Politics

The Horror

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

George Will, a conservative columnist for the Washington Post, is not pleased with the GOP’s front runner, Mitt Romney. In his latest column, Will slams Romney for Romney’s support of ethanol subsidies. Will notes that Obamacare is a cousin of Romneycare. Will also goes after Romney’s waffling on support of the opposition to the repeal of the law that Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich enacted, limiting the collective bargaining rights of public employees.

The money quote from Will is:

Republicans may have found their Michael Dukakis, a technocratic Massachusetts governor who takes his bearings from “data” (although there is precious little to support Romney’s idea that in-state college tuition for children of illegal immigrants is a powerful magnet for such immigrants) and who believes elections should be about (in Dukakis’s words) “competence,” not “ideology.”

…

Has conservatism come so far, surmounting so many obstacles, to settle, at a moment of economic crisis, for this?

Data has a well-known liberal bias.

Romney is not ideological enough for Will. Competence is not a requirement for a Republican presidential candidate, in fact, competence is the Dukakis kiss of death in Will’s world. Like Obama, Romney has a JD from Harvard.

This is what conservatism has come to, an ideology whose policies are unaffected by facts.

H/T: TPM, Paul Krugman.

19 thoughts on “The Horror”

  2. What an idiot… though I felt like one too when I had to read this phrase about 4 times to figure out what was what: “…waffling on support of the opposition to the repeal of the law…”

  4. The terrible thing is that because of the position we’re in now, as a result of the inexorable and irremediable past (Wow I love it when I get to use both of those words in a sentence!), it won’t matter whom they run, on either side.

  6. Whether one agrees with the technique or not, the republicans managed to turn flip-flopping into a character flaw where Kerry was concerned. This technique now returns to bite them in the behind with Romney.

    I couldn’t figure out what he was doing in Cincinnati in the first place and especially at this time. The polls show those in favor of passing Issue 2 (the bargaining bill) stood at 21% and falling when Romney was here and he hemmed and hawed his way through the questions about it giving the impression he was not in favor. He leaves the state and the next day indicates he supports passage. Hence the flip flop as a character flaw in leadership.

    By the way … the Firefighters are beating the crap out of Kasich with this issue … so much so that all the republicans are claiming a defeat for Kasich on bargaining is no big deal: “the governor is not focused on the impact of Issue 2 on his legacy or on the 2014 election. Nichols said Kasich is more focused on the management of the state.”

    Now that is a hilarious statement as Kasich bargaining bill was the centerpiece of his “new management plan” for the state.

    All that marching, organizing, petition passing, court-going paid off. If you believe in it … fight for it.

  7. @mk: I keep asking my Republican friends why they don’t like the Republican that’s already in office. When I point out how similar his actions have been to GWB’s, for some reason all I get are dirty looks.

  8. obama does such a good job for the 1%, they don’t need to run a republican candidate…

  13. Oh who will save the GOP? They certainly can’t allow a mormon to head the ticket! How about Cain – really you have to ask? See the movie “Trading Places” for the line that covers it:
    Mortimer Duke: Do you really believe I would have a *n—–r* run our family business, Randolph?
    Mortimer Duke: [Valentine’s eyes widen with outrage] Of course not. Neither would I.
    That leaves them with the 7 dwarfs all named ‘Crazy’. America may yet be saved from another apocalyptic Bush-like disaster by the insanity of the Party designed to destroy our country.

  16. Heaven forbid that elections be about competence. The unemployment rate in D.C. would jump to 95%. That’s almost as dangerous an idea as expecting ethical behavior from pols.

  18. “Data has a well-known liberal bias.”

    Or liberals are biased more toward empiricism than “theory.”

    Merriam-Webster — liberal: (5) broad-minded; especially not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or traditional forms.

    “Just the facts, m’am.”

    See, conservative: (3a) tending or disposed to maintain existing views, conditions, or institutions : traditional

    “Truth? — you can’t handle the truth!”

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