“Let me tell you something, if Democrats take the White House and pass a big-government healthcare plan, that’s it. Game over. Government will dominate the economy like it does in Europe. Conservatives will spend the rest of their lives trying to turn things around and they will fail.”
- GOP strategist talking about Tom Daschle’s plan [...]

P. J. O’Rourke takes a rhetorical tire iron to the conservative movement of which he’s been on the libertarian side of since the 1970s. If you know O’Rourke, you know he has about as much love for modern liberals as dogs have for cats. Seems he now finds modern conservatives just as hideous.
You don’t have [...]

That’s the claim from Republican congressman Mike Pence.
From Raw Story…

When asked by Chris Wallace what “conservative solutions” the GOP would bring to their current minority-party status, Pence said social issues like “the sanctity of marriage” will remain the backbone of the Republican platform.
“You build those conservative solutions, Chris, on the same time-honored principles of limited [...]

With him we get a president with the political intelligence of a Bill Clinton harnessed to the steely self-discipline of a Vladimir Putin. (I say this admiringly.) With these qualities, Obama will now bestride the political stage as largely as did Reagan.
- Charles Krauthammer in his column today about the President Elect.
It’s genuinely encouraging to [...]

Some frank talk about the future of the party from the man who some say ran McCain’s campaign into the ground.
From The Daily Beast:
Looking forward, Schmidt sees the need for a wholesale reinvention of the party: “The party in the Northeast is all but extinct; the party on the West Coast is all but extinct…there [...]

Here’s what hardcore partisans on both sides often fail to understand: winning an election doesn’t mean most of the country agrees with their ideology. In fact, both the hardcore right and the hardcore left are minority positions whose influence is inflated not by numbers but by passion. They might be the “bases” of our two [...]

He was at the National Review for over 40 years and was a speechwriter for Nixon and Reagan.
Now he’s backing Barack.
From The Daily Beast…
Republican President George W. Bush has not been a conservative at all, either in domestic policy or in foreign policy. He invaded Iraq on the basis of abstract theory, the very thing [...]

We’re three days from the election, but there is already a lot of talk from Republicans about how they can reform their party. Here’s the Wall Street Journal on the matter:
The worst GOP instinct would be to mimic Britain’s Tories after their 1997 shellacking by Tony Blair, becoming a “no” party that spends so much [...]

Even if John McCain pulls out a win, Republicans will almost certainly be crippled in Congress. But Soren Dayton cautions his fellow Republicans not to deflect the blame:
Maybe the problem is us. The lesson of this election for Republicans cannot be about John McCain, although he has his faults. It has to be about the [...]

The Christian Science Monitor has an interesting article looking at the effect of Colin Powell’s endorsement versus Joe the Plumber’s symbolic resonance. Do people care more about the decision of a statesman or about the concerns of an aspiring small businessman?
The CSM article gives both sides of the story. But, as far as I’m concerned, [...]

Will he be “at war” with his base or “at war” with the nation?
If he wants to be a two termer, he’ll be at war with his base.
What do you think?

Ben Smith recently got an email from Republican consultant who was focus grouping an attack spot on Obama with mod Repubs and Indys.
Obviously I’m for Obama, but the following ignorance makes me incredibly queasy…
54 year-old white male, voted Kerry ‘04, Bush ‘00, Dole ‘96, hunter, NASCAR fan…hard for Obama said: “I’m gonna hate him the [...]

With the $700 billion market bailout inflating the power of government and a big-spending, big-regulating lDemocrat or a big-spending, big-regulating Republican poised to take the White House, a lot of experts and politicians are giving last rites to small government.
Just today, I’m reading the era of small government is over. And Reagan capitalism is [...]

He resigned from the National Review today after readers literally revolted.
Now he goes on Hardball to tell us more…

I think the thing that Buckley doesn’t get is how much NR has changed. But I’ve only been following them for five years now, so maybe I’m missing something. In fact, the way some folks talk [...]

Need a woman’s point-of-view this election season? How about two? CitizenSugar provides readers with an entertaining look at breaking news, politics, and the most hotly debated issues.
Featuring summaries of the day’s headlines, profiles of newsmakers and the people behind their success, discussions of the issues that matter most to women, and a regular look [...]

Nothing turns me off like partisan anger. I know a lot of people like to get wrapped up in the false fury propagated by certain partisans, but I try to keep my irrational outbursts focused primarily on my beloved Dallas Cowboys. I don’t really understand those who feel the need to bring the gladiatorial spirit [...]

… when rightwing blogs have to start defending Obama over scurrilous rumors.
The once well-oiled rightwing machine has collapsed into the kind of rumor-mongering and dissociated, random attacks that marked the lefties back in their darker days.
Looks like the vast rightwing conspiracy has fallen on hard times.

First Christopher Buckley and now Wick Allison.
From D Magazine:
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 [...]

Would the late William F. Buckley approve of his son throwing his support behind the most liberal Senator EVER!!!?
Something tells me the answer to that would be: possibly.
Why? Because I think this has less to do with Obama and more to do with how far McCain has fallen.
From The Daily Beast:
I have known John McCain [...]

“Those who press this Ayers line of attack are whipping Republicans and conservatives into a fury that is going to be very hard to calm after November. Is it really wise to send conservatives into opposition in a mood of disdain and fury for the next president, incidentally the first African-American president? Anger is a [...]