When Whiners Attack
November 1st, 2009Excellent column from Frank Rich today:
NYTimes: The G.O.P. Stalinists Invade Upstate New York
Of note:
These conservatives’ whiny cries of victimization also parrot a tic they once condemned in liberals. After Rush Limbaugh was booted from an ownership group bidding on the St. Louis Rams, he moaned about being done in by the “race card.” What actually did him in, of course, was the free-market American capitalism he claims to champion. Limbaugh didn’t understand that in an increasingly diverse nation, profit-seeking N.F.L. franchises actually want to court black ticket buyers, not drive them away.
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It’s amazing how someone who’s core philosophy is personal responsibility can make himself the victim in pretty much any situation. Does that qualify as irony?
Frank’s real concern is the potential efficacy of a principled Republicanism. The GOP lost power because of corporatism and K Street careerism; demonstration of a viable alternative could inspire activists to remake the party. That would voice a clear critique to the redistributionist daydreams of the Left, and offer a rallying point to the sizeable chunk of Americans who think Obama has badly misread the message of his election.
The Democrats have made progress in a vacuum of GOP incompetence, political and policy. Frank is rightly worried about what happens when conservatives find a real electoral outlet for their opinions. So he’s trying to shape the next election by pre-emptively slandering those views, and those people.
He’s a hack, a partisan hack, and a clumsy one at that.
While it may be the case that Mr. Rich is concerned about the “potential efficacy”, I believe what he’s saying is that the GOP has taken a turn not just to being more conservative, but doing so in a way that virtually insures the party outsider status.
I’m not so sure that Mr. Rich is as hacky as you say. He’s got a very valid point: the GOP is playing hardball in a way that doesn’t inspire people to give them attention in positive ways. This is a natural outgrowth of no fresh ideas.