Monday, November 30, 2015

Matt Lewis: In Search of True Conservatism



As I may have mentioned once or twice before, when Andrew Sullivan shuttered his site and declared "I will blog no more forever", Imaginary Conservatism lost one of its most prominent voices.  But Imaginary Conservatism is growth industry and a very lucrative one, so matter how many of its outlets stores go out of business, there will always be another one adding inventory to make up the difference.

Today, Daily Caller keyboardist, MSNBC regular and bilaterally-symmetrical-American, Matt Lewis, steps right up and stabs irony to death with the sharpened shinbone of the Last True Scotsman:



I do not know how to put this into words small and dumbed-down enough for Matt Lewis to understand, but as a five-finger writing exercise, I will try.

Donald Trump is not the end of Conservatism as we know it.

Donald Trump is the predictable and inevitable culmination of Conservatism as I have known it for my entire adult life.

6 comments:

Niccki said...

Don't know what will give me more nightmares, the picture, or the fact that you are exactly right about just what has happened to the conservatives. They have stepped far over the line into insanity, and given up control of their lives. Unfortunately they don't realize it yet. Along with nuttiness, stupidity resounds. God help them, and god help us if they ever have charge over anything more than ragpicker.

karen said...

Yep, Mr. Driftglass.

trgahan said...

So when I hear Republican Presidential Candidate Poll numbers, I'm to understand the numbers reflect polled Democratic voter opinions on who would best destroy the opposing party and NOT the preferences of Republican voters of who should be President?

Ok, dually noted.

Not to get bogged down in right wing semantics, but all my conservative (but not Republican since ca. 2006 Thank YOU!) associates should probably worry that the Republican Party that they swear they never liked, supported, or voted for will destroy conservatism....which is completely different from anything the Republican Party is, don't you know?

Jimbo said...

Ironically, the so-called Rockefeller Republicans, which also wobbly can be traced back even to TR in some ways (nature conservation) were the actual real Republican Conservatives: essentially standing for fiscal rectitude (as they saw it) but also good governance within the Progressive/New Deal framework they inherited. That Party literally does not exist anymore. What we have now is a degenerate Party of billionaire pseudo anarchists (no economic regulations), Bible-bashers, racists and ignorance-trumpeters. The billionaires and the business Establishment long assumed they could throw the nasty bones to the rabble and, in return, they would duly show up to vote against their interests. Which has continued to work at the state level for years and probably long into the future. But now we are seeing a disintegration of the pretend-show, at the federal level and, in its place, a rabble-rousing Punch and Judy show with 12 cynical pols and a crazy doc as well as a totally paralyzed GOP-dominated Congress. That literally leaves only the Democratic Presidency as any kind of counterweight to disintegration and chaos. Never mind any international credibility, which is the arena where I work.

waldo said...

'stupidity resounds', see http://driftglass.blogspot.com.au/2015/11/hustle-and-creflo-dollar.html

DrBB said...

The No True Scotsman fallacy is alive and thriving among conservatives. I think it's fair to say they couldn't exist without it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman