The Thoughtful Republican
Sick and tired of the invective, the idiocy, and
the rejection of American ideals by today’s GOP.
The Thoughtful RepublicanSick and tired of the invective, the idiocy, and
the rejection of American ideals by today’s GOP.
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Against my better judgment, I’ve enabled comments on the site. For the time being, they will be moderated, and you will have to sign up to post a comment. Civil debate, discourse, suggestions and corrections are all greatly appreciated. You’ll need to enable JavaScript to read or post comments.
You are also more than welcome to email me. Incivility will be firmly ignored—unless it’s particularly bad, in which case, I’ll probably ridicule you in public.
Hotlinking policy: The GDP graphs and the Kirk Cameron images seem to be terribly popular. In general, all I ask is that you ask (so I can make an exception for the hotlinking filter), and that you provide a reasonable attribution or link. It’s not that hard.
All content on this site is Copyright © 2008–2009 by The Thoughtful Republican, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.
First off, hi. No, the site isn’t dead. I’ve had my reasons for not writing here. [ . . . more on that, and a bit on Sarah Palin]
It’s been a difficult two weeks in Iran, and I don’t really have any insightful analysis to add about the situation over there. I’m not as familiar with Iran as I could be, I can’t read or speak Farsi, and I have no way to judge the tenacity of those who seek credible elections, nor the lengths to which the current powers that be will go to suppress those questioning its credibility and demanding nothing more than a fair election. There is a lot of very good analysis out there linked to by a few sites that have taken a keen interest. I recommend Andrew Sullivan’s site, which has been following this story with extreme interest. [ . . . more on Iran, Mark Sanford, “indefinite detention,” and the passing of a few prominent celebrities]
Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872–1918), Canadian Army
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row, . . .
[ . . . more]
The President’s speech on Thursday gave me considerable pause.
I don’t mind that Guantanamo is being closed. It doesn’t really matter to me either way where prisoners are held; unlike the GOP (and their ridiculous attempt at terror-inducement with their O Fortuna video), I have confidence in our ability to confine people. We manage to confine criminals of all sorts; we even managed to confine a terrorist like Timothy McVeigh—so what are they so afraid of?
I’m happy that some rule changes have been implemented to remove the worst of the abuses of the Bush administration, and look forward to more oversight and the firm application of the rule of law.
But I have a real problem with these three paragraphs: [ . . . more on “prolonged detention”]
It’s been getting fascinating watching the GOP—politicians and pundits alike—wrestle with itself. They still insist on calling themselves “conservatives,” but their definition of the word leaves something to be desired. [ . . . more on “Tea Parties,” the “debate” on torture, and a word about RedState]
I haven’t been very compelled to write lately. While the Obama administration and the Democratic-controlled Senate and House forge ahead to try to clean up the catastrophic mess that the previous administration left in its slime-covered wake, the GOP has shown every sign that it not only has not learned anything at all from their prior mismanagement, it absolutely refuses to rethink any of its approaches, any of its platforms, and instead has taken to threatening and enacting obstruction and snipishness wherever it can. On top of that, its hypocrisy and continued inability to honestly assess itself has led it even further astray from its ostensible values.
This depresses me beyond easy explanation. [ . . . more]
One of the many, many things I won’t miss about this administration is the flurry of “Oh, my gosh, Bush was such a good leader, don’t you remember?” screeds that have been raining down like the unfortunate result of a flock of geese who have been dosed with caffeine and laxatives. Bush has been the lead goose of the bunch, but since he’s being largely ignored at this point, it’s started to fall to other columnists, and their versions aren’t any more appetizing or convincing. [ . . . more]
There are times when the period between the election and the inauguration is bittersweet, when the outgoing president is popular and has accomplished great things.
We haven’t had one of those in a while.
There are other times when that period is merely uninteresting; the president does little besides issue last-minute pardons, and the president-elect puts together a cabinet.
We have reason to miss dull transitions at this point.
