It would be restful if, along with Joe the Plumber, John McCain's running mate just went off into a disposable-celebrity waste basket along with the other used Kleenex of the campaign, but Sarah Palin and the idea of her are still with us, as Andrew Sullivan so cogently points out today:
"That the Palin absurdity should follow the two-term presidency of another individual utterly out of his depth in national government is particularly troubling; 46 percent of Americans voted for the possibility of this blank slate as president because she somehow echoed their own sense of religious or cultural 'identity'. Until we figure out how this happened, we will not be able to prevent it from happening again."
Promoting an over-aged cheerleader with no political substance whatsoever for 2012, as William Kristol and others are doing, is a sign that the diaper division of the Republican Party has no interest in going back to its Goldwater-William F. Buckley roots and offering principled opposition to the new Democratic majority.
Palin's ascension is highlighted by the decline and fall of Ron Paul who, in his own idiosyncratic way, identified some of the issues that his party should be considering and debating. As Paul now writes:
"In the rise and fall of the recent Republican reign of power these past decades, the goal of the party had grown to be only that of gaining and maintaining power--with total sacrifice of the original Republican belief in shrinking the size of government."
Instead, the GOP focus is on Palin's "star quality" and her media blitz this week to make GOP true believers forget how her vast emptiness and arrogance helped bring down John McCain's campaign.
Showing posts with label Barry Goldwater. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barry Goldwater. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Friday, May 09, 2008
Hillary Clinton's Nixon Moment
Who will tell her it's time to go? Certainly not her husband, whose dynastic hopes will die hardest. Nor the limp leaders of Congressional Democrats, although Nancy Pelosi and Dianne Feinstein have been clearing their throats. Al Gore is too busy saving the planet and Howard Dean is just trying to hang onto his job as party chairman.
As Barack Obama now takes the lead in the slow dribble of superdelegates into his pledge pool, there is no one to do for Hillary Clinton what Republican leaders did for Richard Nixon in August 1974, when the Senate Minority Leader, House Minority Leader and Barry Goldwater, the former presidential candidate, went to the White House and told him that hanging on was hopeless. Nixon stepped down the next day.
But the Clintons are not good listeners and, as their desperation grows, she is openly relying on race, telling USA Today that "Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again...There's a pattern emerging here."
One of her non-fans, Peggy Noonan, writes in today's Wall Street Journal: "The question 'Who will tell her, who can make her go?' is really the question 'Who will save the Democratic Party in 2008?' It cannot be doubted at this point that real damage is being done to its standard-bearer and to all those who will be on the ticket with him."
But with friends like its weak-kneed nabobs, the Democratic Party doesn't need enemies. When will its leaders do for Hillary Clinton what Republicans did for Richard Nixon before he took his own party down in flames?
As Barack Obama now takes the lead in the slow dribble of superdelegates into his pledge pool, there is no one to do for Hillary Clinton what Republican leaders did for Richard Nixon in August 1974, when the Senate Minority Leader, House Minority Leader and Barry Goldwater, the former presidential candidate, went to the White House and told him that hanging on was hopeless. Nixon stepped down the next day.
But the Clintons are not good listeners and, as their desperation grows, she is openly relying on race, telling USA Today that "Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again...There's a pattern emerging here."
One of her non-fans, Peggy Noonan, writes in today's Wall Street Journal: "The question 'Who will tell her, who can make her go?' is really the question 'Who will save the Democratic Party in 2008?' It cannot be doubted at this point that real damage is being done to its standard-bearer and to all those who will be on the ticket with him."
But with friends like its weak-kneed nabobs, the Democratic Party doesn't need enemies. When will its leaders do for Hillary Clinton what Republicans did for Richard Nixon before he took his own party down in flames?
Friday, February 08, 2008
Raising Arizona, McCain and Goldwater
After Super Tuesday, John McCain told local supporters they were "a little bit closer to the day when mothers in Arizona might be able to tell their children that someday they could grow up to be president of the United States."
That wry comment has a history with relevance to McCain's situation today. Since Arizona became a state in 1912, the only other resident to win nomination for President was Barry Goldwater in 1964, who lost to Lyndon Johnson by a crushing margin.
His defeat marked both the mistrust of "extremism" at that time and the emergence of a conservative movement that culminated in Ronald Reagan's election in 1980 and is now in crisis after George W. Bush's two terms to start the new century.
