An Unbelieveably Foolish NRO Editorial On Wisconsin
Newt Gingrich was on the radio with Larry Kudlow last night. He pronounced recent events in Wisconsin and what Scott Walker and Republicans have accomplished as one of the most significant developments in American politics in four or more decades. I agree with him. Yet, what do we get from NRO?
A Very Modest Victory in Madison
Gov. Scott Walker and the sober Republicans in Wisconsin’s state legislature are celebrating a victory, to be sure, but it is in truth a modest one….
Increasingly, we see insipid nonsense from a publication that would claim the mantle of Buckley. There seems to be no appreciation for the real world – outside of, perhaps, prep schools, or the right universities and Washington internships, which profess to produce a class of conservative author, editor, or pundit worthy of representing the conservative cause in the media.
I don't begrudge anyone such things. Buckley was, in fact, to the manner born. But for God's sakes, the man also understood the real and real political world in which he lived – one in which we all live. It's that, along with his education and intellect, that made him such an effective advocate for conservatism. If anything, it was his more important aspect, as intelligent, clear-thinking people are indeed born to every class and able to access a quality education. That's part of the beauty of America.
If you put yourself on YouTube, yell something at someone during a stump speech, today, many of the pantywaists at NRO will get their panties wet. But stand boldly against the hardest of the hard Left, experience incredible harassment, multiple death threats and endure facing up close and personal the genuine thugs of the Left to start reversing a disastrous, costly entrenched trend in American politics, while gaining national attention, thereby fostering such discussion nationally – well, that's not really such a big deal – at least not according to NRO, apparently.
Is anyone stopping to ask why there are supposedly 100,000 union supporters protesting even today in Wisconsin, even after the law was passed? Have we seen anything like what we have seen in Wisconsin in New Jersey, where today's purported conservative Republican champion, Chris Christie, has moved some numbers around on the ledger, using some tricks like not paying off debt to make it appear balanced? Oh, and he expressed his support for collective bargaining for public employees while doing it, by the way.
Is it only the Left that gets it? They are in Wisconsin today and have been for weeks precisely because they do get it. So, why does a publication like NRO seem to not get, let alone appreciate the battle we're in on the Right? How the hell are they going to stand athwart history and yell stop, if they don't even comprehend where the most genuine battle-lines are drawn? This was an official publication editorial, not some columnist.
Oh wait, I see below they do get it. They simply concluded that a governor under incredible pressure finally standing up to it somewhere in America is a moderate accomplishment. No, the very moderate Christie is the one accomplishing those types of temporal changes in New Jersey. Walker, on the other hand, is governing like a genuine conservative and the fight he started and won represents serious long-term institutional change. That, not simply heated, videotaped rhetoric, is what we need in America today. Perhaps Walker should encapsulate it and post it to YouTube so that the editors at the purportedly staunchly conservative NRO might actually take notice of it. They could always email Christie, or Pawlenty, or Mitt for permission first, assuming that's a concern.
And that is the real source of the rage on the left: Mandatory union representation, empowered by mandatory collective bargaining and mandatory dues deductions enforced by the state, creates an enormous flow of cash for Democratic political candidates and their pet causes. From 1989 to the present, five of the ten biggest donors to American political campaigns have been labor unions, including public-sector unions such as the National Education Association and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees. The overwhelming majority of those donations go to Democrats. The union bosses and their Democratic patrons know that giving workers more of a choice about union representation will diminish that power and reduce that cash flow. That is what this is about, for all of the cheap talk about “civil rights” — as though federal employees in Washington were being treated like second-class citizens because their unions do not enjoy the same princely powers until now wielded by Wisconsin’s.
Yeah, Dan, fiddle-footed messaging for sure.
The moral and atmospheric victory for Walker is HUGE. The Collective brought all their hyperbolic BS and intimidation thuggery to bear, along with an outright outlaw move by the Fleebaggers to kill democracy.
