Frum On Palin

Lest people think it's silly to take on the Frums of the Right, a reminder of what Frum helped do to Sarah Palin might be in order. How many decent conservatives does he get to trash before we realize he's a postule and needs to be popped?

You should also go back to when John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his running mate and read what Frum wrote about her. Frum talks a lot about the Republican Party’s need to attract younger voters, women, and minorities. So, what does he do when a brilliant, youthful woman joined the ticket and perhaps helped balance it alongside elder statesman McCain?

Comments

[Conor Friedersdorf]

It's amusing how quickly your David Frum caricature has shifted from being a man bereft of any influence to a man worth taking on because he helped to sink Sarah Palin.

Of course, it's Sarah Palin's thin record -- and especially her utter lack of foreign policy experience -- that caused such a large number of Americans, including many who voted for Bush/Cheney, to conclude that she wasn't qualified to step in as Commander in Chief.

[Orwell]

Conor - the same talking points "Palin's thin record," were the parroted talking points used by left wing blogs and Pro Obama sites right after Frum wrote them. He has been instrumental in providing ammo for liars across the internet - "See! Even one of their own admits Palin is stupid!"

And now because of a president who has a thinner resume than Palin, we have a North Korea with nuclear weapons. Thanks Conor for voting to put the most inexperienced man ever to become president in charge of protecting our entire country. I hope you don't live near a major US city.

[Magic Dog]

You wingnuts are so cute when you're slaughtering each other. Ready, aim, fire!

[Dave C]

"Of course, it's Sarah Palin's thin record -- and especially her utter lack of foreign policy experience -- that caused such a large number of Americans, including many who voted for Bush/Cheney, to conclude that she wasn't qualified to step in as Commander in Chief. "

I thought it was John McCain himself that discouraged people into not voting for him.

thin record? Did you not notice who was elected?

[SacTownMan]

Who in the hell invited this half-witted troll to start Astroturfing here anyway!

Damn Dan you throw the loser a bone and he starts humping your leg!

Just what we need around here, another Soros minion to spread the Daily Koz talking points!

Just like Frum, Scott McClellan, Megan McCain, Colin Powell and the other patsy RINO's he obviously aspires to become another pawn on the MSM circuit anytime now!!

Listen Coner "whatever your name is" you obviously are much more in tune with the "real" people than "us" lowly conservatives!

Hey is that MSNBC on the phone?

What a tool!!!

[Jim Treacher]

"It's amusing how quickly your David Frum caricature has shifted from being a man bereft of any influence to a man worth taking on because he helped to sink Sarah Palin."

Almost as amusing as your gallant defense of an obnoxious woman who called a radio show, but not the Republican VP candidate.

[Levinite]

It sure would be nice if HotAir would grow a pair and similarly defend Levin. Dreher, Frum, and the rest of these losers need to be put down. The time is ripe to marginalize them forever.

[thirteen28]

"Of course, it's Sarah Palin's thin record -- and especially her utter lack of foreign policy experience -- that caused such a large number of Americans, including many who voted for Bush/Cheney, to conclude that she wasn't qualified to step in as Commander in Chief."

And yet neither you nor Frum seemed to have any problem whatsoever with Obama's much, much thinner record. How's that workin' out for ya, BTW?

[Patriot]

I agree that the GOP needs to marginalize any non bona fide conservative voice. It is only thru the purity of the conservative / white male essence that America will reach her promise. One America! Let the lesbians, foreigners and LIEbruls have France. ;)

[Dan Riehl]

Perusing Levin's actual bio - graduated from college at the age of 19, phi beta kappa; graded from law school at 22 and was elected to his local school board. Became chief of staff to the attorney general in the Reagan administration at the age of 30.

President of Landmark Legal Foundation for over 15 years. Has the fastest growing radio show in the nation, with millions of listeners. He has written three NYT best selling books, including Men in Black re the Supreme Court and his current big hit, Liberty and Tyranny, which has been #1 on NYT list for seven weeks.

I could go on but it won't matter. But I have to ask -- what have Conor and Frum accomplished in this vein? What have they done for the movement?

(chirp chirp)

[Bob]

I say this as a dispassionate liberal who has no dog in any internecene conservative warfare. Conor is cleaning Riehl's and Levin's clocks. The contrast between his thoughtful, surgical -- and yes, polite -- logic vs. Riehl's and Levin's juvenile and pointless personal attacks shows who the real grownup in this debate is.

