I can't recall ever having seen a would be serious pundit embarrass themselves more fully than has Jennifer Rubin after she arrived at the Washington Post. Conor Friedersorf may be an exception, but he was never really taken seriously on the Right in the first place.
It appears Rubin actually believes a byline at the Post somehow automatically entitles her to a respect from conservatives she's never earned and has since done everything to undermine. I would imagine even some of her colleagues within the Beltway are sharp enough to see her style of writing as an embarrassment and she'll likely now never have any credibility at all across the broader conservative base. That's what makes it all the more stunning and ridiculous that she would purport to lecture same as to how to proceed, assuming Mitt Romney gains the Republican nomination.
The conservative base has a much worse problem than the rise of the least Tea Party-ish candidate to a commanding position in the Republican presidential primary. If Mitt Romney is the nominee, his fierce nemesis will be accommodated in on(sic) fashion or another; the Romney camp is too professional and focused to hold a grudge. Moreover, while the anti-Romney forces are reluctant to admit it, he’s a more conservative candidate than in 2008 and has already adopted a good deal of their agenda (e.g. ObamaCare repeal, the balanced budget amendment).
Few conservatives believe Romney will repeal Obamacare, a key adviser, Norm Coleman, has said as much. Furthermore, Rubin seems to think that conservative thought and ideals are merely commodities one can pluck up off the political shelf and wear for a particular election, as opposed to the style of thinking and living they represent. In short, Rubin has absolutely no clue what conservatism is, or who conservatives are. Consequently, she can't help but dig herself a bigger hole nearly every time she foolishly attempts to pass herself off as one.
But, I would suggest, the principled rightwing activists have a much bigger problem: Movement conservatives risk becoming the target of mockery, an irrelevant exercise that is more for laughs (at their own expense) than politically significant. Having tied themselves to Newt Gingrich they now can be painted, accurately enough, as cranks.
This primary has never been about Newt Gingrich. Rubin's utter lack of understanding of Republican politics and how conservatives fit into it prevents her from being able to interpret events with any sense of reality, let alone clarity. Certainly she has been misguided and ignorant enough to hurl plenty of insults the way of principled right-wing activists already, though she's hardly qualified to determine, let alone judge, which ones are principled, or serious. The woman functions as an alleged conservative pundit completely without a clue.
Most of us have not "tied" ourselves to Newt Gingrich, we've simply been around enough and know enough real pertinent history to recognize that Gingrich possesses a rare quality Romney just as clearly lacks - that of operating as a reformer. What he's done, or not done, in some last several years to make a living is irrelevant. Because Gingrich understands the movement, having been a part of it, unlike Rubin, he's simply opened a door to say, I am willing to be your standard bearer.
That would allow for Gingrich to let in the Reaganesque ideas and thinking of a number of extremely successful politicians such as Rick Perry, or a Sarah Palin, as well as a host of others, but that doesn't register with Rubin, as she's far too busy pronouncing them clowns, while never having accomplished anything close to what they have in life as both individuals and conservatives. Pettiness just drips from this woman Rubin's work like a pus, making it as unreadable, as it is unsightly.
Frankly, it's too much without worth to bother going through her entire bit of garbage here and I haven't the time, or patience to bother, given her irrelevance, so let's just drop to the ending out of mercy for her, me and readers, if nothing else.
The rightwing base has very serious people and ideas, but currently it isn’t a serious player, even in the GOP. Modern conservatism has been about ideas and temperament, and the right should return to those ideals (humility about government’s role, support for limited, but not wacky government) and habits (discipline, restraint, good cheer) that will restore its reputation.
If the right-wing base isn't a serious player in GOP politics, it will be because it chooses to not be, remaining home in November, as most already expect. And that will be partly because of foolish, would be elitists without any serious record of conservative accomplishment, ignoramuses like Jennifer Rubin that they do, leaving her precious progressive Mitt Romney to die on the vine - as he likely deserves given his many flaws as a politician and lack of authenticity. One would think Rubin would have at least enough sense to pay attention to a Charles Krauthammer, given that she's so incapable of affording so many of her genuinely conservative betters the respect and appreciation they actually deserve.
“This is bad,” conservative columnist and commentator Charles Krauthammer said Wednesday night on Fox News Channel’s “Special Report.” “The real problem here is that he doesn’t have a fluency with conservative ideas. … The moral case for conservative economics is that our policies are going to help everybody, including the poor.”
Unfortunately, I suppose even that's beneath her, perhaps she was simply born knowing all the answers and has never bothered to apply intellect to actually figure something out for herself. From the conservative perspective, Rubin's efforts since joining the post have been as vapid, as they have been vile, leaving her without any credibilty whatsoever and conservatives without the least bit of patience to endure her impertinent tripe.
What Jennifer Rubin is is a complete failure as both a columnist and a conservative and while the liberal elite of the Post may not realize it, or care, as she's such a convenient useful idiot given their own worldview, everyone else is in on the joke. The joke is Jennifer Rubin; it's a sad one for conservatives. But fortunately, it's irrelevance to the actual movement allows us to go forward and simply ignore it, save for when we want a bit of comic relief and feel like poking the silly know-nothing with a stick.