As McCain moves toward becoming the second Arizonan to make a run for the White House, his candidacy reflects that history and raises questions about another turning point in Republican history.
Goldwater aroused the fears of his party that he was too conservative. McCain is facing doubts over whether he is conservative enough.
Their Arizona temperaments are part of the equation--plain-spoken, proud and independent. Goldwater was just as mistrusted by the Eastern Republican Establishment of his time as McCain now is by the Evangelical Base today.
Will his fate be different?
That wry comment has a history with relevance to McCain's situation today. Since Arizona became a state in 1912, the only other resident to win nomination for President was Barry Goldwater in 1964, who lost to Lyndon Johnson by a crushing margin.
His defeat marked both the mistrust of "extremism" at that time and the emergence of a conservative movement that culminated in Ronald Reagan's election in 1980 and is now in crisis after George W. Bush's two terms to start the new century.
As McCain moves toward becoming the second Arizonan to make a run for the White House, his candidacy reflects that history and raises questions about another turning point in Republican history.
Goldwater aroused the fears of his party that he was too conservative. McCain is facing doubts over whether he is conservative enough.
Their Arizona temperaments are part of the equation--plain-spoken, proud and independent. Goldwater was just as mistrusted by the Eastern Republican Establishment of his time as McCain now is by the Evangelical Base today.
Will his fate be different?
Saturday, February 02, 2008
An Eisenhower Endorsement and a Memory
Barack Obama's Kennedy coup is followed today by an endorsement from an Eisenhower, a lifelong Republican who believes the Illinois Senator "can encourage ordinary Americans to stand straight again...salve our national wounds and...assure the world and Americans that this great nation's impulses are still free, open, fair and broad-minded."
Barbara Eisenhower likens Obama to her grandfather who was elected with "the indispensable help of a 'Democrats for Eisenhower' movement. These crossover voters were attracted by his pledge to bring change to Washington and by the prospect that he would unify the nation."
Her decision recalls a night in 1964 when Ike was wrestling with his conscience about an endorsement that might have changed the Republican Party and American history.
Sitting on his darkened porch in Gettysburg with half a dozen visiting editors, Eisenhower talked about a barrage of advice from friends to save his party from nominating Barry Goldwater by a backing a liberal Republican, Gov. William Scranton.
Clearly opposed to Goldwater's brand of conservatism, the former President spoke bitterly about the Arizona Senator but could not bring himself to go public with his concerns and back Scranton.
Barbara Eisenhower's younger sister, Mary Jean, then eight, was sitting in a corner, wide-eyed, taking it all in. Now, her generation of Eisenhowers is having its say.
In her Washington Post OpEd, Barbara Eisenhower quotes from Ike's farewell address: "We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow."
She might have added something else he said then: "People want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of the way and let them have it.”
Barbara Eisenhower likens Obama to her grandfather who was elected with "the indispensable help of a 'Democrats for Eisenhower' movement. These crossover voters were attracted by his pledge to bring change to Washington and by the prospect that he would unify the nation."
Her decision recalls a night in 1964 when Ike was wrestling with his conscience about an endorsement that might have changed the Republican Party and American history.
Sitting on his darkened porch in Gettysburg with half a dozen visiting editors, Eisenhower talked about a barrage of advice from friends to save his party from nominating Barry Goldwater by a backing a liberal Republican, Gov. William Scranton.
Clearly opposed to Goldwater's brand of conservatism, the former President spoke bitterly about the Arizona Senator but could not bring himself to go public with his concerns and back Scranton.
Barbara Eisenhower's younger sister, Mary Jean, then eight, was sitting in a corner, wide-eyed, taking it all in. Now, her generation of Eisenhowers is having its say.
In her Washington Post OpEd, Barbara Eisenhower quotes from Ike's farewell address: "We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow."
She might have added something else he said then: "People want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of the way and let them have it.”
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
"Ike Liked Civil Rights"
Popular history puts labels on presidents, but life is usually more complicated.
Fifty years ago, Congress took its first small steps since the abolition of slavery to free African-Americans from segregated lives in the South by giving the Federal government powers to enforce voting rights and move against segregated schools.
American mythology credits Lyndon Johnson, then majority leader of the Senate, for passing the first civil rights law in 82 years over the opposition of southern Democrats and northern Republicans.
