Category: Yglesias Award Nominee

“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.

“I’d be leading the charge [for defunding Obamacare] if I thought this would work. But it will not work … You’re going to set an expectation among the conservatives in our party that we can achieve something that we’re not able to achieve. It’s not an achievable strategy. It’s creating the false impression that you can do something when you can’t. And it’s dishonest … You’re not going to stop the funding, but what you will do is shut down the government. Among that group of senators that has been considering this, I was the only one who was here for that. The president is never going to sign a bill defunding Obamacare. Do you think he’s going to cave? The strategy that has been laid out is a good way for Republicans to lose the House,” – Tom Coburn.

Bonus:

I agree with my friend Dr. Coburn: “Tom Coburn: Campaign to defund Obamacare ‘dishonest,’ ‘hype'” http://t.co/qARiderRAj

— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) July 26, 2013

There’s some small shred of sanity left, it seems. Combined with Behner’s slapdown of Steve King, lets hope it gains more steam.

“Our leaders don’t accurately reflect who we are. They reflect the interest groups around here who are lobbying for an advantage. Everyone who is up here is wanting an edge for their company or their industry. We’ve got to get away from that,” – Rick Santorum.

“I now think that Ellison was … right to excoriate me for my dismissive attitude toward black culture, and that my Jewish critics were right to take offense at my questioning whether the survival of the Jewish people was worth the suffering it entailed (though at the time, the proximity to the Holocaust made it very hard for me to keep this question out of my mind and to refrain from raising it in print). On the other hand, though I think what I said about white racism in 1963 was right, the contention that nothing has changed since then seems to me almost demented,” – Norman Podhoretz, on the 50th anniversary of his infamous article “My Negro Problem – And Ours.”

“[Republicans] have no real health-care agenda. Voters don’t trust them to look out for middle-class economic interests. Republicans are confused and divided about how to solve the party’s problems. What they can do is unite in opposition to the Obama administration’s scandals and mistakes. So that’s what they’re doing. They’re trying to win news cycles when they need votes,” –Ramesh Ponnuru.

“[The GOP’s 1998] strategy was to assume that the [Lewinsky] scandal would redound to their benefit, and that they merely had to sit back and let victory rain o’er them. It didn’t. The current lot should not make the same mistake. Democratic scandal does not take the place of a Republican agenda,” – National Review’s editors.

Let’s not forget the role of Fox News in all this. Once again, what riles up their white elderly base may actually turn off the broad American middle whose votes the GOP desperately needs. And if the Issa brigade appear to be trying to gin up scandals rather than investigate them, they will seem more than ever irrelevant to the country’s actual needs. Charlie Cook echoes these thoughts rather convincingly here.

“[T]he one advice I give to Republicans is stop calling [Benghazi] a huge scandal. Stop saying it’s a Watergate. Stop saying it’s Iran Contra. Let the facts speak for themselves. Have a special committee, a select committee. The facts will speak for themselves. Pile them on but don’t exaggerate, don’t run ads about Hillary. It feeds the narrative for the other side that it’s only a political event. It’s not. Just be quiet and present the facts,” – Charles Krauthammer.

“Sarah Palin is an example of what can happen when a person is consumed by bitterness and grievances. It has a corrosive effect, and over the last several years she has, if anything, become even more brittle and embittered. From a human standpoint it’s a shame. And from a political standpoint it’s precisely the countenance and bearing conservatism and the GOP need to avoid,” – Pete Wehner on Palin’s latest phony outrage at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, something she eagerly attended not so long ago (because there was a terrifying moment when I nearly ran into her).

No, I didn’t go this year. No media entity wanted me to; and the Dish has no White House correspondent, unless you call me one, and we’d rather spend our money on, well, journalism.