It seems that our outgoing administration is bound and determined to make sure that our president-elect inherits a disaster of unprecedented proportions. The sheer amount of incompetence has produced an equal impatience on the part of 75–80% of Americans to see the end of this administration. It just can’t happen soon enough. [ . . . more]
In the end, no recounts were needed. By a decisive majority, Barack Obama won the presidency on November 4, 2008, and assuming all goes as it should, will become the 44th President of the United States on January 20, 2008. [ . . . more]
This should go without saying. There’s no way I should have to say this here. But I’m going to anyway.
Vote.
Vote as though the country depended on it. [ . . . I mean it]
Sure, there’s something appealing in the idea of a common-sense approach in the White House; one imagines a practical, rational form of government that cuts through all the red tape, needless complexity and petty compromises.
The problem with that vision is that it also depends on having someone (a) with a high degree of ethics and honesty, and (b) sensible enough to surround themselves with smart, ethical advisers.
The McCain/Palin campaign has not managed on either point.
Three debates—two presidential and one vice-presidential—so far, and one presidential one to go.
There’s not much to be said for the vice-presidential debate, really. Biden had a very tough tightrope to walk—essentially, it came down to “Don’t be sexist, but treat her gently”—but he did well enough by reserving his barbs for McCain and continuing to refer to “Governor Palin,” not taking her bait of “Can I call you Joe?” (which turned out to be the precursor of such pathetic memorized lines as “Say it ain’t so, Joe.”)
Palin’s performance was absolutely cringe-inducing. Between the lies about her own record, her misrepresentations about the GOP platform, her refusal to answer direct questions with her “I’m just gonna talk straight to the American people” schtick, and her winking at the camera, she has managed to become so infuriatingly annoying and idiotic that I now have the same reaction to seeing her chirpy mug on television that I do to seeing GWB’s squinty visage: I immediately want to change the channel. [ . . . more. ]
I simply have no way to express my utter disgust with this bailout plan that Treasury came up with. I am livid. I have never come closer to having to resort to Extremely Bad Words in the course of writing on this site. [ . . . more. ]
It’s odd. Seven years ago, I inexplicably found myself awake at five in the morning.
At the time, I was living a night-owl schedule; I was never up that early. Nothing psychic about it. I didn’t have any sense of dread. I was just irritatingly unable to sleep. [ . . . more. ]
No, I can’t say that I watched the conventions. I did, however, go to their DNC and RNC websites, and took in the “important” speeches.
The summary:
[ . . . more on the convention speeches, and introducing user comments (horrors!). ]
Back in July, CitizenLink, the political-action division of the odious James Dobson’s “Focus on the Family” organization, posted a video; in it, Stuart Shepherd, one of their digital-media managers, asked if it was wrong to request that his fellow “Christians” join him in a little prayer, one that called upon God to unleash a rainstorm two minutes before Barack Obama took the stage to give his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.
The cowards pulled the video earlier this month. But I don’t think God likes those who pray for that sort of thing. Indeed, Denver had perfect weather all week, while the Republican National Convention is now going to have to compete with another hurricane bearing down on the site of one of this administration’s most spectacular failures.
This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. Remember 1998? [ . . . a look into the evangelical success with pleading for God to bring down disaster on the enemy. ]
Wow. Sarah Palin is John McCain’s pick for the vice-presidential nominee. I have a lot of mixed feelings about this. [ . . . more. ]
While most of the GOP weasels work for FOX “News,” they also have quite a beachhead on other more respectable news networks, such as the venerable CNN. [ . . . a rebuttal of Glenn’s cherry-picked quotes from the Democratic National Convention. ]
One of the things that makes me crazy about the modern-day “conservative” movement is their seeming incapacity to comprehend just what the heck they’re saying. [ . . . more on the use of the word “are”. ]
Well, I am a bit disappointed; it would have been interesting to see a more conservative candidate as Obama’s VP. On the other hand, I’m not panicking—perhaps it will serve as a deterrent to any crazy Reaganites who want to exercise their Second Amendment rights at President Obama. [ . . . more on Biden, and changes to this site. ]
I’m still torn on whether to write more frequent, shorter entries, or stick to my current methodology of posting rather long, meandering pieces every week or so.