It didn’t work, and that is IMMENSELY powerful. We saw leadership and measured determination from Walker and the Fitzgeralds. I think they played this largely pitch-perfect.
The NR editors were totally right about the modesty of the law, and the nominal changes that were incorporated. This was “full of sound and fury”, signifying very little, really. That is where the Collective miscued most fatally. They flushed HUGE amounts of credibility down the crapper over this, and it will be apparent in a short time that their bloody shirt waving was a stupid lie.
But the modest change in Wisconsin is not the big story…it is the resolve of a MAJORITY to pass a change into law via the representative democracy we have, opposed by everything short of outright anarchy by the Collective, and the ultimate vindication of the right through guts and smarts.
Isn’t National Review’s definition of “electable” mean the Ruling Class snob who is a little less corrupt than the other candidate?
I take comfort in the fact that although The Cult of Buckley incapsulates all that represents the Ruling Class, they always end up begging the Country Class for money.
By the by; I think Chris Christie is going to go the way of Rudy Guiliani who once was declared America’s Greatest Mayor who could easily defeat Hillary Clinton yet when he ran for President could not get noticed in NYC (his own city, the city he rescued from absolute financial disaster)
NRO and Weekly Standard are dead to me. I’ll go with Rags’ WI accounting.
If he can stay on message for a week at a time, Salamander might get himself a Cabinet position.
http://proteinwisdom.com/?p=25520
Union thugs showing their asses.
See, this is all good. Americans don’t like this kind of thing.
Now, be assured this is not getting out via the MSM, so, as usual, you and I have a job to do to make our family, friends, and neighbors aware.
Well said Dan……..we are at the crossroads for America……..Chris Christie may tickle the ears of Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham and the milk toast Republicans by performing YOUTUBE soundbytes, but discerning Americans will not fall for it…..
Well said….
“How the hell are they going to stand athwart history and yell stop”? I don’t think NRO has asked themselves this question for many years. I wish Victor Davis Hanson, Andrew McCarthy, Mark Steyn, and a few other non-panty waists who contribute to that publication would form a new team at a different site, so that NRO and Rich Lowry and their purely academic fantasy world moderation, would be no more influential and wealth producing than a site like “Little Green Footballs”. NRO’s commenters are mostly center left handwringers, so you can tell the kind of audience they now attract. BTW, have you read the comments that NRO Star Commenters and Citizen Moderators write; mostly complete advocation of handwringing.
Great article, of course because I agree with you on your union position (confirmation bias? maybe), but I really like your writing style. “To the manner born” is perfectly used; on purpose, right?
What an outstanding piece this is! So well written and absolutely nails what the problem is with these pseudo conservatives. Keep up the good work and let’s keep fighting the good fight with the likes of Governor Scott Walker and other conservatives throughout this magnificent country. I for one am tired of the implication that “working Americans” are only those that belong to a union when, in fact, the real working Americans (those who don’t belong to unions yet have their tax dollars used to pay for union pensions and health insurance) now have real reprepsentation, at least in Wisconsin and Ohio. That’s why what happened in Wisconsin is HUGE and may pave the way for more of the same kind of reform with these public employee unions and their alleged collective bargaining “rights.”
Go get’em Dan!
NPR is a joke and are nothing more than Beltway stooges. Buckley would be ashamed.
While the WSJ gets it wrong in many instances, too, this tells it like it is, and truly shows up NPR.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/wisconsin_554095.html?nopager=1
Bravo Stephen Hayes and John McCormack! Excellent reporting on the facts!
Nice piece of writing, Dan.
Very well done.
I always thought it was ‘to the MANOR born’, but what do I know.
You are, of course, correct David.
Double entendre…??? We may never know.
Welp…wrong.
I have to yield to the Bard Of Avon.
A J Strata has a must-read on this very topic.
http://bit.ly/hesyXQ
“Democrats Distilling Down To Anti-Democracy Anarchist.. they crossed a line that will not be uncrossed.”
NRO has become a Republican mutual masturbation society. They’re not conservatives in any way that matters.