"As far as I know, Obamacare is a bad idea. But here’s the thing: it’s the law. It was passed, signed by the president, and upheld in the Supreme Court. There is no way the House Republicans, or Ted Cruz or Rand Paul, is going to overturn it. The best they can do is to delay it. And then what? Guess what: the 2012 elections were their last, best chance to overturn Obamacare, and the country didn’t go for it.
"There are other battles to fight."
Of course there are.
"When I think of the Republican Party, I don’t think of principled conservative legislators who are men and women of vision strategy. I think of ideologues who are prepared to wreck things to get their way. They have confused prudence — the queen of virtues, and the cardinal virtue of conservative politics — with weakness."
McCain, Romney, Rubio, "ideologues" all of them!
"The GOP candidates in this local race are hot and heavy to overthrow Obamacare. I think about how poor this district is — 26 percent of the district lives in poverty, making it one of the poorest Congressional districts in America — and how badly we need jobs and economic growth, and I think: What kind of world do these people live in? "
Evidently not Rod's world, where economic growth would be assured but for the Republicans.
"I’m considering voting Democratic not because I believe in the Democrats, but because it has gotten to the point where they don’t unnerve me like the Republicans. As poor as our district is, these guys would make our economic situation even more parlous by shutting the government down to overturn what in any stable political environment would have been a settled law? [sic]"
Never mind that Obama is illegally changing that law on a dime, and never mind the blindingly obvious fact that a thousand-page law with many more pages of regulations CANNOT POSSIBLY BE "settled" in the sense that anyone subject to that law would be able to live with any sense of stability under its labyrinth of rules.
Dreher approvingly quotes John Avlon, who writes, "When President Obama sees negotiating with Iran as a more reasonable option than negotiating with Republicans over the debt ceiling, we are through the looking glass." The take-away is that that's a reflection of the GOP's recklessness, not Obama's affinity for our enemies.
Dreher concludes:
"The Republicans cannot govern. These people aren’t conservatives. They are radicals. What on earth would Russell Kirk say if he were alive to see this?"
Evidently not Rod's world, where economic growth would be assured but for the Republicans.
And apparently in Rod's world, economic growth comes from the federal government. (Which, if he's right, means that the economy of West Feliciana is based on transfer payments from functioning parts of the U.S. It may well be.)
He may or may not be an idiot, but he is shallow. His analysis often consists of stringing fancy and quirky words ("parlous") together, and dropping names.
Bubba & Pik, here's some amusing TAC-Dreher inside baseball that might shed some light on Bubba's comment.
Here's TAC CEO Wick Allison using what at first blush appears to be a post about Republican Texas Senators to ultimately create what turns out to be a cross-promotion of Allison property TAC using Allison property D Magazine FrontBurner blog.
Here's Dreher giving Allison a handy in return for Allison's highlighting TAC and by extension him by linking his readers back to FrontBurner to showcase the new Texas State Fair mascot, even though FrontBurner's competitor ran a virtually identical and maybe even more accurate piece. But Jim Schutze is a long time Dreher critic, while all FrontBurner employees, who include many who would savage Dreher if given half a chance, are forbidden by Allison from doing so.
So is Dreher really an idiot? Absolutely his written prescriptions in the post Bubba highlights are idiotic for the rest of us. But to his own ends? Not so much - by a mile. In fact, the post Bubba highlights is so much a reflection of the very same post Allison made that he might as well be making an offering to a higher power: "Wick, I am your son, Rod. Find my adoration worthy and shed your manifold blessings upon me that my flocks and herds might increase without limit."
As Pauli pointed out in a previous post, with Dreher it's all about the Benjamin$$$.
Thanks, Keith. In sum, Dreher's position is philosophically incoherent and, in railing against what another TAC writer describes as "donorists" and activists, his position has no obvious constituency.
But it advances his cozying up to one of the few people who might still give him the time of day.
Gosh, I can't wait for the next call to cherish the Permanent Things.
Andrew Sullivan on the GOP, as cited by RS McCain, so you don't have to give the creep more traffic.
“I regard this development as one of the more insidious and anti-constitutional acts of racist vandalism against the American republic in my adult lifetime. Those who keep talking as if there are two sides to this, when there are not, are as much a part of the vandalism as Ted Cruz.”
Is it any wonder that Sully and Dreher can look past their differences?
