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This week on the Big Show, we start in frigid Minnesota, home of one James Lileks, who describes life in a Polar Vortex for those of us who live in more temperate climes. Then, we’re off to the swamps of Jersey for a visit from Commentary’s Noah Rothman to talk about his fascinating new book Unjust: Social Justice and the Unmaking of America. Then, it’s off to Venezuela where Annika Rothstein is on the ground in Caracas reporting on the collapse of a revolution. Finally, we end up back in the good old U.S. of A for some Super Bowl picks from the hosts. Who ya got?
Music from this week’s podcast: Not as Much as Football by Mojo Nixon
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I have a problem with this. First of all, I do appreciate the article. It was interesting reading; I had never read it before; and, if the analysis is true, it is good example of a glaringly missed opportunity, which should have not happened.
But then you go on, in the paragraph cited above, to say that Bush’s not fighting back is the reason we got Obamacare. That is a stretch. There are lots of reasons we got Obamacare. Why we got Obama being elected in the first place. A big reason was that was a historic thing to get the first black President. And Obama came off as a moderate to a lot of people.
The worst thing about the above mentioned paragraph is that it implies that, if you fight back, all will be well. Well, why then did we get a Congress composed mostly of Democrats? Trump fought back aplenty. Could it possibly be because Trump fought back in such a clumsy, disgraceful manner that it turned off people we should have won? His defenders are always saying, “At least he fights”. What has all this fighting gotten us? The truth is that it makes some people feel good, while it costs us elections we should have won.
@georgetownsend — George W. apparently felt that, as a lame duck who would never face the voters again, he had no reason to do anything about the “Bush lied, thousands died” smear; nor to prevent “No WMDs in Iraq” from becoming the conventional wisdom. (Nor that the Iraq War was a “failure”.) The trouble is, the Republican Party had to face the voters even if he didn’t. I think he was irresponsible.
In politics, a charge left unchallenged is a charge tacitly admitted.
At least if you’re a Republican: a Democrat charged with something by a Republican can often count on the media to bury the story — until he responds. Then the headline is something like “Noble Democrat Responds, More in Sorrow Than in Anger, to Vicious and Obviously False Republican Smears”.
It’s like fighting a bully. You won’t always win, but the bully may decide to pick on somebody else the next time.
I am sick of your lectures. George W is no more irresponsible than I am. If you want to talk about irresponsibility, what about Trump? He doesn’t give a damn about anyone else. Mia Love is exhibit A. We need more people like Mia Love in our party. So what did Trump do? He expressed pleasure that she lost. All because she refused to bow down and kiss his ring.
I will admit that I would have handled the Bush smears differently. But George Bush is a kind, decent, Christian man, and he did what he believes in his heart. I admire a man like that; you damned him. Shame on you!
And I don’t give a damn what the media is going to say. Bush had to live with himself, and with his reputation. God Bless him always.
I admire men like Ronald Reagan and the Bushes. You admire Trump. Good luck with that.
She called him a racist on CNN prior to the election.
If Bush was more concerned about his own self-worth and peace of mind – or even his soul – than about the country, he shouldn’t have run for president.
Once again you have pulled me in – with your reckless disregard for what I actually said. Once again, if you want someone who is only concerned with his own self-worth and peace of mind, you need only to look to your hero for proof of that.
He was a racist before the election.
@georgetownsend — I’m sorry you find it difficult to carry on a civilized discussion with people you disagree with. Possibly you should consider posting somewhere else, where you can block people you don’t want to talk to.
However, if you post on Ricochet, you should expect to receive responses from other members — especially members to whom your posting was addressed!
Perhaps you were misinformed. Before Trump criticized Mia Love, she had sided with the Democrats on immigration, and then given Trump the back of her hand, refusing his endorsement. In fact, a month before the election …
On October 8, 2016, Love issued a statement that she would not vote for Republican nominee Donald Trump in the presidential election, urging him to withdraw from the race for the good of the party and the country.—Wikipedia
She hit him; a month later he hit back.
When you say you “would have handled the Bush smears differently“, you imply that you think George W. should have responded more forcefully. I think so, too. That’s why I called his actions irresponsible. Where you got the notion I “damned him”, I do not know.
What do you mean?
I essentially agreed with you about Bush not responding forcefully enough. But I part company if you are saying he should have responded the way Trump does. His responses are irresponsible. Bush’s were not not. That is why I said you damned him. You may not like the word, but I consider it damning when you use such a word to put down a fine Christian man like W.
