Category Archives: Republicans

Andrew Salivates

Islam, Media, Middle East, Republicans, The Zeitgeist

On a meta-level—process, not content—Hugh Hewitt’s interview with Andrew Sullivan about his new confused book exposes Sullivan as arrogant and hysterical. His manners are abominable. How Hewitt put up with Sullivan’s strutting, I don’t know. Why would he tolerate such rudeness from a guest? Is Sullivan that important? (Not to me. I have no interest in someone so “discerning” as to claim, as Sullivan did during the interview, that Jesus, Mohamed, and Socrates are part of the same search for truth.)

I’m happy Sullivan has finally come out against Bush’s dastardly doctrines, although it seems to me that he considers the war more of a logistic than a moral nightmare—the war is bad because it’s going badly, not because it’s bad. The fact that he seconded the decision to invade Iraq may have something to do with this qualified condemnation.

Would it be unfair to put Sullivan’s temper tantrum at the Republicans down to their excessive religious meddling and lack of enthusiasm for gay marriage? (There’s nothing wrong with split infinitives, by the way.) You tell me. (Sullivan is a gay-marriage activist–I’m not, as you can glean from “Marriage and the Manufacturing of Rights“–and is himself “engaged to be married.”)

Overall, his views are hardly conservative–but then that applies to the views of very many contemporary conservatives.

Conservatives in Name Only

Conservatism, Morality, Political Philosophy, Republicans, Sex

“The sexual shenanigans of Mark Foley and their cover-up are less indicative of the collapse of conservatism in the Republican establishment than is the Iraq misadventure.

True, if establishment Republicans had the faintest affinity for conservatism, they’d have rid themselves of a member more at home in the Man/Boy Love Association. But more significantly, they’d quit pouring American blood and treasure down the Iraqi drain.

To follow the dictionary, a conservative is someone who seeks to preserve existing institutions, or to restore traditional ones. It is not that he disdains constructive change; rather, he wants it to grow organically from its cultural and political soil. A real conservative would therefore never graft democratic institutions onto a society in which adversaries have always assassinated—not outpolled—one another…”

The excerpt is from my new WorldNetDaily column, “Conservatives in Name Only.”

You say Foley; I Say Iraq

Democrats, Iraq, Republicans, War

Florida Rep. Mark Foley, a Republican, “abruptly quit Congress on Friday after reports surfaced that he had sent sexually charged electronic messages to boys working as pages,”reports the Washington Times. Foley is under the FBI’s criminal investigation, although it’s not clear what federal or state laws, if any, he has violated. (The Law Against Lowlifes in Politics?) It appears the agency is searching for that law. (The country’s journalists are incapable of writing a news lead, much less properly fleshing out a story.)

Foley, like Debra LaFave, another paragon of the public-sector, claimed one of those bogus illnesses: alcoholism (at the root of the diseasing of behavior is the eradication of good and bad). To quickly establish the presence of mitigating factors, Foley checked himself into a rehab facility. However, he doesn’t have slut appeal; so it probably won’t work.

If Democrats weren’t so dumb, they’d comment tersely on this sordid affair, and then move on post haste to the real corruption: Iraq. (Condi Rice—as fleet of foot as ever in evading responsibility for anything, really—has used the distraction to deny her contribution to the lack of preparedness for the 9/11 onslaught. She’s resurrecting the same excuses I deconstructed in “Hold their Feet to the Fire.”)

The Republicans don’t deserve to govern because of Iraq (and immigration), not Foley. But neither do the Democrats (a pox on both their houses). As for traditional conservatives, (as opposed establishment Republicans), at the very least, they ought to consider President Bush’s positions on mass immigration and the national identity, the debt, and the growth in the size and power of government inimical to conservatism. However, they rarely pipe up these days about the accretion of the state under Bush. If only their concept of good government extended beyond pious homilies to family values, faith and fetuses.

Letter of the Week: Security 101

America, Bush, IMMIGRATION, Republicans

[Chuck, who works in law enforcement, has sent this to BAB. Please note that the ideas expressed by writers on the forum are not necessarily endorsed by BAB. —ILANA]: Our author, Ilana Mercer, alerts all Americans to the impending doom that is awaiting us all, right around the corner. This is America’s last opportunity to change course. Ilana, a self-identified classical liberal writer, has a solid grasp of common sense logic as it applies to Security 101. Why is it then that our nation’s commander-in-chief, George Bush, is so constantly AWOL, and without a clue, on our sovereign nation’s security. America’s borders, language, and culture are all being slowly, but surely, eroded at an accelerated pace, while George Bush brushes up on his espanol. George Bush is determined to protect us from his ‘radical Islam’—in reality it is simply Islam—but there would be no need to go to other countries and make them more peaceful and tolerant if he would simply enforce a stringent and iron-clad immigration policy !! Some may feel that George Bush has left America’s doors dangerously wide open… How would you describe a neighbor if he were to not only to leave his front, back and garage doors wide open, but then profile for and invite bloods, crips, ms13, la razas, and reconquistas to come and have a Tupperware party in your living room. In George Bush’s mind, that neighbor would simply be a compassionate conservative, not an irresponsible idiot who has relinquished any right to serve as protector of his charges. I believe that George Bush and all sanctuary cities are guilty of treason and sedition. George Bush has and continues to violate his oath to protect our sovereign nation. I believe, as does Patrick Buchanan, one of our greatest patriots of modern times, that George Bush should be impeached for the inactions in honoring his oath and the complicity of maintaining open borders, and the destruction of our American social fabric. [Well, you’re giving him too much credit; public schools, universities, and media have helped a lot in expunging American literature, history, and founding principles from the minds of today’s moronic young.] …and if you want a twosome that will really wow, add Tom Tancredo to the ticket! [I hope he’s a free trader, unlike PB.] http://tancredo.house.gov/You can volunteer for America NOW (www.firecoalition.com, www.minutemanhq.com, www.grassfire.com), or postpone your actions until its too late. —Chuck