alien & sedition.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
  Viguerie Is Having None of It - But Don't Get Too Excited

Via Daily Kos, here's Hotline reporting on conservative patriarch Richard Viguerie's reaction to Bush's SOTU. As you can probably guess, he's not thrilled.
The underlying message in this State of the Union Address was directed toward the Democrats: In effect, we can work together--let's make a deal. The underlying message directed toward the conservatives was: You have no place else to go.

He did not acknowledge any mistake in pursuing the liberal, big government policies that have driven the Republican Party from power on Capitol Hill.

He did not announce any changes in personnel in a conservative direction.

He did not announce that he will veto any increase in discretionary spending.

He did not call for the downsizing or elimination of any government programs.

He did not call for eliminating the corporate welfare shelled out to big business.

He did not announce that he will veto any legislation that contains 'earmarks.'

He did not launch a serious war on the institutionalized government corruption between big business, their lobbies, Congress, and the Administration.

He did not announce any significant initiatives to protect traditional moral values.

Accordingly, conservatives must continue to declare their independence from the Republican Party. We must act as a Third Force in American politics, seeking to draw both major political parties to the Right. Conservative principles and goals take precedence over partisanship. We will support Democrats and Republicans alike when they do the right thing, and oppose Democrats and Republicans alike when they do the wrong thing.

Take the third-party threat with a grain of salt. As Hotline notes, "Viguerie is the press's to-go guy when there's a need to quote a conservative who thinks some other conservative isn't conservative enough."

There is certainly serious and growing dischord within the conservative movement, much of it centered around conservatives' great sense of betrayal by the Bush administration. Viguerie's statement captures many of their complaints. But if you're looking for signs of the conservative movement breaking apart, don't look for them in Viguerie. He's something like a right-wing version of Ralph Nader: a lot of credibility based on his past, but far more willing to be schismatic than most of his comrades.

If he were to create a conservative third party, it would likely have about as much impact as Nader's Greens: it could swing a close election, but would mean little to nothing in the long run.

Labels: , ,

 
Comments: Post a Comment



<< Home

"An obscure but fantastic blog." - Markus Kolic

About

Critical analysis of the American conservative movement from a progressive perspective. Also some stuff about the Mets.


Email Me


Favorite Posts

I Was a Mole at the Conservative Summit, Part One
Part Two
Part Three

Wars of Perception, Part One
Wars of Perception, Part Two

Conservative Futures
Reading Conservative History


Blogroll

I also post at:

The Daily Gotham
The Albany Project
The Right's Field

Various favorites:

Alicublog
Ben Weyl
Chase Martyn
Cliff Schecter
Crooked Timber
D-Day (David Dayen)
Daily Kos
Digby
Ezra Klein
Feministing
Five Before Chaos
Future Majority
Glenn Greenwald
The Group News Blog
Jon Swift
Lawyers, Guns, and Money
Mahablog
Majikthise
Matt Ortega
Matthew Yglesias
MaxSpeak
My Thinking Corner
MyDD
New Democratic Majority
The November Blog
The Osterley Times
A Pedestrian View
The Poor Man Institute
Progressive Historians
PSoTD
Skippy the Bush Kangaroo
Slacktivist
Talking Points Memo
Think Progress
The Third Estate
Undercover Blue
Vernon Lee
wAitiNG foR doROthY

Watching the right:

Orcinus (Dave Neiwert)
Rick Perlstein
Right Wing Watch
Sadly, No!

The conservative wonkosphere:

American.com (AEI)
The American Scene
Andrew Sullivan
Cato @ Liberty
Contentions (Commentary Magazine)
Crunchy Con (Rod Dreher)
Daniel Larison
Eye on '08 (Soren Dayton)
Jim Henley
Josh Trevino
Mainstream Libertarian
National Review Online
Patrick Ruffini
Ross Douthat
Ryan Sager
The Weekly Standard

New Yorkers:

Amazin' Avenue
Chris Owens
Esthetic/Aesthetic
Isebrand
Unfutz
Z. Madison


Archives

December 2006

January 2007

February 2007

March 2007

April 2007

May 2007

June 2007

July 2007

August 2007

September 2007

October 2007

November 2008


Powered by Blogger