Tag: conservatives

A random observation about conservatives.

I think that I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s evergreen: the ideological opposite of a progressive is not a conservative. It’s a libertarian. Conservatives often appear to be ideological opposites to progressives, but that’s largely because we think that you need to convince us first before we’ll sign off to letting the State do something. And until you can convince us, the answer is going to default to ‘no.’  But once you convince us of something, the answer obviously becomes ‘yes’ and there’s nothing really further to discuss, is there?

This, by the way, drives progressives quite mad. You see, because they have an ideology progressives obviously stake out policy positions based off of that ideology.  Whether or not said those ideologically-consistent positions actually make any rational sense. It bugs them exceedingly when we insist on treating each new policy position on a case-by-case basis (which is one good reason to keep doing it)…

Actually, it’s the *conservatives* who can make better plays to the middle in 2016.

As in, they can do it and still get elected.

Allahpundit is raising an excellent point, here:

Why would a center-right voter prefer Jeb Bush to Scott Walker? We all do understand, I hope, that Walker will be running basically as a centrist, yes? …I think he’s going to run as a similar sort of pragmatist as Bush — lots of talk about jobs and education, squishy on immigration, socially conservative but low key about it, and if tea partiers start getting restless with him, he’ll pull the ol’ “remember the time the unions spent millions to recall me and I kicked the sh*t out of them?” card. And then everyone will quiet down.

Continue reading Actually, it’s the *conservatives* who can make better plays to the middle in 2016.

Martin O’Malley: NIMBY. Marylanders would just attack those detainee kids, you understand.

At first, I was just sourly amused at this bit of hypocrisy wafting out from Martin O’Malley.  But then I kept reading.

Martin O’Malley says that deporting the children detained at the border would be sending them to “certain death” — but he also urged the White House not to send them to a facility in his own state.

Hours after the Maryland governor and prospective 2016 presidential candidate became the most prominent Democrat to criticize the White House on the issue, Domestic Policy Director Cecilia Muñoz called O’Malley to complain.

But before they hung up, O’Malley told Muñoz not to send any of the children to the facility in Westminster, Md., that the White House was looking at. It’s a conservative part of the state, he warned. The children were at risk of getting harassed, or worse, he said.

Continue reading Martin O’Malley: NIMBY. Marylanders would just attack those detainee kids, you understand.

Ten Media Truths for Conservative/Republican Legislators.

[UPDATE: Hi, Instapundit readers! The bad news is, I’m retired from politics (I’m concentrating on writing science fiction, fantasy, and horror: subscribe to my Patreon!).  The good news is, I still stand behind every word of this.  Which is one major reason why I’m retired: see Rules 2, 3, & particularly 4.]

This is the result of roughly ten years’ worth of looking on – sometimes horrified; sometimes amused; sometimes just bewildered – at our current Media environment.  Note that capital, by the way: I’m pretty much describing the Media as a singular and monolithic institution, mostly because on a practical level that’s pretty much how it acts towards conservatives/Republicans. Also,  I’m really not interested if individual Media-units feel bad about the more unsavory aspects of the paradigm that they’re supporting, either; guilt, like gratitude, is worth its weight in gold.

So let’s go. One final note: if you need a quick summary of this list… well, just remember the first truth and you’ll be fine. Continue reading Ten Media Truths for Conservative/Republican Legislators.