Let me know what you think, by clicking on that “email me” link to your right.
As for this past week, it’s been something of a mish-mash; no major political stories, just revisiting the old ones. [Wherein: This column and the rest of the Internet, stupid justifications for torture, the activist judiciary, originalism, and Russert.] [ . . . more ]
Oh, for the placid days when it seemed nothing was happening. This past week: Duhbya hates the climate change bill, plus Scott McClellan, the idiocy that is Dunkin’ Donuts, and the end of the Clinton/Obama rivalry (I think). [ . . . more ]
Just seems to go on forever, doesn’t it? [Wherein: McCain and Hagee, musings on Clinton’s increasing weirdness, and a short digression based on a post by Andrew Sullivan.] [ . . . more ]
If you’ve been under a rock, today the California State Supreme Court ruled that a ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, thereby making California the second state to make said marriages legal. Sally Kerns (the Oklahoma state representative I discussed a while back who believes that gays will destroy this nation) must be completely out of her head at today’s news.
But apparently, California has some analogues of Sally here as well, because somehow, I wound up on a email list “alerting” me that THE GAYS IN CALIFORNIA WILL DESTROY THE NATION. That is, if I’m following their “logic” correctly.
Up until today, the only mail I’ve received has been spam and a few messages from friends, plus a couple of autoresponses to things I’ve sent out. I never figured this ’blog would be popular—Democrats and most thoughtful people would be put off by the “Republican” in the title, and most Republicans would be put off by the word “Thoughtful.”
(Is “antipandering” a word?) [ . . . more ]
I’ve been catching up on some political blogs. One of those is samizdata.net, which is a UK-based conservative blog. It’s interesting to get a view from outside the country once in a while, though it does tend towards lots of buzzwords and borders on hardlining.
Recently, Johnathan Pearce took Andrew Sullivan to task for his support for Senator Obama. Pearce seems to understand that all three candidates are in favor (sorry, favour) of big government; what he doesn’t seem to grasp is that while the Democratic Party tends to err on the side of big government, the Republicans are supposed to err on the side of smaller government, but are instead acting in a ridiculously hypocritical manner that betrays a number of their basic ideals. In so doing, he misses the point: Malkin et al are not actually Republican supporters—they are supporters of the modern GOP, which is a very different animal indeed. [ . . . more ]
On Monday, Arianna Huffington wrote that John McCain had said at a dinner some years ago that he had not voted for GWB.
On Tuesday, the McCain campaign denied this.
On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times reported that an unidentified woman who attended the dinner confirmed that indeed, McCain had said that he had not voted for GWB.
On Thursday, McCain himself denied it. “I voted, campaigned for, worked as hard as I could for President Bush's election in 2000 and 2004. It's nonsense,” adding that discussing it was “hardly worth our time—this happened eight years ago.” [ . . . more ]
This is going to be a long entry, I’m afraid. It shouldn’t have to be, but sometimes restoring context takes some time.
Barack Obama has been getting ripped for a couple of short snippets of a sermon of Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s for weeks now. Everyone seems to have piled on, including Senator Clinton.
Now, I don’t know about you, but as a thoughtful Republican, I’m suspicious of outrage over a sound bite. Nuance is important. Context is important. Reality is crucially important. That’s why I’m going to suggest that it might be a good thing not to let some moronic talking head try to use a tiny snippet of videotape to unfairly shift your emotions.
So to that end, I started tracking down the sermon Wright delivered—and the first thing I discovered is that the sound bites that have been playing over and over and over were from two separate sermons. The media not only removed the context, but also did some cherry picking. Lovely. Nice going, media! Way to present an accurate picture! [ . . . more ]
I haven’t seen Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed yet. It’s the new film by Ben Stein, the former lawyer and speechwriter for the Nixon and Ford administrations; he currently teaches libel and securities law and ethics at Pepperdine University (as he has for the last 22 years).
