats. My instincts keep telling me that the Dems are actually going to find a way to pick up seats this year, in both chambers… no, really.
Laura W
@Bad Horse’s Filly: Oh! I thought you were the woman from CO who bought this the second night we were open.
Guess I had you all wrong.
;-)
jenniebee
Watching Maddow’s coverage of CPAC, and I kinda want to get a group of people next year and go there, all dressed in full Star Trek regalia.
Ears and everything.
Do you think they have a slash fiction table?
inkadu
@MagicPanda: I was referring to how horrifically formulaic and overwrought it is. It’s almost completely a content-free emotional declaration of patriotism until the very end where it diverges from the content. It could just as easily have been:
“I’m not raising taxes because I believe in America. I believe in liberty. I believe that governments should be held in check. I believe people matter. I believe in the flag not because of its shape or color but because of the principles it stands for—the principles in the Constitution, the principles repeated and underlined and highlighted and boldfaced and italicized in the Bill of Rights. The George W. whose presidency and precedents I admire was the first president, not the 43d. It is James Madison I admire, not Chairman Mao. Thomas Paine, not Public Radio. Jefferson, not Carter.”
I find it interesting what they choose for boilerplate, and now even more interesting that the other dude complains about tea partiers being more patriotic than thou.
MagicPanda
@inkadu: I see what you’re getting at. It especially galls me when right wingers seem to reflexively believe that *they* are the ones who believe in this country, while the DFHs obviously want to destroy it.
Still for my money, when you have folks on the other team calling out their idiots and calling them idiots, I think that’s a good thing.
Brian J
@KG:
I’m going off memory here, but I thought that in the past, it was a good indication of what was going to happen overall–as in, if one party was up by a certain amount, they would likely win a certain number of seats. That seems to be the way most people refer to it.
Whatever the case, despite what it says now, there’s still time to turn things around, or so I think.
As far as them picking up seats, I’m not sure how likely that is in the House. There might be too many things going against them for that to happen. Of course, if they somehow minimized the loss to, say, 10 seats, that’s really just as good as a gain of a few, because a strong reelection effort by Obama in 2012 would probably gain whatever seats were lost (numerically speaking) and then some. In the Senate, if things go well, I’d say it’s much likelier that the Democrats pick up seats, but even here, I am not sure how likely it is. The math is just too weird. I mean, are we going to lose in Delaware but gain a seat in Arizona or North Carolina? Again, even if we lose a few, I think it’s possible for the losses to be minimized. They need to be looking to good candidates in states like Arizona, where someone like McCain might not be the nominee or might be badly damaged even if he is, and trying to make a run for it in states like North Dakota and Delaware. There’s no guarantee that they will win, but they need to try. If nothing else, they will build resources for the future.
jenniebee
Watched Maddow’s CPAC coverage tonight, and now I kinda want to get together a group to go to the conference next year, but dressed in full Star Trek regalia. Ears, Klingon prosthetics, Jeri Ryan, the whole deal.
Do you think they have a slash fiction table?
jenniebee
So what put me in moderation? Was it Star Trek, CPAC, ears, or slash fiction?
Wile E. Quixote
@jenniebee:
Probably, but do you really want to read Ronald Reagan/Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck/Ayn Rand slash? Yeah, I didn’t think so.
Wile E. Quixote
@jenniebee:
It must be some site suckage. I saw your post and replied to it.
inkadu
@MagicPanda: It’s more like when the bully who pushed you into your locker everyday comes up to you with a bloody nose complaining about the new kid from Shelbyville.
The populist John Birch style extremism that is the tea parter is something the right, CPAC included, has fed and manipulated… I have no sympathy for Dr. Frankenstein.
NobodySpecial
@jenniebee: Yes.
Mark S.
