Conservative Droogies

What is up with the Conservative Establishment? From trashing Sarah Palin to the relentless drumbeat for a "bigger tent" to the daily admonitions to abandon our principles or risk political suicide, Establishment Republicans seem intent on trashing fellow Republicans, thus abandoning their principles and committing political suicide. Unfortunately, they also seem intent on taking us with them, and sadly, the once-reliable National Review appears to be joining the chorus. From their July 20th issue:

The saga of South Carolina governor Mark Sanford and his Argentinian mistress displayed two of America’s least attractive traits — preening and prurience. We unequivocally denounce hypocritical horndog politicians (are there pictures?). Sanford’s affair involved him in dereliction of his executive duties. He added an Argentinian leg to a South American business trip, which was sleazy, and he was AWOL from his state for almost a week. His aides thought, or pretended to think, that he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. Suppose there had been a hurricane back home, or a terrorist attack? Happily he is term-limited, and there will be no call for him to visit Iowa.

How could a sane conservative read this drivel and not be dismayed? NR managed to cover every talking point - real or imagined - used by the Left to flog Republicans out of polite society and into political irrelevance on matters relating to character. The landscape is littered with such Republican casualties, most recently Sanford, John Ensign, and Sarah Palin, in no small part due to their Republican counterparts choosing to buy into a partisan Democrat narrative.

And talk about rhetorical overkill! NR regurgitated every known Democrat cliché and created a few of their own, including "preening and prurience" "hypocritical horndog politician", "sleazy", "AWOL", and my personal favorite: "dereliction of duty". I particularly enjoyed this passage: "Suppose there had been a hurricane back home, or a terrorist attack?". I guess - per this line of thinking - that Sanford would be invaluable in the event of either, heroically donning his flight suit and choppering flood victims to safety, or strapping on the body armor and mobilizing South Carolina's Special Forces for a terrorist counterattack.

Heaven forbid that the state of South Carolina should be without governance - however temporarily - to prevent such occurrences, but if this is a valid complaint, do you suppose NR could manage to rouse themselves to criticize Democrat politicians who do on a regular basis what Sanford did for a long weekend?

In any event, they could stand to lighten up on the moralizing, and work a little harder to stand athwart The Media Attack Dogs, yelling "stop", or at the very least, make an effort to explain how private conduct does not necessarily reflect on public performance. Democrats and their supporters would do no less, and thus do not experience the self-mutilation which Republicans so regularly indulge.

And if you appreciate irony, check out my blog at:

http://offhismeds.blogspot.com/2009/06/beware-morality-police.html

You'll be surprised how much more of an impact turncoat Kathleen Parker has apparently had on National Review than National Review has had on Kathleen Parker.

Or perhaps she wrote the piece in question.