Wednesday, May 28, 2008
'The fall of conservatism'
Hub Blog missed this pre-Memorial Day essay by George Packer on the fall of conservatism. Disagree with the first sentence's assertion that the conservative political era began in 1966. But that's a minor quibble. The piece is otherwise long and insightful. ... Liked this George Will line: "It would be a sign of maturity if conservatives would stop using the phrase ‘conservative movement.'" ... Hub Blog is no longer a fan of National Review. But I'll have to check it out more often as long as its current editor mutters things like this:
Hub Blog missed this pre-Memorial Day essay by George Packer on the fall of conservatism. Disagree with the first sentence's assertion that the conservative political era began in 1966. But that's a minor quibble. The piece is otherwise long and insightful. ... Liked this George Will line: "It would be a sign of maturity if conservatives would stop using the phrase ‘conservative movement.'" ... Hub Blog is no longer a fan of National Review. But I'll have to check it out more often as long as its current editor mutters things like this:
Most of the right was in lockstep with Donald Rumsfeld. We didn’t want to admit we were losing (in Iraq) and said anyone who said otherwise was a defeatist. One thing I’ve loved about conservatism is its keen sense of reality, and that was totally lost in 2006.Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan rips into his old boss and colleagues who put hack partisanship ahead of principles:
Like many Americans, I am concerned about the poisonous atmosphere in Washington. I wanted to take readers inside the White House and provide them an open and honest look at how things went off course and what can be learned from it. Hopefully in some small way it will contribute to changing Washington for the better and move us beyond the hyper-partisan environment that has permeated Washington over the past 15 years.Extra Packer reading here, via Andrew Sullivan, who admirably posted Packer's biting critique of Sullivan's support for Obama. ...
