Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Why culture matters

Jay Nordlinger belatedly sees the light:
It seems to me that the Left has won: utterly and decisively. What I mean is, the Saturday Night Live, Jon Stewart, Bill Maher mentality has prevailed. They decide what a person’s image is, and those images stick. They are the ones who say that Cheney’s a monster, W.’s stupid, and Palin’s a bimbo. And the country, apparently, follows.
I have a friend who teaches at a prominent university, and she says that, when Palin’s name is mentioned, the people laugh. In the course of the 2008 presidential campaign, an extraordinarily accomplished woman — more accomplished than most of the rest of us will ever be — was turned into a laughingstock.
The late Paul Weyrich saw it 10 years ago. And really, when you think about it, wasn't this what Bill Buckley first sounded the alarm about in God and Man at Yale? Peter Kirsanow reflects:
Many Republican politicians seem to begin the day apologizing for being Republicans. And they appear to have a perverse, desperate desire to befriend and seek favor from those who regularly malign conservatives.
Oh, you mean like George F. Will and his friends?

8 comments:

  1. It's because we on the Right are too scared of political correctness; we're too scared at dumbsh*t Obama, the man who won't release his college records.

    We need to employ ridicule and score for Hussein Obama, and stop with all the PC nonsense.

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  2. Both Jay and Peter have good points, but perceptions are not set in stone and can be overcome. Reagan was constantly portrayed as an amiable dunce by the media, and despite not having the internet or talk radio to tell his side of the story, yet he was more than successful in overcoming that perception. In 1980, the hopeless incompetence of Jimmy Carter helped open voters minds to Reagan, and his kick-ass first term helped him win a gigantic landslide for a second term. Yet the media and their liberal parrots never changed their narrative regarding Reagan - who left office with an approval rating hovering around 70%.

    If Obama is a f*ck-up of Carter-esque proportions (which is very possible), a lot of conservatives are going to look good as an alternative come 2012. Obama looks good right now because he's a blank slate and a lot of people have drank the hopey-changey kool-aid. But now he's going to be judged by results, not just soaring campaign rhetoric that makes Keith Olberman's heart flutter. And unless he delivers, his perception will suffer and perceptions of those who could provide an alternative to him will almost certainly benefit - just as Reagan in 1980 benefited from Carter's ineptitude.

    Oh, and as far as Dick Cheney goes - I'll bet time and Joe Biden will do wonders for his perception once he leaves office.

    Waits for the inevitable Pavlovian response from dorks like Young4eyes and anonymous.

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  3. Oh, and one other thing:

    "Many Republican politicians seem to begin the day apologizing for being Republicans. And they appear to have a perverse, desperate desire to befriend and seek favor from those who regularly malign conservatives."

    Peter is dead on with that comment. Basically, it comes down to a lack of balls on their part. Thank God for Rush, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin and others who don't feel a need to apologize for being conservative.

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  4. Don't forget Jack Bauer. He took it right to them in the Senate hearing.. ;)

    I'm not saying, I'm just sayin'...

    The revolution is at hand. Will you be a leader or a follower?

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  5. Nordlinger is a twit. I had never heard Palin called a bimbo. It apparently started with Bill Maher, who is almost as witless as Jay Nordlinger.
    Movement cons need to stop being so whiny. Their problem is the way that Republican rule has been a disaster, not the mockery of SNL.
    It might help if attempts at rightwing comedy and satire--An American Carol, The Half Hour News Hour, "Newsbusted"--weren't such moronic crap.

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  6. Yet another installment in the "Blame the Media for My Shortcomings" saga that is the Conservative movement. Of course, to me this is all welcome and entertaining because it keeps Conservatives off balance.I can count on this derangement not going away seeing as it has become a beloved tradition, and what are Conservatives if not guardians of asinine traditions?
    As to the "commentary" by 1328 and eric...further proof that Conservatism suffers from a proverbial and literal brain-drain. Indeed, let's thank Limbaugh and Coulter and Malkin for keeping the wool over the eyes of idiot right-wingers.
    But hey, you guys believe history will vindicate Bush and Cheney, don't ya? Well, it warms my heart to see that after the demoralizing loss Conservatives still have the capacity to dream and engage in wishful thinking.
    And thirteen, I wouldn't worry too much about apologizing for being a Conservative; I wouldn't expect the mentally challenged to apologize for their condition either....

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  7. Oh Yeah, that reminds me...
    Memo to Cons: JACK BAUER IS A FICTIONAL TV CHARACTER ( like Ronald Reagan was)....
    I can see that it's going to take alot of you guys
    a long time to wake up from the last 8 years of Bush/Cheney.
    It's worse than I thought....
    And Kudos to Clark for telling it like it is!

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  8. "And thirteen, I wouldn't worry too much about apologizing for being a Conservative; I wouldn't expect the mentally challenged to apologize for their condition either...."

    BWAAAH HAAAH HAAAH HAAAHH HHHHAAAAHH .... oh man, that's some FUNNY SHIT, Young 4-eyes!!! Did you think that up yourself?

    Damn, why are you wasting your time posting on this blog when you should be getting ready to do some standup act on HBO ... seriously, man, you are one FUNNY MUTHA-F*CKA ...

    (clutching stomach, sore with laughter from Young 4-Eyes Grammy winning standup act)

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