Rod Dreher, Profile in Courage (emphasis in original):
ReplyDelete"As far as I know, Obamacare is a bad idea. But here’s the thing: it’s the law. It was passed, signed by the president, and upheld in the Supreme Court. There is no way the House Republicans, or Ted Cruz or Rand Paul, is going to overturn it. The best they can do is to delay it. And then what? Guess what: the 2012 elections were their last, best chance to overturn Obamacare, and the country didn’t go for it.
"There are other battles to fight."
Of course there are.
"When I think of the Republican Party, I don’t think of principled conservative legislators who are men and women of vision strategy. I think of ideologues who are prepared to wreck things to get their way. They have confused prudence — the queen of virtues, and the cardinal virtue of conservative politics — with weakness."
McCain, Romney, Rubio, "ideologues" all of them!
"The GOP candidates in this local race are hot and heavy to overthrow Obamacare. I think about how poor this district is — 26 percent of the district lives in poverty, making it one of the poorest Congressional districts in America — and how badly we need jobs and economic growth, and I think: What kind of world do these people live in? "
Evidently not Rod's world, where economic growth would be assured but for the Republicans.
"I’m considering voting Democratic not because I believe in the Democrats, but because it has gotten to the point where they don’t unnerve me like the Republicans. As poor as our district is, these guys would make our economic situation even more parlous by shutting the government down to overturn what in any stable political environment would have been a settled law? [sic]"
Never mind that Obama is illegally changing that law on a dime, and never mind the blindingly obvious fact that a thousand-page law with many more pages of regulations CANNOT POSSIBLY BE "settled" in the sense that anyone subject to that law would be able to live with any sense of stability under its labyrinth of rules.
Dreher approvingly quotes John Avlon, who writes, "When President Obama sees negotiating with Iran as a more reasonable option than negotiating with Republicans over the debt ceiling, we are through the looking glass." The take-away is that that's a reflection of the GOP's recklessness, not Obama's affinity for our enemies.
Dreher concludes:
"The Republicans cannot govern. These people aren’t conservatives. They are radicals. What on earth would Russell Kirk say if he were alive to see this?"
Rod Dreher is an idiot.
Evidently not Rod's world, where economic growth would be assured but for the Republicans.
ReplyDeleteAnd apparently in Rod's world, economic growth comes from the federal government. (Which, if he's right, means that the economy of West Feliciana is based on transfer payments from functioning parts of the U.S. It may well be.)
He may or may not be an idiot, but he is shallow. His analysis often consists of stringing fancy and quirky words ("parlous") together, and dropping names.
Bubba & Pik, here's some amusing TAC-Dreher inside baseball that might shed some light on Bubba's comment.
ReplyDeleteHere's TAC CEO Wick Allison using what at first blush appears to be a post about Republican Texas Senators to ultimately create what turns out to be a cross-promotion of Allison property TAC using Allison property D Magazine FrontBurner blog.
Here's Dreher giving Allison a handy in return for Allison's highlighting TAC and by extension him by linking his readers back to FrontBurner to showcase the new Texas State Fair mascot, even though FrontBurner's competitor ran a virtually identical and maybe even more accurate piece. But Jim Schutze is a long time Dreher critic, while all FrontBurner employees, who include many who would savage Dreher if given half a chance, are forbidden by Allison from doing so.
So is Dreher really an idiot? Absolutely his written prescriptions in the post Bubba highlights are idiotic for the rest of us. But to his own ends? Not so much - by a mile. In fact, the post Bubba highlights is so much a reflection of the very same post Allison made that he might as well be making an offering to a higher power: "Wick, I am your son, Rod. Find my adoration worthy and shed your manifold blessings upon me that my flocks and herds might increase without limit."
As Pauli pointed out in a previous post, with Dreher it's all about the Benjamin$$$.
Keith
Thanks, Keith. In sum, Dreher's position is philosophically incoherent and, in railing against what another TAC writer describes as "donorists" and activists, his position has no obvious constituency.
ReplyDeleteBut it advances his cozying up to one of the few people who might still give him the time of day.
Gosh, I can't wait for the next call to cherish the Permanent Things.
"Here'e the thing: it's the law," said every useful idiot in history.
ReplyDeletekathleen
Andrew Sullivan on the GOP, as cited by RS McCain, so you don't have to give the creep more traffic.
ReplyDelete“I regard this development as one of the more insidious and anti-constitutional acts of racist vandalism against the American republic in my adult lifetime. Those who keep talking as if there are two sides to this, when there are not, are as much a part of the vandalism as Ted Cruz.”
Is it any wonder that Sully and Dreher can look past their differences?