And here I thought that was only the province of SWO’s (Surface Warfare Officers)……..
Not so, evidently. In the brave new world of the Republican party, if you criticize anything about them-even when you are right-you get fired:
David Frum, who wrote a widely-circulated blog post Sunday suggesting passage of the health care bill amounted to “Waterloo” for the Republican Party, has apparently been forced out of his fellowship at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
Frum posted a resignation letter on his blog following a conversation with AEI President Arthur Brooks announcing that his position is “terminated.”
“I appreciate the consideration that delays my emptying of my office until after my return from travel next week. Premises will be vacated no later than April 9,” Frum wrote in the letter to Brooks. “I have had many fruitful years at the American Enterprise Institute, and I do regret this abrupt and unexpected conclusion of our relationship.”
The American Enterprise Institute-and the Republicans that patronize them, are either deeply cynical or desperately stupid. David Frum represented one of the last voices of sanity in today’s Republican party. The difference between him and say, “William the Bloody” Kristol-is that Frum had the ability to recognize the facts for what they were-not what he simply wished them to be.
However, it would appear that Frum was guilty of the unforgivable sin in todays Rethuglican world-pissing off both Rush and Saint Sarah. We all know that’s a non-starter in Bizarro land ( e.g. “real conservative values”).
Not to worry David-think of it like getting fired by Sestak, badge of honor. Trust me-I’ve been thrown out of better bars than this one.
Skippy,
What do you make the fact that 100% of Republicans stuck together and voted against the Health Care Reform and even dragged in a significant number (34) democrats? Were they motivated at all by polls showing that 65% of Americans didn’t want the bill?
I love when people react with shock and horror when conservatives try to insist on at least a thin veneer of conservatism from those that deign to speak in its name. I mean honestly, Andrew Sullivan is still held up by his rag as a bright shining conservative light. Oh well, I guess that makes you one unabashed and enthusiastic endorser of Code Pink, Fidel Castro, Ted Kennedy’s ghost and Jane Fonda. We must after all, not attempt to make any distinctions between progressives.
It shows me that Republicans are more adept at appeasing the worst elements of their party-then beng Reagan’s vision of one big tent. Read the Gallup Poll-not Rasmussen, it is now where near 65% opposed to the bill.
And either way, it does not help them one bit to silence voices that actually could put to sentences together besides “Birth Certificate” and “Socialism”.
Yes, but if the sentences they string together appeal to a broad spectrum of progressives and liberals who nod their sage heads approvingly then they are not conservative thought. They are progressive thought. There’s nothing wrong with labeling them properly and letting the brand establish who merits the brand and who does not. It’s kind of like Reagan deciding one day, after decades in the democratic party that he had other thoughts that ran counter to that movement and changing parties. It’s what happens all the time. Frum isn’t suffering the fates of Hugh Latimer and Ridley. He appears to be getting asked to accept himself as he really is. Sheesh, look at that other great ‘conservative’ spokesmen, David Brooks. Read his PBS bio and ask yourself if that guy is a conservative or a liberal?
I would attribute a lot of the public opposition to the distortions and lies that were thrown up as a smoke screen. It will be interesting to see if that opposition continues as people learn what’s really in the bills. Will they still oppose it after realizing that (a) HCR won’t kill Grandma and (b) it might actually help them?
I don’t think the “thin veneer” argument holds up either. Frum is criticizing the Republicans for opposing a program that has many aspects proposed by conservative think tanks in the past and quite similar to the one Romney installed in Massachusetts. Bartlett got it for criticizing Medicare part D – an *expansion* of a social program. This is really about the far right tolerating no dissent and punishing those who vary even a little from the party line.
Jrandom, if it isn’t too much trouble could you please give me a list of these lies and distortions that you noticed in the recent debate. Obviously, you’ll list what you see as lies and distortions and I’ll counter with how it is just not so.
Again, the massive overwhelming antagonism to the bill has nothing to do with whether or not it will help grandma. It boils down to this. Right now we consumers can either use USPS or UPS. Most of us prefer UPS. Why? Which one is state run? Obamacare is ultimately about eliminating UPS, DHL and FEDEX and leaving us with just USPS. It’s that simple. Oh, and the totally unaffordable cost.