But last week in a New York Times OpEd titled “Ike Liked Civil Rights,” David A. Nichols showed that it was Dwight Eisenhower, regarded as a play-it-safe president, who fought for and pushed through the bill. LBJ did not take the lead until he was in the White House seven years later.
In today’s Times, I add a footnote to give Eisenhower his due:
“In 1964, during the struggle to pass Lyndon B. Johnson’s civil rights bill, Eisenhower told me about a visit from Barry Goldwater, who would be the Republican candidate for president that year.
“’He came to tell me,’ Ike said, ‘he was going to vote against the civil rights bill as a matter of conscience. I said I wouldn’t ask any man to go against his conscience, but that if I were a senator I’d vote for it. Even an imperfect bill would help balance 80 years of oppression. But what I couldn’t understand was his attempt to keep the bill from coming to a vote. If I were to comment, I’d crucify him for that.’
“As a former president who did not want to roil his party, Eisenhower never spoke out, but his passion for racial justice was clear.”
Presidents were less predictable back then.
Fifty years ago, Congress took its first small steps since the abolition of slavery to free African-Americans from segregated lives in the South by giving the Federal government powers to enforce voting rights and move against segregated schools.
American mythology credits Lyndon Johnson, then majority leader of the Senate, for passing the first civil rights law in 82 years over the opposition of southern Democrats and northern Republicans.
But last week in a New York Times OpEd titled “Ike Liked Civil Rights,” David A. Nichols showed that it was Dwight Eisenhower, regarded as a play-it-safe president, who fought for and pushed through the bill. LBJ did not take the lead until he was in the White House seven years later.
In today’s Times, I add a footnote to give Eisenhower his due:
“In 1964, during the struggle to pass Lyndon B. Johnson’s civil rights bill, Eisenhower told me about a visit from Barry Goldwater, who would be the Republican candidate for president that year.
“’He came to tell me,’ Ike said, ‘he was going to vote against the civil rights bill as a matter of conscience. I said I wouldn’t ask any man to go against his conscience, but that if I were a senator I’d vote for it. Even an imperfect bill would help balance 80 years of oppression. But what I couldn’t understand was his attempt to keep the bill from coming to a vote. If I were to comment, I’d crucify him for that.’
“As a former president who did not want to roil his party, Eisenhower never spoke out, but his passion for racial justice was clear.”
Presidents were less predictable back then.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Mitt Romney, Meet Barry Goldwater
The Mr. Clean of Republican hopefuls gave his supporters a sample today of the moral probity he would bring to the White House.
Asked about the arrest of Sen. Larry Craig,” Mitt Romney told an interviewer, “Very disappointing. He's no longer associated with my campaign, as you can imagine...he was one of those who was helping my effort, and I'm sorry to see that he has fallen short.”
After unloading Craig, Romney went on to link him to Bill Clinton and “the fact that he let us down in his personal conduct with a White House intern” and sum up his feelings about their disappointing behavior, “Frankly, it's disgusting.”
In 1964, three weeks before the election, Lyndon Johnson’s closest aide Walter Jenkins was arrested in the men’s room of a YMCA near the White House for doing what Craig is now alleged to have attempted.
Barry Goldwater, the Republican candidate for President, refused to comment. In his autobiography, Goldwater late wrote, "It was a sad time for Jenkins' wife and children, and I was not about to add to their private sorrow. Winning isn't everything. Some things, like loyalty to friends or lasting principle, are more important."
But that was before the term “compassionate conservative” had been invented.
Asked about the arrest of Sen. Larry Craig,” Mitt Romney told an interviewer, “Very disappointing. He's no longer associated with my campaign, as you can imagine...he was one of those who was helping my effort, and I'm sorry to see that he has fallen short.”
After unloading Craig, Romney went on to link him to Bill Clinton and “the fact that he let us down in his personal conduct with a White House intern” and sum up his feelings about their disappointing behavior, “Frankly, it's disgusting.”
In 1964, three weeks before the election, Lyndon Johnson’s closest aide Walter Jenkins was arrested in the men’s room of a YMCA near the White House for doing what Craig is now alleged to have attempted.
Barry Goldwater, the Republican candidate for President, refused to comment. In his autobiography, Goldwater late wrote, "It was a sad time for Jenkins' wife and children, and I was not about to add to their private sorrow. Winning isn't everything. Some things, like loyalty to friends or lasting principle, are more important."
But that was before the term “compassionate conservative” had been invented.
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