Journal Captain Splendid's Journal: Nom nom nom 21
Convergence is a wonderful thing.
Reading one of PMF/Red's sockpuppets JEs, a couple of links were handed out to Pudge's politics hangout. I went and looked, interested in learning a little more of how the Mighty Glenn Beck, the Fonzie* of Right-Wing Radio, stood up in his estimation (He was predictable in denouncing him, as I expected.)
However, lurking towards the end of one his comments was this priceless gem:
Ronald Reagan was an intellectual conservative. He convinced millions of Americans not because he cried, but because he reasoned. And he did it very, very well.
Taken alone, the comment actually made me stifle a giggle (damn being at work and not having my own office). Anyone with a clue knows Reagan was an effective campaigner because he went for the heart. Well, that and name brand recognition, but anyway. For some fun, Google Reagan dog whistle and tell me the man was arguing from a position of intellectual strength.
Back to the convergence. A post by Quiddity on this Washington Post article by Matt Latimer, latest in line with a dishy book on the Bush II years, unearthed this comment form the article:
Latimer has done an excellent job summarizing all of the reasons that many of us who once worked for the Republican Party can no longer support either the party or it's leaders. But like many disillusioned conservatives who believe that Conservatism is some Virgin Godess betrayed by the mendacity of tin-penny despots like Karl Rove, Latimer refuses to consider that the real problem may be the rotteness in the state of Conservatism itself.
Latimer laments that he was denied what he says was the opportunity to continue the Reagan Revolution. Nothing could be further from the truth since seeing the Reagan Revolution out to its logical conclusion is exactly what Latimar did.
The utter contempt both for government and for government expertise that Latimer found so revolting in the Republican functionaries around him wasn't just the case of a few bad apples putting their own careers before the needs of the country. Like the scandals at Abu Ghrab, the stink in today's conservatism comes straight from the top. It was Ronald Reagan himself who opened Act I of the corruption of American conservatism as a responsible governing philosophy when he declared on his very first day as president that government was not the solution to our problems, it was the problem.
To an old FDR fan like Reagan, undermining confidence and respect in the democratic nation-state may not have been any big deal, since Reagan was always more libertarian than conservative. So, defaming government was just his way of saying that taxes were too high.
But to Southern neo-confederates who hated the federal government with a primal rage for its opposition to white supreamacy, Reagan's attack on government was heard as an endorsement of Jim Crow. To right wing authoritarians, especially those on the Religious Right, Reagan's attacks against government were heard as an attack against secular democracy itself, and an endorsement of replacing man's law with God's law.
And for the rich and powerful who resented a government responsive to the exploited masses looking over their shoulders and challenging their financial games, Reagan's opening day assault on the democratic state was heard as sanctioning selfishness and greed, the pursuit of personal rather than collective ends.
Unlocking the potentialities of individuals sounded a lot more noble than sanctioning selfishness and greed, but that is what Reagan did. He planted the seed of doubt in the efficacy of the democracic state that has now borne bitter fruit as an inability to engage in collective action at all.
What Reagan did was replace America's democratic state with a de-regulated one, which means that he gave us a politics distinguished by its lawlessness.
Try as they might, it is impossible for conservatives like Latimer to separate the actions of the Ronald Reagan they revere from the attitudes and worldview of Reagan's ideological heirs that conservatives like Latimer now deplore.
Yeah, he's not seeing a lot of intellectual strength either.
For those needing further reading on this topic, Rick Perlstein is very good. The downside is, he'll make you appreciate Nixon a lot more.
*Really. Rush is Richie Cunningham and Hannity is Potsie. The trick is to remember that The Fonz wasn't different in a radical way. Take away the jacket, the hair and the motorcycle and he was every bit as square as anyone else on that show.
Sounds like the Whig Party of No dissolving (Score:1)
But then, these famed "conservatives" never did conserve much, or have any sense, so one shouldn't be surprised.
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co-opted (Score:1)
Reagan got co-opted before day one in office. He was the only near-populist prez since teddy roosevelt. He did NOT want bush the major to be VP because he knew he was a skunk and a fascist, and got forced into it with backroom deals by the shadow government, who are neither conservative nor liberal, just career megalomaniacs and crooks, who keep pulling strings, administration after administration, congressional makeup after changed congressional makeup. Goldwater got hit by the same tactics, and when he ma
well, thanks I think...errr (Score:1)
Well, if you really want to know, I never supported Reagan all the way, I am and was fully informed about his background, and never voted for him either for that matter. I just said he was a populist, as in widely respected at least inititally, he proved that by getting quite a lot of the vote, and a few of his ideas were OK. I have that view of all the presidents, some of their ideas are OK. doesn't mean I fully support them all the way though or fully dis them constantly, just ain't my style, because I wo
I have sockpuppets? (Score:2)
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Re: (Score:1, Troll)
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Because while I'm a stalker, I'm also OCD.
YOU DOWN WITH OCD! Yeah, you know me! YOU DOWN WITH OCD! Yeah, you know me! YOU DOWN WITH OCD! Yeah, you know me! YOU DOWN WITH OCD! Yeah, you know me!
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This is on you, the low calorie troll substitute.
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R4M! Back in the saddle I see. Tempted out by my sock puppet troll bait, Captain Splendoriforous.
Bwah hah hah hah.
Eat pork and die.
dumbbell.
Do people still collect soiled dresses? (Score:1)
*Really. Rush is Richie Cunningham and Hannity is Potsie. The trick is to remember that The Fonz wasn't different in a radical way. Take away the jacket, the hair and the motorcycle and he was every bit as square as anyone else on that show.
Does this mean that Barack Hussein Obama II is Bill "Sticks" Downey (played by John-Anthony Bailey [wikipedia.org], who BTW later became a successful porn star, and featured in such notable films as "Let Me Tell Ya 'Bout White Chicks" and "New Wave Hookers"). And is Hillary Rodham Clinton, Leather Tuscadero? What about Chachi... do the Democrats have a Chachi?
Damn straight I'm taking credit (Score:1)
Caught me. That was my sockpuppet.
You might be more familiar with one of my other sock puppet accounts, like SolemnDragon for example.
sockpuppet? SOCKPUPPET !?*&%! (Score:1)
Hey, are you inferring I am a sock puppet? If so, I challenge you to read what I write in its entirety, and let me know how I could be with the low-lifes you cite.
And if you want to riff from me or the links I provide, you could cite me. It is all about the links, the cites, the mods. Hit the hook, Feed my trolls.
http://slashdot.org/~Jimmy_Slimmy/journal/237591 [slashdot.org]
OTherwise, you done good.
For a proper appreciation of Richard M. Nixon, read the guy who watched football with him, Hunter S. Thompson.
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Now, D_R, there is a real mensch. Too bad he feeds the trolls so much.
I know better.
If you gonna feed them, choke the bastards with a thick long hot dog, where even if they try to swallow it, it won't all go down, that is my philosophy. Like J_S says.
Notably different than the soft-spoken D_R, though if you accept the premise j_s is the shadow, dark-side D_R, I suppose you would argue it all makes sense.
Which, of course, it doesn't.
Ciao,
dumbass
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how can you be so rude as to talk with your mouth full? come on, pudge- we know you can't keep away.
d-a.