That far right that some of you guys keep seeing….is that the same far right that owns 100% of the Republican House and Senate Delegations? 100% far right? You guys can’t keep telling conservatives to cherish this liberal spawn from hell former conservative because other cherished liberal spawn from hell former conservative think tanks promote the same specious idiocies. Really, it’s a circular argument.
We’ll name our champions and you name yours. Don’t go trying to name ours and then chastising us for being too stupid and narrow minded to appreciate how deeply conservative your guy is. Honestly, it’s a really stupid argument to put forward. It’s like me saying you guys need to cherish your inner Stalin and Mao since they speak for all liberal progressives.
The distortions can be found here.
By the definition that you use for a “true Republican” Ronald Reagan would not have qualified as a Republican. He would have been labeled a RINO. To accuse Frum of somehow being a liberal is to ignore a solid body of work he did for the party for a long time. Furthermore-his concerns are valid, the more extreme the party becomes the more it is setting itself up for failure.
This particular statment is most laughable, “Obamacare is ultimately about eliminating UPS, DHL and FEDEX and leaving us with just USPS.” The current bill does nothing of the sort. It does demand that companies behave ethically-a lot more ethically than they have in the past-and it sets a level playing field that does not make some Americans more equal than others.
Curtis,
Some examples: Claims that HCR is a government takeover, HCR will lead to death panels, rationing, more abortions, etc. They seem to have been throwing everything they could against the wall hoping that something will stick.
HCR is not having like healthcare run by the USPS. It mandates that people buy *private* insurance , provides subsides for those who can’t afford it, and sets regulations so the *private* insurance companies who are selling the policies can’t screw over the poor guy who gets sick. You may not agree with this approach or its cost, but why can’t we argue about it based on the substance vs. the bogus claims? And as I said earlier – I didn’t hear any Republicans complain when Romney did essentially the same thing in Massachusetts.
Having said all that, is all government healthcare as bad as the USPS? I haven’t heard that about Medicare from my parents. What about TriCare – is it so bad you’d rather have private insurance?
I don’t particularly cherish Frum, but I wouldn’t characterize him as a “former conservative”, either – he used to be W’s speechwriter, remember? Frum made the point that the 100% Republican opposition you mentioned was a strategic decision. When they blew up Clintoncare in 1991 they got control of the House as a result, so why not try it again? Of course, things are different now, so it may not work out so well this time. For saying this, Frum has now been voted off the island.
Advanced straw man argument started out with, “Instead of dismissing these models as “socialist,” we could adapt their solutions to fix our problems.” and never did get around to discussing what our medical problem was that was going to be solved. Need more input from Jrandom perhaps.
I’m not a republican. Pretty sure I never wrote or said the words “true republican” in my life. As I wrote above, Reagan accepted the fact that his attitudes had changed and dropped one label and adopted another one. The fact that you and Frum have trouble accepting that Frum is not a conservative is very much a personal problem. I assure you that the conservatives have noticed that Frum is no more a conservative than Brooks is. Having Frum speak for AEI is just as silly as having Imelda Marcos speak for the Barefoot Alliance.
As noted above, it can hardly be “EXTREME” if 100% of the entire Party and 34 Democrats voted the exact same way on an issue. Extremism is a place/number beyond the boundary. Let’s set the boundary at 10% represent the extreme…..What does it tell you when 100% vote the same way? It tells me that while some may be extremists they can’t all be. There’s more going on there.
Ethical companies? Who cares? I thought it was about health care? Government run ethical companies tend to look a lot like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to me. They look like Charles Rangel. When the ‘obscenely’ profitable insurance companies are all gone out of business what are you going to do?
Reminds me of a blog where a bunch of snorkering sniggling little leftists were all hoowaahing with each other because somewhere there was this woman who shared an insurance company with them and she took that company to the cleaners for $34million in a court settlement because she got a hangnail. They were so happy. They hated the insurance company, the rotten little porker company that raised all their premiums 10%…..I pointed out that Insurance companies don’t pay settlements of any size, the consumer does. they do. When the government ethicists who brought about the housing bubble create the insurance bubble and wipe out the few remaining insurance companies that don’t just fold their tents and fade away we’ll find out what government run health care looks like in America….unless, you’ve been to the VA recently or Walter Reed in the old days and already know.
