With friends like these... [Mark Steyn]
THE CORNER
Oh, dear. Even reaching across the many aisles that cleave what's left of our side is now unwelcome:
>>>>>>I wish Mark Steyn would stop telling us how much he likes Peggy Noonan and Kathleen Parker, and all the rest of the aristos at NRO who've spent the last 8 years with their knee on the throat of conservatism. He's starting to sound like John McCain, intoning "My friends..." as another grinning leftist shoves a boot up his...<<<<<<<<<<
In fairness, I only say how much I like Peggy and Kathleen because every time Christopher Buckley writes one of his Obama-is-just-the-chap-for-us-small-government-conservatives pieces he feels obliged to mention how hot he finds Kathleen. And I didn't want my disagreement with him over the "conservatism" of the new President to imply I find his views on Kathleen equally risible.
For what it's worth, I don't find David Frum in the least bit hot. Although, if I did, he'd be way hotter than Ken Adelman.
By the way, I don't disagree with this blogger's general view of the somewhat narrow conservative debate over at Slate. As I said on the post-2006 NR cruise, it requires a perverse genius on Bush's part to get damned as a lunatic right-wing cowboy when 90% of the time he's Tony Blair with a ranch. As we've seen these last few months, John McCain was so accustomed to running against his party the old dog was incapable of learning the entirely novel trick of running for it. What about the other star names in this year's primary season: Rudy Giuliani? Well, there's a pro-life gun-nut. Mitt Romney? Technocrat governor of a deep blue state. Mike Huckabee? Compassionate conservatism on steroids.
In other words, I don't think the problem these last few years has been "right-wing extremism".
Hey Joe, Where You Goin with that Chairmanship in Your Hand? [Mark Hemingway]
Just got off the phone with a Lieberman aide, trying to get to the bottom of what's going to happen with Joe Lieberman now that the election is over. There's been a lot of speculation he'll be stripped of his committee assigments.
According to the aide, Lieberman's met with Harry Reid and discussions were very friendly. Reid wanted him to step down from his post as chairman of Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs in exchange for heading a lesser committee. Lieberman reminded Reid of how loyal he's been to the Democrats in myriad of ways despite the obvious disagreements, and indicated that would be unnacceptable. Reid made it clear he would prefer that Lieberman would remain in the Democratic caucus, and Lieberman agreed. Talks are ongoing.
The aide made it clear that the Daily News report that Lieberman "begged" to keep his committee chairmanship is simply not true.
Further, the aide also said that Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has also reached out to Lieberman. Though Lieberman would like to remain in the Democratic caucus, he's keeping his options open and nothing has been decided about his fate in the senate yet.
The Coming Steamroller: Fight [Peter Kirsanow]
Republicans in the House and Senate who may be inclined, early on in the Obama administration, to sign onto some liberal policies in the interest of "bipartisanship" should pay close attention to the following from the Diana West column highlighted by Andy McCarthy:
>>>> As [Obama] now heads to the White House, it's crucial that he finally be regarded as a politician, not a messiah, and as a man, not a moral judgment. Otherwise, the cultural juggernaut he seems likely to unleash will be unstoppable.now — to resist the liberal policies that will be proposed after January 20, they will get steamrolled. Waiting until January to get up to speed will be too late.
If Republicans haven't figured out from the election campaign that the powerful combination of Obama as a cultural phenomenon, a worshipful media, and a populace anxious about the economy will give liberals an almost unparalleled opportunity to enact an unalloyed liberal agenda, Republicans will be beaten before they even lace-up their boots.
As I've stated before, this doesn't mean Republicans should oppose merely for the sake of opposition. But they must be alert and prepared, they must be marshalling their arguments right now against the harmful policies that Democrats have made abundantly clear they plan to enact.
And we conservatives need to make sure Republicans don't go wobbly.
The Polls [Rich Lowry]
By the way, the much-maligned polls—at least the average—turned out to be right. Obama won by 7 points and the last RCP average was roughly 7 points.
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