dt_3pin
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Posts posted by dt_3pin
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Wick Allison, a former board member and pubisher of the National Review, just endorsed Senator Obama for President. I'm interested in reactions from 5K, FW, PP, and the other board conservatives:
A Conservative for Obama
My party has slipped its moorings. It’s time for a true pragmatist to lead the country.
Leading Off By Wick Allison, Editor In Chief
THE MORE I LISTEN TO AND READ ABOUT “the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate,” the more I like him. Barack Obama strikes a chord with me like no political figure since Ronald Reagan. To explain why, I need to explain why I am a conservative and what it means to me.
In 1964, at the age of 16, I organized the Dallas County Youth for Goldwater. My senior thesis at the University of Texas was on the conservative intellectual revival in America. Twenty years later, I was invited by William F. Buckley Jr. to join the board of National Review. I later became its publisher.
Conservatism to me is less a political philosophy than a stance, a recognition of the fallibility of man and of man’s institutions. Conservatives respect the past not for its antiquity but because it represents, as G.K. Chesterton said, the democracy of the dead; it gives the benefit of the doubt to customs and laws tried and tested in the crucible of time. Conservatives are skeptical of abstract theories and utopian schemes, doubtful that government is wiser than its citizens, and always ready to test any political program against actual results.
Liberalism always seemed to me to be a system of “oughts.” We ought to do this or that because it’s the right thing to do, regardless of whether it works or not. It is a doctrine based on intentions, not results, on feeling good rather than doing good.
But today it is so-called conservatives who are cemented to political programs when they clearly don’t work. The Bush tax cuts—a solution for which there was no real problem and which he refused to end even when the nation went to war—led to huge deficit spending and a $3 trillion growth in the federal debt. Facing this, John McCain pumps his “conservative” credentials by proposing even bigger tax cuts. Meanwhile, a movement that once fought for limited government has presided over the greatest growth of government in our history. That is not conservatism; it is profligacy using conservatism as a mask.
Today it is conservatives, not liberals, who talk with alarming bellicosity about making the world “safe for democracy.” It is John McCain who says America’s job is to “defeat evil,” a theological expansion of the nation’s mission that would make George Washington cough out his wooden teeth.
This kind of conservatism, which is not conservative at all, has produced financial mismanagement, the waste of human lives, the loss of moral authority, and the wreckage of our economy that McCain now threatens to make worse.
Barack Obama is not my ideal candidate for president. (In fact, I made the maximum donation to John McCain during the primaries, when there was still hope he might come to his senses.) But I now see that Obama is almost the ideal candidate for this moment in American history. I disagree with him on many issues. But those don’t matter as much as what Obama offers, which is a deeply conservative view of the world. Nobody can read Obama’s books (which, it is worth noting, he wrote himself) or listen to him speak without realizing that this is a thoughtful, pragmatic, and prudent man. It gives me comfort just to think that after eight years of George W. Bush we will have a president who has actually read the Federalist Papers.
Most important, Obama will be a realist. I doubt he will taunt Russia, as McCain has, at the very moment when our national interest requires it as an ally. The crucial distinction in my mind is that, unlike John McCain, I am convinced he will not impulsively take us into another war unless American national interests are directly threatened.
“Every great cause,” Eric Hoffer wrote, “begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.” As a cause, conservatism may be dead. But as a stance, as a way of making judgments in a complex and difficult world, I believe it is very much alive in the instincts and predispositions of a liberal named Barack Obama.
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Its like gun porn. The republicans must love this picture.
For christ sakes, this thread is about hot chicks with guns - a subject matter that transcends our silly partisan politics.
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So go ahead and assume that all women can't drive, all black men want to rob you, all hispanics will stab you, all asians are hard working and good at math, and that all financial isntitutions are the same and are gonna tank. Stereotyping sure helps us avoid all that critical thinking and understanding of facts.
How much money do you have deposited in WAMU accounts? While the risk of WAMU failing may be insigificant, avoiding such risk is pretty simple. The transition had no direct economic downside for me, but a significant potential upside.