I'd also add that Sarah Palin's implosion was self-inflicted as well as proof for the bad judgment of anyone who either selected her to be their running mate or continued to support her after she demonstrated she had no business running for high office. If any further logical proof was needed about who's wrong and who's right in this debate, there it is.

Frum's point that people like Levin (and apparently Riehl) are increasingly barricading themselves away from much of the rest of society is worth considering, rather than defensively dismissing with petty personal attacks.

[LOL]

YES PURGE THE UNFAITHFUL MONKEYS

[Jim Treacher]

I say this as a dispassionate liberal who has no dog in any internecene conservative warfare. Bob is cleaning Frum's and Colin's toilets.

[Bob]

"Bob is cleaning Frum's and Colin's toilets."

Still waiting for some commentary from one of Levin's supporters that's not a childish personal attack. Jim just added further proof for who the grownups around here are.

[SacTownMan]

"Jim just added further proof for who the grownups around here are."

ROTFLMAO!!!

Bob-O you really are an ass!!!

[Dr. Luba]

Errrr, postule? Formal second-person singular (“usted”) imperative form of postular? A white, hemispherical (cave) wall and roof deposit of calcite?

Or perhaps a pustule?

Popping it may result in cellulitis, which in itself may call for broad spectrum antibiotics..........or even amputation. I say go for it.......what's the GOP got to lose? Variety? Bah! Who needs freedom of thought? Ein Volk, ein Glaube, ein Palin!

[Rob Crawford]

Weird... Palin's "thin resume" is still thicker than Obama's.

[Jim Treacher]

"Still waiting for some commentary from one of Levin's supporters that's not a childish personal attack."

Scroll up, you remedial reading group dropout.

Levin says "To the moon, Alice" to an obnoxious caller, and the guys who rush to her rescue are the same ones who had no problem with Sarah Palin being accused of faking her own pregnancy and worse. Please excuse us if we don't take you as seriously as you take yourselves.

[IslamoLlama]

"-- Conor - the same talking points "Palin's thin record," were the parroted talking points used by left wing blogs and Pro Obama sites right after Frum wrote them. He has been instrumental in providing ammo for liars across the internet - "See! Even one of their own admits Palin is stupid!" --"

Oh please. Like we needed David Frum to sort that out. SNL did repeated sketches poking fun at See Alaska From My House Palin. Her verbal gaffs and her goofy looking husband and her abstinence education poster child... I mean, what wasn't to laugh at? McCain only nominated her as a counterpoint to Hillary Clinton losing the Dem Nomination, thinking he was going to ride to victory on the backs of PUMAs. She's been a joke since day one. :-p

[templar knight]

"Please excuse us if we don't take you as seriously as you take yourselves."

You are so right, Jim. If Bob and LOL were even half as intelligent as they think they are, the moon wouldn't hold their swelled heads. The truth, however, is that they get up every morning and get their talking points from Huffpo or Kos, and proceed over here under the direction of the Soros set. It's really rather comical watching the lefty trolls spew the same vomit on every conservative site willing to put up with their silliness.

And frankly, any conservative or Republican who would allow the Bob's of the world to come to their defense are utterly indefensible.

[Jim Treacher]

"SNL did repeated sketches poking fun at See Alaska From My House Palin."

And here we see a leftist accidentally revealing the extent of his research.

[thirteen28]

"Oh please. Like we needed David Frum to sort that out. SNL did repeated sketches poking fun at See Alaska From My House Palin. Her verbal gaffs and her goofy looking husband and her abstinence education poster child... I mean, what wasn't to laugh at? McCain only nominated her as a counterpoint to Hillary Clinton losing the Dem Nomination, thinking he was going to ride to victory on the backs of PUMAs. She's been a joke since day one. :-p"

Oh, now that's a standard we should really take seriously - SNL made fun of her, a Republican, so gosh, all the bad that's been said about her MUST be true.

Fail.

[Terry Gain]

Frum's dismissal of Sarah as a small town mayor was nasty but what was even more revealing of his lack of astuteness was his description of Obama, not as a third rate politician from Chicago with a history of close associaions with extremists, but this:

But maybe (and at least as likely) it will reinforce a theme that I'd be pounding home if I were the Obama campaign: that it's John McCain for all his white hair who represents the risky choice, while it is Barack Obama who offers cautious, steady, predictable governance.

[Bob]

Ha-ha: All of the childish insults from the wingnuts are like the bells on a pinball machine. The more of it you hear, the more you know you've scored.

