Boy, these guys are really trying to win me over,...
Republicans weren't beaten only by arithmetic this time.
They lost through willful blindness.
I’m not a conspiracy theorist. I think chasing conspiracies are counterproductive. But I know our side, and where this is going to lead. The calls that this is all part of the cover-up, that Petraeus didn’t really cheat on his wife, this was all a calculated way of driving him out in order to keep him from making Obama look bad, all the nefarious reasons why this happened now and in this way, are going to spin this story in a very unhealthy direction. And that will be tragic.
What happened in Benghazi is not, and should not be able to be turned into the equivalence of birtherism and trutherism.
The one thing that is no longer in question is that we need to stop trying to read sinister motives into the professional pollsters and poll analysts and see what might be gained from the product that they’re putting out there. And since we’re on the subject of bad news, it’s also worth asking.. which pollsters were the most accurate, though most of them did pretty well? It was PPP. Gallup and Rasmussen – who we quote here frequently – came in tied for 24th.
“You know, I’ve always known this but I’m coming to the conclusion yet again, that Republican leaders are really stupid people. And I’m coming to the conclusion that there are an awful lot of stupid people posing as commentators on cable TV,…What a bunch of self-defeating morons.”
Musing on Mitt Romney's loss, Jonah Goldberg makes several sensible points and one assertion that bears examining. "I have a different view from some about the coming wave of recriminations: I welcome it. I don't know that things need to be vicious or personal, but they do need to be honest," he writes. "This is one of the great and abiding strengths of the conservative movement and the thing I love about it most. Contrary to the conventional wisdom among liberals, conservatives are actually far more willing to examine their dogma and their first principles than liberals or 'centrists' are. This has been the source of conservatism's lasting strength."
It's something I've heard him say before.
My experience is different, Jonah, but let's not debate. Instead, help those of us unfamiliar with these vibrant conversation to find them. If these self-examinations of principle and dogma are a strength of the conservative movement, point us to five examples that are worthy of a wider audience.
That's Congressman Paul Ryan on The Mark Levin Show, describing the president's budget speech tonight. Listen here and be amazed:
"The Obama and McCain campaigns have agreed to an unusual free-flowing format for the three televised presidential debates, which begin Friday, but the McCain camp fought for and won a much more structured approach for the questioning at the vice-presidential debate, advisers to both campaigns said Saturday.