About Mia Love: Romney was very hard on Trump too, But he almost offered him the position of Sec. of State. Perhaps he wasn’t serious. We’ll never know. But the gesture was right. If you love your country, you put it first, above your feelings, which is what you said about Bush. Mia Love belongs in Congress. She is an asset to this Country and to our party. To damn her in front of a national audience on TV is the height of irresponsibility.
I don’t mind disagreement. I just told someone, on another thread, what a fine gentleman he is, despite our disagreements. I can put up people who support Trump, with whom I vehemently disagree, but like and admire anyway. I do get my hackles up when someone says things about others that are totally unwarranted. I prefer gentlemanly disagreement. We seem to have different definitions as to what that is.
I think her problem is, she lacks the political skill to be in a purple district. The GOP should figure out something to help her move up.
She called Trump a racist on CNN. Hilarity ensued.
This is not the point. Please understand my point: She will get better. It is Donald Trump who performed abominably. I am not even asking him to say he felt bad that she was defeated. That would be asking too much of a man who is incapable of such altruism. I am merely saying that he should not speak of her in such divisive terms. She is a fine young woman. As asset to our country. And it is to Donald Trump’s shame that he can’t see that.
My point is, she fumbled her interview on CNN, or she doesn’t know what the hell she’s doing and she lost the election. This is bad. She is the one that screwed up to lose political power. Now the GOP has to help her get another path or she has to become a lobbyist or something.
A Republican calling a Republican president racist in the media is going to cause a ton of complications. You are telling me Trump should just take it. Ridiculous.
I just looked it up. Love’s only experience was as city council and mayor of a small town. She probably should have gotten some experience as a state legislator first. Maybe the GOP can get get her some kind of political / government executive / manager job somewhere.
I am telling you, Rufus, that a mature man rises above these things. The man is President, for God’s sake. I agree that Mia should not have called him that. She made a mistake. But Trump is president. You refuse to see that I brought this up in the first place to say that this is unacceptable in a president. I suspect that you keep turning this back to Mia because you refuse to admit that Donald Trump is not worthy of the office he holds. I feel bad for you.
This is so sad, Rufus. Trump has had no experience in government. Zero. Keep defending him while damning Mio. This is just sad.
Have a good life, Rufus. It is just not worth it to keep asking you to stick to the point. Your love for Donald Trump is too great.
If you think I’m happy about this situation you are wrong. He got elected and Mia didn’t. Trump is good at some things, but he is not ideal. He got elected because populism is taking off.
All I’m doing is offering reasons. I like Mia, but she was just in a tough spot.
I’m just explaining how things work in reality. Raw political power and how one acquires it.
Way too much blame is put on Trump and not some Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate for the losses in Congress. Remember, the Senate grew. Also, blame goes to the urban voters who are becoming more and more leftie as time goes by. I also blame women who were easily swayed by the media over Trumps manners, as they portrayed them. Remember, the left and the Dems have put a constant air of criminality over Trump’s head and many have believed it while Republicans haven’t helped, or even piled on.
I don’t find Trump’s tweets to be any worse than the things the Dems say about us and about Trump on TV. They just use different media to say their things. Sure Trump is rougher than Reagan was but then his opponents on the Dem side are too.
Re pundits who dislike and even attack Trump over his manners on Twitter, I like them personally and enjoy reading their stuff and listening to their podcasts, but I have lost faith in their ability to fight the fight we are in. They are like conscientious objectors in the military. They have a valuable role to play, but just not on the front lines. We need their knowledge and they are best suited to train the next batch of warriors, the students on college campuses, which they do as traveling lecturers for the NR Institute. Any victory we have today will be fleeting without them and the NRI. If you feel helpless in this fight, donate to NRI.
To disagree in a gentlemanly way, start by not putting words in other people’s mouths.
I never “damned” George W. Bush; in fact, I voted for him twice. However, at the end, I think he must be criticized for failing to remember that he was the head of the Republican Party, as well as President of the United States. He did not have the luxury of deciding for himself that he didn’t care how unpopular he was, if his unpopularity dragged down his party, and therefore the country. (And the world: take a look at how the Middle East looks after eight years of Obama.)
