David Frum: When did the GOP lose touch with reality?

They're not, just like OWS isn't a bunch of lazy hippies and anarchist. Any attempts to marginalize the protesters should be ignored, on either side.

And notice how the 53% movement fizzled out.

And notice that the tea party isn't passionately counter protesting OWS.

Yep, it's no wonder that the entire finance industry is crapping in their pants. Reform is inevitable and they know it.

 

Excellent article and I one I plan to forward to some of my more conservative friends...thanks for posting it!

 

A quick read on blue vs red economic models: Interesting.

 

I think the most accurate thing about this is that Frum places the blame squarely on the baby-boomers, the generation of me and mine and I want. Deficits be damned. Ironically, the system they enacted was far worse than the socialism used to scare them to vote for it.

Cut their social security as recompense.

 

I tend to blame the conservative media machine, which is primarily talk radio and fox news.

From my own observation, what tends to happen is that a conservative candidate enters office, and the more exposure that individual gets, the more those media outlets attempt to legitimate or deligitimate them on the basis of conservative orthodoxy. So a congressman can toe the party line step for step, but even a solitary opinion thats stray, say on abortion, or global warming, or a litany of other issues, then they get torn down, regardless of how viable they are as politicians and candidates for higher offices.

To further complicate the issue, the candidates who are fully loyal to conservative orthodoxy almost invariably lose touch with the mainstream due to how distanced that orthodoxy is from the thoughts of most Americans.

So it's almost a lose-lose. Chris Christie, for example, is seen by many conservatives as the future of the republican party. The issue once again becomes that Christie, in a number of issues, differs with conservative orthodoxy- he likes Muslims and does outreach with the Muslim community, believes in gun control, climate change, and amnesty programs for illegal immigrants. The fact of the matter is that the idea of Chris Christie is far more appealing than the actual candidate himself, and if ever he were propelled to the national stage, most conservative media outlets would condemn his candidacy, his campaign would probably experience some level of turmoil, and his candidacy would be dead in the water before it even got off the ground.

The same would hold true for Scott Brown and others. It's even arguable that had the Republicans been more outspoken in their support for McCain from the start rather than the sort of reluctant toleration they treated him with, he may have beaten Obama, or at the very least garnered more votes. Anyways, just my 2 cents.

 

What gets me the most is the "no tax increases, ever" mentality. Pure absolutist, black-and-white thinking. I saw a graph that showed that current tax rates are rather low compared to most times in American history. You'd never know that by listening to Rush Limbaugh or FOX News. No, raising tax rates (to an amount closer to the historical average) is now labeled "socialism."

Also, the redefinition of rich. Apparently, raising rates for the top tax bracket wouldn't work because earning $250,000 to $1 million a year is "not rich" anymore. WTF?

My father earns about $100,000 a year. That was enough for our family of five to live comfortably in an upper middle class neighborhood. Now, my brother and I are working and earning $60,000 to $70,000 a year. Put ALL THREE of us together, and we still fall short of $250k. So I guess all three of us must be really poor, or something.

 

Unless you're a teacher who makes 55K a year, then you're rich. It's different for teachers.

 

Well you forgot the majorities of Democrat and Republican Parties:
Republicans...Taxpayers
Democrats...Government Workers, Teachers, Blacks, Mailbox Money proponents.

Then there are the crazies on both sides of the aisle.

 

What? There are some overlap in your categories.

Most goverment workers, teachers, and blacks are also taxpayers.]

I'm not sure what mailbox money proponents are but I'd be willing to bet they are also taxpayers.

So by that overlaps most Democrats are also taxpayers.

 

Claiming that the majority of the Republican party are the "taxpayers" is ridiculous, especially if someone is implying that the Democrats aren't. Last time I checked, a majority of people in this country voted Democrat when it came time to pick a president.

Also, statistics show that on average, blue states pay more in taxes than they get back in federal spending. Meanwhile red states genearlly receive more from the feds than they pay out.

 

democrats have had a majority vote 4 out of the last 5 presidential elections. and soon will probably make it 5 out of 6.