I freely admit I haven’t read all of his work, or even been aware of everything he’s been involved with, but I did respect his intelligence and his wit—particularly after seeing him compete on Win Ben Stein’s Money, a now-defunct Comedy Central game show. The man was bright, certainly, and knew a lot. But that personal regard has now taken a deep and possibly fatal blow. [ . . . more ]
Seems little point. I’ve been reading pro-Clinton anti-Obama blogs, and pro-Obama anti-Clinton blogs, and pro-McCain anti-Democrat blogs, and honestly, there’s nothing to write about. [ . . . more ]
“VOLPAC” is the “Volunteer Political Action Committee” chaired by the renowned neurological video-diagnostician Bill Frist. He posted a poll today that—well, shows every sign that the delusion of the GOP is still running strong. Here’s the poll, with some additional suggested answers: [ . . . more ]
This doesn’t really matter, I suppose. It involves an Oklahoma State Representative, Sally Kern (R–District 84 [Oklahoma City]).
Oklahoma has developed quite a reputation in the last several years for being—well, uh, crazy, at least as far as their most outspoken politicians go. Ms. Kern is merely competing for this year’s Oklahoma Lunatic of the Month Hat/Codpiece. [ . . . more ]
It’s always been hard for me to get very excited about primary season. I look at the issues, I vote my conscience, and I mostly ignore the intraparty bickering as much as possible.
So far, I’ve been trying to remain carefully neutral regarding the Obama vs Clinton brouhaha. Almost a month ago, I said that I’d been refusing to be swayed by those who just despise the Clintons for some past dreck. Frankly, their pasts have been so besmirched by the GOP fecesfest that I’d be hard pressed to tell what’s truth and what’s fiction at this point. I’d rather focus on what’s going on now.
Unfortunately, it isn’t pretty. [ . . . more ]
[Wherein: Why Ralph Nader would be the very best Vice President ever.] [ . . . more ]
[Wherein: Not so much the “Protect America Act” as it is the “Protect the Administration Act.”] [ . . . more ]
He couldn’t depart without one last weaselly gem: “If I fight on [ . . . ], I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.”
Oh, Mitt. The GOP has already surrendered to terror. Their drumbeat relies on surrender to terror. It advocates the suspension of American freedoms in the face of terror, it aids and abets terror by using wrong-headed tactics against the wrong people, it promotes terror by making sure to anger a whole new generation of potential terrorists through violence and idiocy, and it guarantees more terror by allowing the terrorists to get away with it, while advocating terrorist tactics (like torture) to gain questionable information. Nobody has done more to destroy the American way of life than your party’s representative in the White House. [ . . . more ]
In a recent interview on National Review Online, Mitt Romney was in a conference call with “conservative bloggers” when he had occasion to answer a question about what his strong states were going to be on Super Tuesday. He stated that the “world of conservativism is pretty solidly behind my effort.” [ . . . more ]
Journalism is frequently described and dismissed by Bush groupies with the propaganda phrase “liberal media,” and every time I hear it, I cringe. [ . . . more ]
This site is an attempt to provide yet another Republican perspective on American politics.
Obviously, I felt that several kazillion political blogs out there weren’t enough, so you may already suspect that I have a bit of an ego. However, this perspective might be a little different than most. For one thing, I don’t pointlessly slap labels like “Traitor” or “Enemy” on people that have a different take on the problems facing this nation today. For another, I actually know what terms like “balanced” or “fair” actually mean.
In short, I’m something you may not recognize anymore: an actual American who happens to fall on the Republican side of the political spectrum. There don’t seem to be very many of us left. Most of those who claim to be Republican these days aren’t particularly Republican—or even seem to understand what America is supposed to be about. [ . . . more ]