Lucky you! Have a beer! oggle! Relax. Breathe deep. Your side won! Let the losers blow off a little steam without feeling the need to crucify them for disagreeing with the cunning master plan. People got a right to disagree.
Thanks JRandom,
I tend to think that I can write funny without sarcasm. I tend to be wrong a lot.
I wouldn’t view each distortion in a microcosm but rather all at once. HCR adds 30 to 40 million patients to the rolls of “private” insurers who are going to be compelled to accept all at the same rate regardless of pre-existing conditions or physical condition at enrollment. Forcing a company to do that is control and it also is like telling banks to loan money to jobless deadbeats without any collateral or obvious means of repaying the loans. You add that many people to an existing medical capability but I didn’t see any plans to greatly expand that capability by building more hospitals, clinics, hospices, etc. Result? Rationing. The death panels bothered a few people because of who said it. Death panels already exist as we all know. Livers and hearts and other such life giving organs are rationed by panels. It’s not going to change. Watching people spin themselves into a frenzy attempting to deny that such panels will exist under HCR is kind of instructive. Blind to reality barely begins to describe such behavior. Adding 30 million to the health care system will manifestly result in more abortions. There are an awful lot of unwanted pregnancies. Offering women a safe way of disposing of unwanted wossnames will follow from providing them with professional health care.
You and Skippy follow a pattern when you discuss mandating the purchase of an unwanted commodity (insurance). I would that we discuss providing a wanted commodity (health care). When we look at the various socialist systems in effect I don’t recall any of them wrapping themselves around the axle urging the populace to buy some crappy USPS “insurance”. They focus on taxing the money directly out of the people’s pockets and funneling it into “care”. Why do you guys see this need to give money to a 3rd party? If we want socialized health care why not just eliminate this insurance chimera? What this insurance scheme does is mandate public corruption on a vast new scale.
You’ve mentioned Romney, republicans and MA several times. Did you note that Romney was roundly rejected by republicans in the last presidential race and that MA went broke trying to implement their silly socialist subsidized scheme? I think the last numbers of new patients covered by $400,000,000 debt was 7,000. I got that off NPR and it was a while ago so I could be off. The point I’ve been making is that the HCR is unaffordable. It is also unwanted by the majority of the people. I don’t think it’s fair to call the people that don’t want it immoral or unethical or cheap or selfish or stupid or…. It’s just facts.
If you don’t mind being asked to dig up certain facts, you ask what is so bad about USPS type healthcare. May I invite your attention to a huge national scandal of about 4 years ago when reports finally starting coming out describing the hell hole in which our wounded soldiers coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan were being dumped. Walter Reed is its name. Indescribably horrible conditions. Hellish care. Cold, ruthless, unfeeling treatment of wounded soldiers by other soldiers and the civilians nominally being paid to care for them. Don’t take my word for it! Check out what the NYT and Washington Post had to say about it. That my friend is what government health care boils down to when there is no option. No choice.
You ask about TriCare and the answer is Hell Yes I’d rather have private insurance. My wife hated TriCare. I couldn’t get those idiot bureaucrats to accept that the fact that even though I lived geographically closer to Pendleton did not mean that I wanted them as my primary since we preferred Balboa. COULD NOT MAKE THAT HAPPEN.
No offense but your last paragraph was terrifically funny. Frum, not a conservative, makes the case every time he pens a column. “Used to be W’s speechwriter”!!!!! Conservatives don’t think W is/was a conservative! Frum pointing out that the Rovian cabalistic Republican leadership made a decision and cat shepherds that they are herded every single republican shaped cat to the same conclusion? Priceless! These guys couldn’t organize their way out of a wet paper bag. Olympia Snow, hello? You don’t think there’s anything even more mysterious going on do you, like 65% of the electorate telling their reps loud and clear that they don’t want HCR?