That's Mitt Romney, waxing wonkish on health policy tonight, and sounding like the guy I liked an awful lot before he started, you know, running for President.
« The Small Tent | Main | Romney's Night » "The Weeds Are Important!"05 Jan 2008 07:55 pm Comments (11)
It would be helpful if you said on what issues specifically you thought Ross was drifting leftward. 
Your comment section is dominated by Leftists giving you their secular "Amens!". Actually it would be more accurate to say that Ross' comment section is dominated by Leftist hurling childish insults at him.
Maybe he was never that conservative to begin with. My familiarity with him is very recent. But his association with conservative publications would indicate that the people working at those places thought that he was. - He seems to be against tax cuts and probably would favor tax increases, at least in some cases. Any tax cuts he would support would be to promote social engineering goals(limited, targeted). - He seems to want the GOP to become a pro-choice party, like this is some innovative thing(the type of thing a Republican Gary Hart would do), although I've heard that there is already another major political party that has beaten them to it. - Approval(albeit not full-throated approval) of the government-expanding programs that President Bush has supported. Even John McCain, who voted against Bush's tax cuts also voted against the prescription-drug bill. Douthat is against tax cuts AND for more government programs. - He consumes a vast amount of left-wing media as compared to right-wing media, judging at least by what he references in his posts. After he quotes a liberal commentator, he often says to the effect, "Yeah, they've got a point there." The worst example of this is his repeated quoting of Andrew Sullivan on the Iraq War. Let's keep it real. If President Bush said tomorrow "I've changed my mind, I love gay marriage!" this would be followed(let's give it a month) by Sullivan writing, "I've changed my mind again. The invasion of Iraq was the right thing to do."
"Actually it would be more accurate to say that Ross' comment section is dominated by Leftist hurling childish insults at him." This is so far from being true that it shows how desperate the decaying conservative movement is. Ross isn't a hard-right commentator, and the comment section here is well balanced. Those looking for a total zombie wingnut environment should go play with the Free Republic and Little Green Football dingbats.
being the House Conservative at a largely liberal publication Andrew Sullivan is an avowed conservative. Marc Ambinder is an avowed conservative. Megan McArdle is a libertarian with extremely conservative views on fiscal policy. Clive Crook, as near as I can figure, is an economic conservative; I have no idea about his social beliefs. I hate to express his views on individual policies-- having other people explain your political leanings is among the most annoying things possible, particularly when they come from the other side of the aisle. However, I can say with confidence that Ross is a staunch opponent of abortion, which you could see most recently in his posts on the politics of Juno. He is a Catholic and has always expressed skepticism over the social revolutions that happened in this country in the later half of the last century-- birth control, no fault divorce, sex education, and other changes in traditional (patriarchal?) social roles. It's my recollection that he supported the Iraq invasion with reservations, and like many people, has had many reasons to regret that support. But, again, I don't want to put words in his mouth. Like many conservatives, he makes academia a frequent target, and particularly never misses an opportunity to sneer at the work of artists like Toni Morrison or Virginia Woolf, whose success, he assumes, could only be the product of identity politics and political correctness. (If you couldn't tell, that's an issue where I find him particularly unfair and intellectually dishonest.) On a general question of fiscal policy and government taxing/spending, it's very difficult to pin anyone down without going into specific programs. But I do know that he is an opponent of most aspects of the social welfare system, and seems in general to prefer typical laissez fair, small-government conservative models. Again, I hate to do that. But I really have a hard time believing that Ross Douthat is not a conservative.
Jim Keane writes: This is so far from being true that it shows how desperate the decaying conservative movement is. How what I said shows "how desperate the decaying conservative movement is" is beyond me. Regardless, what I said was true: What I wrote was a more accurate characterization of the comments section than notamarxist's description. As for whether "the comment section here is well balanced," it certainly would be much more so if Jim Keane stopped posting here.
-"Andrew Sullivan is an avowed conservative"- If "avowed conservatives" are going to be supporting Barack Obama this year, the Republican Party should not even field a candidate.
Andrew Sullivan is supporting the Democrats this year in a large part due to the Republicans' abandonment of habeas corpus and embrace of torture. These positions are more a product of radical nationalism than anything found in Burke and Mill. Sullivan is also a supporter of Ron Paul, the only anti-torture candidate willing to criticize Bush and the Republican Party for such policies.
Freddie, what's the evidence that Ambinder is an avowed conservative? I'm ready to believe you, but I'd like a quote or something.
The moderates and liberals who post here don't say insulting things to Ross. I've seen some get pretty nasty with some of the loonier right-wing commenters, but honestly - some of you guys say some pretty offensive, nutty things! But hey, crazy idea - let's get back to Ross's orginal post. What say? I thought Charlie Gibson's comment was pretty obnoxious: Hey, guys, let's keep the insults and one-liners flowing and avoid all this substance stuff! And it was a good reply from Romney, but typically disingenuous of him considering he usually has no desire to get 'into the weeds' on issues, and doesn't much like to talk about the health care plan in Massachusetts. That will change if he gets the nomination, but for months now he's enjoyed being able to say "I did health care!" and leaving it at that. And, of course, times sure have changed. Al Gore used to get absolutely ripped to shreds for wanting to get 'into the weeds' on issues. And, unlike Romney, Gore actually knew his way around the weeds.
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You keep hitting Romney for being dishonest about his true political stripes, but this is even more true in your case, Ross. Your comment section is dominated by Leftists giving you their secular "Amens!". It is clear that you are becoming increasingly liberal. Don't be dishonest about that.
If the GOP is destined to become increasingly liberal as well, you will be an intellectual leader of this movement. However, if the National Review is going to continue to claim to be conservative, you have no business writing for them.
Posted by notamarxist | January 5, 2008 8:39 PM