Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Colin Powell Another Well-Meaning Disoriented Republican Counselor

I got a reference to an article at Newsmax: Rush Limbaugh Lashes Out at Colin Powell 'Turncoat'

The article relates that Rush made a simple and obvious point to a lot of rank & file conservatives with whom I rarely engage. Though I once did, I have not listened to Rush Limbaugh for many years. Not always, but I often agree with his conclusions. However, I usually find his approach unproductive. It seems largely the same as it was nearly twenty years ago, when his conservative voice was emerging from dark obscurity. Conservatives were enthusiastic: “At last, someone is speaking for us!” Perhaps he mentions it now, but after much Republican electoral victory, Rush seemed still focused on a posture of victimhood. I sure hope that now, since I stopped listening and a Republican dominated government has spent the United States into oblivion, setting the table for the current economic crisis and facilitating Democrats’ blame of conservatism and attendant Democratic victories, that Limbaugh is expressing a lot of criticism of Republican governance. Though I have points of disagreement with them, my talk-radio listening is largely focused on the more reflective and constructive fare of Dennis Prager (on at the same time as Rush) and Michael Medved.

Along the way, Rush also veers into his longstanding and predictable disparagement of John McCain, including an unnecessary remark on McCain’s failure to endorse Palin for 2012. Hey, I’m a conservative who has often disagreed with McCain. But 1) I concluded it was honest disagreement on McCain’s part. And 2) McCain was not only honest, but extraordinarily solid on a few essentials; the sanctity of life and federal spending. And as for Palin, I like her but she hasn’t even approached declaring, and his declining to endorse is unnecessary because it would be plain stupid for McCain to endorse a 2012 candidate this far out. The article relates Rush’s scorn of Powell’s counsel for conservatives to…basically…become less so, and become less identified with talk-radio hosts like Rush. It finally concludes with Rush’s question of what one is to make of Powell’s counsel to disregard conservatives like he and members of his audience who supported a more moderate McCain and the counsel to moderate of someone like Powell who did not support McCain and endorsed Barack Obama. Basically, most of those who welcome Powell’s counsel to Republicans voted for Obama and were never likely to support a Republican.

Powell’s culprits are like those of Kathleen Parker and Davids Brooks and Frum. It should warn us of the difference between intelligence and wisdom. These are bright people who are provincially constrained from embracing a most critical political reality. It’s called “a base.” Without one, a political party is in deep trouble. And without those conservatives that these people spurn, The Republican Party is in for a long hibernation from power.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I first discovered Rush on the radio in 1992, on the AM station in the small town in Missouri where we lived. The station manager was a member of our church and operated a highly successful FM station, but was looking for something to make the AM station profitable. Rush's EIB network was supposed to do the trick. In the Missouri Ozarks, it did increase the ratings but even the added advertising was barely enough to cover the huge fees EIB charged for the station to air the program. I concluded a long time ago that Rush's angle was about money, and not about deep conservative political convictions. I find his occasional contempt for conservative evangelical Christians offensive and I put him in the category of an extremist because of his willingness to give credence to information that is either journalistically unverifiable or turns out later to be false. In that regard, he's probably no worse, or no better, than Glen Beck or Sean Hannity, whom I also consider to be extremists and who, along with Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham, are there to get their slice of the pie that Rush originally baked.

I think these guys, Rush in particular, drown out the sensible conservative voices in the media, and I don't think they help conservative causes or politicians, I think they create a backlash that becomes a hard core of opposition simply because of the fear they generate.

As far as a Palin 2012 candidacy goes, it is far too early to announce. The GOP doesn't generally select the VP from a losing ticket as their nominee, and a McCain endorsement of Palin or anyone else would be the kiss of death. The next GOP candidate will come from a new field, in which some are already floating their name around--Richard Shelby, Bob Corker, etc who both happen to be evangelical Christians (Presbyterian, but conservative enough).

Anonymous said...

Lee:

I agree in some res[ect with most everything you said. That is, there is a measure of truth to it. But, I also think we should be wary of being too hasty, especially in casting about moral judments, even if they affirm our suspicions. That's what left-wing activists do, many quite honestly.

I was never very excited about Geprge W. Bush. I just didn't think he brought a philosophical blueprint and vision to the table. And, he didn't an exceptional facility to communicate one even if he had it, which is by now no secret to most people However, I hate the way he, and Cheney for that matter, have been unjustly demonized. That's hasty, not to mention entirely impetuous and ungracious. I was not enthusiastic about his father, either. But both are dutiful and honorable men.

Liberals however, see what they expect from a Republican and so they say it with confidence: George W. Bush is both stupid and evil. That is not just ordinary, but cruel nonsense.

I wish the right would strive to distinguish themselves in that regard. I am of course like you, a socially conservative evangelical Christian. But as I have now often said, I was a conservative before social conservatism existed. When I was young, no one was talking about redefining marriage or destroying unborn children; certainly not publicly. That's "progress": euthanizing shame. What was once shameful is now a banner of pride.

Anyway, in the late 80's and early 90's, Rush Limbaugh had what turned out to be an unprecedentedly lucrative product. It's no shame to sell the distribution for as high a price as you can get. Retrospectively, it's pretty darned hard to say that Rush has made a mistake in that regard.

Back in the receding days when I paid attention, I don't recall contmpt for evangelical Christians. He was a pro-life Christian of some sort. He was not a theolgian, nor did he suppose himself to be. Heck, at this point I don't even see him as a great evangelist for conservatism. Back then, you sometimes heard people say that they had changed their way of thinking after listening to him. At that point, it was sort of like shooting fish in a barrel. Aside from the fact that conservatism had the pursuasive advantage of being true, there was no one else speaking it on the public airwaves!

I don't listen to Rush today, because he repels more than attracts most dissenters, and he isn't the only voice you can find, thankfully. In fact, Prager and Medved are both Jewish. Would that there were Christian voices in the socio-political mix that were as thoughtful and gracious as they are. "Extremists?: I'm thinking David Duke, abortion clinic bombers, tat Kansan Baptist Church that protests and funerals and things like that: people whose words and actions barely merit discussion.

I feel similar about Coulter to how I do about Rush. She is pretty thoughtful. But "gracious?": not a bit. But, like Rush is at this point, she is preaching to her choir. She always justifies her outrageous and aggressive comments by quoting her book sales. I don't supose we need to go into the range of stuff that has sold a lot of books. Anyway, Ann Coulter is no missionary. Imagine her as a Christian missionary addressing an unChristian group: "OK, people! The first thing you have to do is get rid of those idiotic ideas you have! Trust me: I've sold a lot of books..."

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