[JustOneMan]

Obama= cautious, steady, predictable governance.

How can anyone who makes that statment be taken seriously?

He cant! "And now you know the rest of the story" Paul Harvey

[IslamoLlama]

Rally round the Palin flag! Haha. Keep it coming. I can't wait for another round of "Quick! We're not being conservative enough! Everyone, dive to the right!" after 2010.

[Terry Gain]

Islamouglyanimal

I see that you don't get the disasters of Obama unfolding before you on a daily basis. Are you sure you're not my favorite whipping boy, boobfromstamford?

[SacTownMan]

Damn Lame-O can you ever come up with SOMETHING new or do we continually have to endure your worn out talking points AD NASIUM!

Palin, Palin, Palin, blah, blah, blah... Bush, Bush, Bush, blah, blah, blah!

Seriously you are worse than a broken record!

It's either a quick, half-witted barb or an incredibly LONGGGG, drawn out, meandering rant but it always concludes with you showing your stupidity for all to see!!

You need to get a life! Between you and Bob there is enough proof in the anal retentiveness of the left to last a lifetime!

[Conor Friedersdorf]

Dan,

David Frum actually has a pretty impressive resume.

As for me, I haven't done much for the conservative movement -- I'm a 29 year old journalist who has spent his career reporting for a community newspaper and writing for magazines, not a middle-aged lawyer/commentator who has made his career inside the conservative movement.

Of course, neither what I've done for the movement nor what you've done for the movement is relevant to the strength of our ideas, is it? Most people aren't movement political operatives. That doesn't mean they haven't anything valuable to contribute to public discourse.

There is also the matter of how Mark Levin hurts the conservative movement -- by creating the impression that conservative thought leaders are prone to hateful rhetoric, by convincing his audience of the falsehood that liberals are evil rather than mistaken, by responding to arguments with ad hominem rather than reasoned rebuttals -- the list goes on.

[Tim]

"Hateful rhetoric."

What a wimp you are, Connor.

[SacTownMan]

Damn Coner you're like Freddy Krugger. You just keep coming back like a bad dream.

I'm sure you've enjoyed your 10 minutes of fame now please kindly crawl back under the rock you came out from will ya?

Mark Levin is a brillant author and has a grasp of our constitution unlike the God King Xerxes you and your RINO friends seem to worship. He has done more to advance the conservative movement in this country than a maggot like you ever will!

Please do yourself and the rest of us a favor and kindly melt away! I for one could give a shit less about your background or your lack of a life. You are in need of serious medical intervention!

I would suggest a full frontal lobotomy! The proceedure is painless and maybe you could get a BOGOF deal if you pair up with Megan McCain!!

[templar knight]

Uh, Conor, if hateful rhetoric hurt, the Democrats would be far in negative territory as we speak. Mark's discourse on his radio show would neccessarily be different from an interview on Fox News, for example.

And it is no falsehood that most liberals are evil, not misguided. In this day and time, it is impossible for intelligent people to be misguided, given the amount of information available. You, my friend, are mistaken, but your mistakes have lead to an evil result, i.e. the election of Barack Obama. Wake up, man!

[Conor Friedersdorf]

SactTownMan,

You keep calling me a RINO as if I claim to be a Republican. But I am not a member of the Republican Party -- I am registered as an independent. There is a difference between being a conservative and being a Republican. When the Republican Party became a vehicle for the prescription drug benefit, the absurd guest worker program proposal, runaway spending and nation building I lost any desire to be affiliated with it.

[Conor Friedersdorf]

Tim,

What exactly is wimpy about calling rhetoric hateful? I didn't say that Mr. Levin's rhetoric intimidates me, or that I fear it. Quite the contrary. I think his hateful rhetoric is so patently absurd that I can eviscerate it by employing elementary logic.

[Conor Friedersdorf]

Templar Knight,

You argue that liberals are evil, not mistaken.

Oprah Winfrey is a prominent liberal. Please explain to me how she is evil.

[templar knight]

Conor, I said most, not all. But do you consider the result of the past election as something sublime, with the apparent destruction of the republic well under way? I don't. And if one supports and encourages the destruction of the republic, either through their own actions(such as the corruption we now see in the Barack Adminstration), am I to come to the conclusion that these people are only mistaken?