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We are lucky to have such a decisive and inspirational leader in these tumultuous times.
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In light of staggering deficits, rising unemployment, and of the collapse of Lehman, Merril Lynch, Bear Sterns, Freddie and Fannie, etc., McCain (as of this morning) still thinks the fundamentals of the U.S. economy are sound.
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Also, I think most porn stars know what the Bush Doctrine is.
Anticipatory ejaculation, right?
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Her accent is freakin' terrible, I can't listen to that for more than about 20 seconds
TF3z-j8o39I
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The potentially next VP of the United States has absolutely no idea what the Bush Doctrine is. Was she really this bad, or is it just my hopeful imagination?
Z75QSExE0jU
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Harsh man. I don't think porn sluts deserve that type of comparison.
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Palin is warming the bench; not leading it. Ahem Cough Cough
Is that why Senator McCain and Governor Palin will exclusively campaign together, with few if any independent appearances? Or is it because it would be pretty embarassing if Governor Palin drew larger crowds on her own than Senator McCain was able to draw? She's the rock star on that ticket. She's the reason folks are going to Senator McCain's campaign events, not because of his riviting boring speeches and wining creepy smile. She's further proof of Senator McCain's efforts to elevate personal naratives and devisive cultural issues over substantive policy.
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8 years ago, I did have a lot of respect for McCain.
Yup yup, until the 2004 convention.
Not a Maverick:
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That 9/11 [shameless exploitation] tribute video [/shameless exploitation] last night was a real class act. Republicans should be embarrassed, angry, and ashamed.
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Wait a minute, Obama/Biden are the elitists?
The fashion experts at Vanity Fair estimated the value of Cindy McCain's outfit on Tuesday night to be in the range of $300,000. That's a lot of bling. So, what does $300,000 buy in America?
- An average American home ---- plus $80,000 in upgrades.
- Full, four year college tuition, plus room and board, for two students
- Nearly four times the average retirement savings for persons age 45 to 62.
- Roughly ten full-time community organizers working to make neighborhoods and America better.
- Ten full-time special needs caregivers for a year
- Twelve full-time maids for each of your seven homes.
- 6,000 hours of picking lettuce at $50 per hour
- 600 pairs of John McCain's $500 Italian loafers
And last, but not least.......
- One outfit for Cindy McCain to wear on national TV while she explains to America that John McCain and the Republicans understand their economic and social woes. Pffft.
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“As the mother of one of those troops, that is exactly the kind of man I want as commander-in-chief,”
Violating OPSEC by announcing deployment dates? Why does she want to put the troops, indeed her own son, at risk like that? Just to score political points?
Right. He sure is deep in SPEC-OPS. Hell, we knew when Prince Harry was in Iraq. Media even leaked where.
Media leaking and mom announcing are two very different things, for what it's worth. I'm just surprised that she'd do that, given her front line military experience fending off the Red Army.
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“As the mother of one of those troops, that is exactly the kind of man I want as commander-in-chief,”
Violating OPSEC by announcing deployment dates? Why does she want to put the troops, indeed her own son, at risk like that? Just to score political points?
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By the way, where is her american flag lapel pin? The GOP should be ashamed of her lack of patriotism.
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[wrinkle nose] John McCain is a Maverick and POW [/wrinkle nose]
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And my fellow Americans, as a testament to the effectiveness of abstinence only sex education, I'd like to welcome my pregnant 17-year old daughter and the hockey asshole who's been barebacking her.
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Rick Davis, McCain camgaign manager: "This election is not about issues. This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."
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Video
God's will on Earth is to build pipelines: Min 1:46
The Iraq War is a mission from God: Min 3:22
Can we afford another 4 years of this? Am I a sexist for asking this question?
SEXIST!!!
Former Nat'l Review Publisher Endorses Obama
in Spray
Posted · Edited by dt_3pin
It's brutally ironic that Lady Rothchild is accusing the DNC of being plauged by elitism.
Underworld, any thoughts on Mr. Allison's criticism of the GOP's movement away from some pretty bedrock conservative principles?