I finally got around to reading the NYT piece on the teabaggers and was mostly unimpressed. This isn’t some new movement; I remember all of these militia idiots spewing conspiracy theories during the Clinton years. The author tries to pretend that most of the baggers are previously apolitical grandmothers who all the sudden noticed that there was something rotten in the state of Denmark but this is bullshit. The vast majority of these people are hardcore Republicans who would be doing this as long as there is a Democrat in the White House.
Annie
What is most depressing to me are the young people at CPAC. They don’t even know what they are arguing for. CPAC provides cover and legitimacy to their stupidity. Strong national defense — yes, because we can send others to fight while they stay home and try and sound intelligent and committed to some cause.
Small government which is about as vacuous a slogan as can be — if they want small government, then go home and tell their parents that they want to get rid of medicare and social security. And, defense contractors. Faith and family. Fine. Then make sure you avoid any CPAC parties taking place in any bars…Tell the women to go home because we know that feminism has destroyed the natural family, and women’s place in the world. Attack Universities and professors because they screwed up in class.
CPAC allows young people to believe they are fighting for a cause, when in reality they are just given space to be self-absorbed, privileged young people, who have no clue how the government actually works, and no idea how conservative beliefs impact the rest society they clearly don’t care about.
jenniebee
@Wile E. Quixote: Dude, I want to start a slash fiction table there. With Lynn Cheney’s book front and center.
All the slashfic will, of course, feature the conservative leaders issuing decisive put-downs to hapless liberals, after which the vibrant, nubile conservatives are rewarded with stunning electoral triumphs. That’s foreplay. Then the manly leaders forcefully take the willing and eager conservative nymphs (who are all on the pill but have the decency not to say so) in a strong and decisive manner, while both of them fantasize about Ronald Reagan.
Gold. Mine.
Brian J
@Annie:
That’s why I was laughing at the teabaggers and why many others were, too. It’s something that my boss, for instance, couldn’t understand. It wasn’t that they weren’t supposed to be there. They have every right to say whatever they want. The problem was that there was little coherence to what they were saying.
JK
@jenniebee:
To borrow the words of Jean Luc Picard: “Make It So”
Mnemosyne
@JK:
Jesus, what is with all of these guys who forgot how to work a condom? Tom Brady’s another one — if you’re going to have breakup sex with your soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend, wear a goddamned condom. Idiots.
BombIranForChrist
The first party that manages to combine competence with sanity will rule for one hundred years at least.
Currently, the Dems are slightly ahead:
Administrative Competence: 4 out of 10
Political Competence: 2 out of 10
Sanity: 6 out of 10
And the Republicans are still pretty bad:
Administrative Competence: 1 out of 10
Political Competence: 4 out of 10
Sanity: 1 out of 10
If the Dems ever manage to grow a spine, they will increase their political competence and come close to nirvana.
The Republicans have a tougher hill to climb. First, they need to achieve basic sanity. Then, they need to figure out how to actually run a government. Then, they need to find a way to achieve their political goals without lapsing into 1) insanity and 2) administrative incompetence.
Still, my money’s on the Republicans. I think it is more likely that they will discover sanity and administrative competence before the Dems discover a spine.
Ash Can
@Wile E. Quixote:
@jenniebee:
You guys are talking about het (as in hetero) fic, not slash. Slash fic features same-sex erotica — which, as you can see, makes it perfect for a CPAC or other GOP gathering.
And that’s all I’m going to say on this subject, before I start giving away how much I know about it.
rachel
@Ash Can: Yeah, Slash fiction would be something like: Cheney/W. dub. con.
I will now go wash out my brain with Listerine.
chopper
edwards’ bit about CPAC and ‘conservatism’ would have been much better had he not included the gratuitous fluffing of reagan’s corpse. going by his own definition, reagan himself wasn’t a conservative unless you ignore more than half the shit his administration did (war on drugs and asset forfeiture, death squads and torture in central america, selling arms to our sworn enemies to fund covert illegal wars abroad..).
Julie
@jenniebee:
Yes.