Is it a mistake to take money from bondholders of Chrysler and give it to Unions? Or is it corruption? Is it just a little mistake to call our soldiers murderers without any proof of same, and when fairly adjudicated the soldiers were found not-guilty? I could go on all night, but what's the point?

[Conor Friedersdorf]

Templar Knight,

George W. Bush backed the first auto bailout and the financial sector bailout. Do you regard him as evil?

How many liberals have called our soldiers in Iraq murderers without any proof?

And if we can agree that Oprah is a liberal who isn't evil, how about Jay Leno, David Letterman, Michael Jordan, Bono, Warren Buffett, or Jimmy Buffett.

They're all liberals. Are any of them evil?

[Jim Treacher]

"All of the childish insults from the wingnuts are like the bells on a pinball machine. The more of it you hear, the more you know you've scored."

That's quite a long way to go for "sticks and stones."

"Rally round the Palin flag! Haha. Keep it coming. I can't wait for another round of 'Quick! We're not being conservative enough! Everyone, dive to the right!' after 2010."

Yes, your utter confidence really shines through the oafish blustering.

"David Frum actually has a pretty impressive resume."

Your assertions don't actually mean much.

"I didn't say that Mr. Levin's rhetoric intimidates me, or that I fear it."

You don't have to.

"Oprah Winfrey is a prominent liberal. Please explain to me how she is evil."

You really are a babe in the woods, aren't you?

[Jim Treacher]

By the way, look at how little it took to send Bob from "I'm a dispassionate liberal" to "You're all wingnuts." Yes indeed, the even keel of the true moderate.

[thirteen28]

"How many liberals have called our soldiers in Iraq murderers without any proof?"

Are you serious? You've never heard the name of Jack Murtha?

[templar knight]

Conor, I answered your question. It would be polite for you to answer mine before asking me a series of questions that is related to your first one.

Did George Bush take money away from bondholders and give it to a union? Did he?

Murtha, for one. Kos, and thousands of others who post on the interwebs on a daily basis. You are either obtuse, ignorant, or more likely a liberal yourself. Mayhap just a mistaken one is my hope! LOL!

[Conor Friedersdorf]

Templar Knight,

I do not think that the destruction of our republic is well underway. Though I disagree on many matters with President Obama, I think that having survived the Civil War, the Great Depression, the Nazis and the Cold War, we'll somehow make it through his tenure.

But if you disagree, perhaps we can make a wager. I am willing to stake $5,000 on the proposition that our republic will survive the Obama Administration. Will you put your money where your mouth is and take the contrary position?

[Jim Treacher]

Check out the balls on Conor! Making a big-boy bet. What's next, tough guy, knocking back a shot of whiskey without choking?

[Conor Friedersdorf]

It doesn't take balls to challenge folks who don't actually believe their own rhetoric. I imagine that no one in this comments section is willing to bet against the republic, despite their rhetoric. And this is what I object to -- spewing maximalist rhetoric that you don't even believe. Words have meaning.

[Jim Treacher]

"It doesn't take balls to challenge folks who don't actually believe their own rhetoric."

It does take brains, however. Maybe if you sleep with a thesaurus under your pillow?

[RAH]

One of the basis of freedom is private property rights. Contract Law provides protection to those rights. Obama destroyed the contactual rights of the Chrysler bondholders to give property to the union which did not have an ownership rights . I find that destructive to our freedom. We may stil have republic but it has changed for the worse.

Yes I know that Bush stated that road with the bailout but he did not destroy little old ladies retirement by saying that the UAW has siperior rights to the assets of Chrysler in bakruptcy.

[thirteen28]

Conor, your defense of the public would be much more convincing if you focused your fire on those who are trying to tear it down than in focusing on ardent defenders thereof like Levin.

It's hard to take you seriously when you spend your time here and elsewhere sniveling about Levin being a big meanie poopiehead instead of spending it elsewhere going after Obama and other liberals that would wipe their ass with the constitution. (Waits for Conor to refer to my last remark as hateful rhetoric).

[Jim Treacher]

That's just silly, RAH. There's absolutely nothing to worry about, and Conor's even willing to stake 5 grand on it. Which, if he's wrong, will be almost enough to buy a Diet Coke.

[thirteen28]

Oops, that last post of mine should have said defense of the REpublic ... but eddidding wuz nevr mi strong poynt.

[thirteen28]

"We may stil have republic but it has changed for the worse."

Just like we have Republicans in Name Only, we will end up with a Republic in Name Only.

After all, the Roman Empire still had a senate.