Category: Yglesias Award Nominee

“What Democrats know keenly — and Republicans seem never to learn — is that positive beats negative every time. Thus, we see MSNBC’s clever montage of Republican negativity: A series of unfriendly faces decrying the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with apocalyptic language. Which would any everyday American prefer? The healer or the doomsayer? The elves or the orcs?” – Kathleen Parker.

“If our generation of conservatives wants to enjoy our own defining triumph, our own 1980 — we are going to have to deserve it. That means sharpening more pencils than knives. The kind of work it will require is neither glamorous nor fun, and sometimes it isn’t even noticed. But it is necessary. To deserve victory, conservatives have to do more than pick a fight. We have to win a debate. And to do that, we need more than just guts. We need an agenda,” – Senator Mike Lee, who recently threatened to destroy the entire global economy to make a point.

Hey, it’s a sign that the fever may be subsiding.

“You have to explain to people, people like me, that the rest of the world doesn’t think the way we do. That’s upsetting for people. But if we want to have our party be effective, we have to accept opinions like that,” – Susan Geddes, an Iowa Republican activist and devout social conservative, on marriage equality.

“Perhaps because compromise as a concept is so unpopular these days–at least if my recent correspondence and conversations with those on the right is any indication–it is important that those of us who are conservative remind ourselves of its virtues. To point out that compromise is not always synonymous with weakness. That our problems, as significant as they are, pale in comparison to what the founders faced. And that compromise still belongs, in the words of Rauch, in the “constitutional pantheon.” Even the Obama presidency, as frustrating as it might be, cannot undo the marvelous handiwork and enduring insights of James Madison,” – Pete Wehner.

I have to say, though, that I fail to see any way in which this president has refused to compromise on almost anything, except his constitutional right to govern as president. I think that’s what so enrages them. Does this symbolic figurehead not know his place?

“I understand that congressmen say stupid things from time to time. And I understand that Mr. Farenthold is an obscure back-bencher who doesn’t speak for most of his colleagues. Still, the fact that a member of the House of Representatives would treat lunatic theories as serious is a problem. It does reflect poorly not only on Farenthold but the party he represents. And what he said is damaging, since it will confirm in the minds of rational people that at least among some of its elected representatives, the Republican Party is comprised of conspiratorial nuts,” – Pete Wehner, Commentary.