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September 30, 2007
The Intellectual Weakness of the Social Conservative
Why attempt to convince others when blackmail will do?
They held a “private” meeting on Saturday in Salt Lake City to discuss the issue, according to Salon and WND. And as with all “private” political endeavors in which “private citizen” James Dobson is involved, the details ended up in the papers as a threat to party leaders not to defy the religious base. Think of it as the evangelical equivalent of Tom Friedman’s dopey “9/11 is over” column in the Times this weekend: social cons weren’t going to subordinate their domestic priorities to the war on terror forever, and so, ironically, with Mr. 9/11 himself possibly heading up the ticket, they’re ready to declare 9/11 “over” for them too by shattering the coalition of hawks.My gut feeling is that social conservatives aren't as concerned with principles as they are with their impending loss of power within the party. The continued popularity of Rudy Giuliani shows that the social conservative wing of the party is not as powerful as they once were, and it's driving Dobson and company to start the threats early. When they threaten, it's almost an admission that the battle of ideas is already lost. They don't have the political clout to nominate their own candidate, so now their power resides in their ability to deny victory to the candidate that looks as though he's going to be chosen by the majority of the party.
I believe Dobson is a big government conservative - he's dismissed not only moderate candidates, but also conservative ones, and for the most specious reasons (i.e. - doesn't go to church enough). Well, I hate to break it to Dobson, but there's only one person qualified to run the sort of government he envisions, and that's Jesus Himself. Unfortunately, we have no idea when Jesus is going to return, so we're going to be faced with a choice between two imperfect human beings in 2008.
In this case, though, one of those human beings has the potential to do much more damage to our current political and legal system than the other. As liberal as Rudy Giuliani is, I believe he will appoint strict constitutional constructionists to the courts, based on those he has chosen to sit on his Justice Advisory Committee.
Do I like all of Giuliani's positions? No. But I would rather have him as president than any of the Democrats currently running for the office. If social conservatives such as Dobson are too short-sighted or full of themselves to see that simple truth, then I hope they enjoy four years of President Hillary Rodham Clinton. Because they deserve her.
Posted by slublog at September 30, 2007 10:00 PM
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Comments
Dep down, I think they want Hillary! to win in the hopes of a) she f*^ks it up so bad that The Man On The White Horse comes along in 2012 or 2016 and saves the day, b) sticking it in the face of the rest if the GOP and get us back to that silly game of "see what we can do?"
c)all of the above.
But what galls me is that they will be the ones complaining the loudest when Hillary! does her dirty work.
Posted by: eddiebear at October 1, 2007 12:17 AM
Well I find myself in an ironic situation here: sorta, kinda sympathetic to their plight. Of course I say that only in the sense that I share their stubbornness but for me a different candidate: Mitt Romney. There is no way in hell I will vote for him - ever. He is a tool of the extreme Right and a flip-flopping moron to boot. Rudy or Thompson I could vote for, both of whom I have disagreements with, but not Mitt. Heck, I could envision holding my nose and voting for McCain if I had to, but again NEVER Romney. I've had enough of the religious zealots running roughshod over everything and will not support their guy. I guess I just have to pray that Mitt doesn't get the nomination cause I truly would hate to see Hillary in the White House...
Posted by: John at October 1, 2007 02:56 PM
Well, maybe they do deserve Hillary. But I sure don't!
I'm a little tired of hearing that we get the government we deserve. I haven't ever had the government I really deserve, the one that I keep voting for. It's all those other voters and non-voters out there who are ruining my chances! And those stinking politicians who get into office and then don't live up to what they claimed so they could get the votes!
So it's looking like I'm going to get screwed out of the government I deserve once again. All I'm asking for is something reasonably tolerable; I don't expect a perfect match. But Dobson and his ilk seem determined to deliver me a perfect nightmare! And I don't deserve it! Do you?
Posted by: pa at October 8, 2007 10:03 PM