Tag Archives: conservatives

Rubio is Right. National Review? Not so Much.

BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

I have long been a fan of the National Review.

When I was in college, I would read the National Review to annoy the teachers. I had friends and mentors who wrote for the iconic magazine. I drew inspiration from William Buckley, who was the Godfather of the conservative movement. And you will always be entertained when you pick up a copy of the magazine.

Buckley broke with several conservatives when he came out in favor of legalizing drugs and when he expressed some real doubts about the Iraq war. But that was a while ago, when the conservative magazine marketplace wasn’t very crowded.

Now that publishing niche is very crowded indeed. Weekly Standard has been siphoning off some of its readers. Daily Caller has become the American political version of the Daily Mail. And of course, the Drudge Report, the conservative news aggregator is the king of all things conservative. Continue reading →

Seeing the Big Picture

BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) were the highest-profile stars of the Tea Party Class of 2010. They successfully scared two centrists out of the Republican Party before a primary vote was even cast, and were held out as examples of conservative leadership, dedicated to stopping President Obama at all costs.

Less than three years later, they no longer seem to be so extreme. Instead of being content to vote “no” and go home, they are in the middle of the various Senate gangs. Toomey is working with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to enact Continue reading →

The Soup Is Not Ready Yet

BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

The soup is not quite simmering, yet some conservatives are too anxious to serve it to the American people.

The soup is Obamacare, and for some activists, House Republicans are not being aggressive enough to serve its repeal.

Patience, my friends, patience. Obamacare will be repealed, slowly, but surely.

Congressional Republicans have voted about a million times to repeal the clunky law, to little effect. But those repeal votes have been premature. Continue reading →

Our Talking Points Society

BY RICH GALEN
Reprinted from Mullings.com

An essay in the San Francisco Chronicle yesterday pointed out that as the oral arguments on same-sex marriage proceeded in the Supreme Court the use of the term “unfollow” jumped to ten times its normal frequency.

Blogger Caleb Garling wrote, the context of the word “unfollow” was generally: “If you do/n’t like gay marriage, unfollow me” or telling someone with a particular stance on gay marriage, that they were now unfollowing them because of that view.

For those who may be unfamiliar with the Twitter-verse “followers” are loosely analogous to “friends” on Facebook. A major difference is: Anyone can “follow” Continue reading →

Republican’s RINO Problem

BY MICKEY EDWARDS

It has become common in recent years for self-described Republican “conservatives” to target for defeat in party primaries those candidates (including incumbent officeholders) whom they consider Republicans In Name Only (“RINOs).

This purification process is based on the rational view that if one believes in party-based governance, Republican voters should elect those candidates who most accurately reflect what the party stands for. It’s a view that confuses America’s constituent-based governing system with the parliamentary systems the Founders rejected (for good reason) but I’m willing to accept the anti-RINO logic even if based on a faulty premise. Continue reading →

Realistic Honesty

BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

Mitt Romney will address CPAC later today.

For those who don’t know, CPAC is an annual meeting of young and old conservatives. The young guys are usually college students or recent graduates who are looking for honest work and are passionate about their conservative beliefs. The old guys are folks who have made their living at conservative politics and use CPAC to confirm their worth or to sell their wares.

Ever since George Bush left the White House, CPAC has endorsed Ron Paul to be the standard bearer for the party. So that gives you a sense of CPAC’s grounding reality.

Romney is addressing CPAC because if he didn’t, it would have been a big story about how he has dissed conservatives once again. That’s not a great story for the former Massachusetts governor, so he is going to preach to a choir that usually sings a different song from the one he is preaching. Continue reading →

Time for Economic War Council

BY RICH GALEN
Reprinted from Mullings.com

In 1939 Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced the creation of his War Cabinet which was made up of five Conservative members and four Liberals. When Winston Churchill became Prime Minister he narrowed his War Cabinet to five members – three Conservatives and two Liberals.

War Cabinets, over the past 100-or-so years, have been formed in Great Britain when it was determined that the very survival of the Kingdom is at risk and it is necessary to bring the best minds in Parliament to bear on the threat, notwithstanding party affiliation.

As I am writing this, at about 9 PM Sunday, I am looking at the Asian markets. They are all down. If you watch CNBC on weekday mornings, as I do, you want to pull the covers up over your head, curl up in the fetal position, and hope that your 401(k) doesn’t go to zero-oh-one(k). Continue reading →