I appreciated Mia Love; in fact, I contributed to her re-election campaign. However, she deserves criticism for joining the liberal pile-on when Trump’s (tactless but accurate) private comments about “sh*thole countries” were leaked to the media. Instead of calling his remarks racist, she should have explained that criticizing terrible Third World governments is not racist.
Trump never “damned“ Mia Love. In the wake of the 2016 election, when she had urged his defeat and undermined his candidacy, he did not retaliate against her. After such treachery, a real pro like LBJ would have quietly arranged a well-funded challenger and taken her out in the next primary. But even after she smeared him as a racist, Trump let bygones be bygones, and offered his assistance in the 2018 election.
Your comments were written without rancor, and I appreciate that. But I totally disagree with them. We have in common that we both voted for George W Bush, and gave to Mrs. Love’s campaign. But, after that, our analysis of things diverge. The biggest example is how you blame Bush for Obama. The world is a worse place after eight years of this radical. While not being quite as bad as I feared, he never essentially changed his view of cutting back on America’s influence. But, to blame this on Bush is absurd and does make me quite angry.
You make a good case for why W should have defended himself more vigorously. I largely buy it. But can you honestly say that you hold Donald Trump to the same standard? You and I have always vigorously disagreed on Trump, and I don’t remember you ever telling me that he should behave better for the sake of the party. You always defend everything he does. If I am wrong, please enlighten me?
Mia Love was wrong. I’ve said that. And I confess, I don’t know how Trump may have aided her reelection. I only know how he reacted to her defeat. It wasn’t only not Presidential. It was not worthy of a grown man who should want to convince people he is capable of some compassion.
I will just end by stating that I hate it when Trump is compared to others. I do think this is good, analytical thinking. People should stand on their own. This is what is meant by Defining Deviancy Down. Others did worse; so let’s forgive Trump. It is wrong.
@georgetownsend — To her credit, in December Mia Love said Trump’s remarks after her loss were not racist; that the real racists were the Democrats who targeted her and, in a squeaker, replaced her with a white guy. (The View will never invite her again!) I think her story isn’t over.
However, it also illustrates a problem that Trump critics refuse to recognize; you know, those people who say they’ll praise Trump when he’s right and criticize him when he’s wrong. They refuse to see that the liberal media will ignore the praise, and amplify the criticism. Thus, a Republican may imagine himself fair and even-handed, while the messages of his that actually get out there are 99% negative. (Trump often says things I don’t like; but why should I criticize him? He has more than his share of critics already – and a great shortage of defenders.)
When I finally looked up how Trump had “damned” Mia Love (as you put it), I had to laugh:
“Mia Love. I saw Mia Love, she called me all the time to help her with a hostage situation, being held hostage in Venezuela. But Mia Love gave me no love and she lost. Too bad. Sorry about that, Mia.” —
https://fox13now.com/2018/11/07/trump-says-mia-love-lost-too-bad-sorry-about-that-mia/
I’ll just say one final thing: I don’t care what the Left says about Trump. Even though he gives them ammunition, with his constant calling them the enemy, they have no right to act the way many of them do. It is disgusting. They are supposed to be reporters, and instead they plaster their opinions everywhere, and make it seem like news.
But you’ve got Trump Skeptics all wrong. We need more people like Ben Shapiro, Jonah Goldberg, and me – to name 3 – to keep Trump on the straight and narrow. We criticize him fairly. If he would listen to us, I firmly believe that, even if we lost the House, it would not have been the big loss it was.
It is people like you, Taras, who refuse to criticize at him all, that gives him license. If he could be made to see that there is no one that likes, or will even tolerate, his behavior, maybe that will change him. But he never will change, because he will always have you guys in his corner.
I have no problem with anti-Trumpers that are actually for less government. A ton of them aren’t.
Can you tell me with a straight face that Trump is in favor of less government? Sure, he cut regulations, etc. but what he doing about the entitlements?
In other words, Trump is cutting where it’s possible, and not committing political hara kiri by trying and failing to cut where it’s impossible.
He isn’t, and neither are the Political Class Republicans and the rest of the electorate. If Reagan had four terms, he might have done something about it. That is just reality.
What I’m saying is I’d love to be ruled by Shapiro, Goldberg, or Kevin Williamson. If they want to complain about anything, it’s fine with me. Mona, Kristol, and Tom Nichols et. al., not so much.
Thank you, Taras. You have proved my point: You will defend Trump no matter what.
I think we’ve exhausted this topic. I know I am exhausted.