The conservative writer John Schwenkler finds that the conservative movement is cracking up along interesting lines -- and that's no bad thing, he says:
The great dividing line in American conservatism is not between the Hucksters and the Paulites, the libertarians and the moralists, or the Christianists and the leave-us-aloners, but rather between those whose conservatism means something more than identification with a political party and for whom religion is not a thing to be used only when it is politically advantageous, and those of whom these things cannot be said. Let's put our cards on the table, and let's do it now. To borrow a trope from the neocons, nothing less than the fate of the world is at stake. And I'm pretty confident that I know who's going to triumph.
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I suspect he's using it ironically.
He doesn't come out and say it, but the logic of his post tags K.J. Lopez as someone for whom religion is only a thing to be used when it is advantageous. Whatever he may think of her endorsement of McCain, that's so off-base as to be nearly laughable. The credibility of his criticism goes way down when he identifies one of the most consistently and vocally religious young conservatives out there that way.
The real dividing line isn't between this or that variety of "conservative" what eff-er *that* dead horse of a word is *supposed* to mean, and to whom, as of 11:29 pm EDT 8/6/08.
It's between what Michael Blowhard calls PPPs - Primarily Political Persons - and sane, fun people worth hanging with and learning from, for whom politics is, in the end, a sideshow with residual, trainwreck fascination.
I've long pegged you-know-who as the NR distaffer who, hearing of Rod's open admission he was en route to the local Comintern cell cleverly masked as an organic-vegetable co-op, remarked, "Ewww, that's so *lefty*!"
That is K-Lo to the life, and I needn't stick my finger in the socket should such a gun-jumping Sister Superior turn out to be another - I'll be shocked enough as it is.
And as always, a manly-man's wink to the Prince of Cleves, who, unable to detect the difference between my "outing" of my *cartoon alter ego* over threads prior, has me pegged as the very *ne plus ultra* among "homosocialists" (sick).
WhatEVER any of you do, don't (dis)abuse him with the truth: the one time I ambushed him with the no-Santa/or ToothFairy/or EasterBunny revelation that a certain AM-radio kingpin had specks of clay discernible through the eyelets of His consecrated Shoes of the Dem-asskickerman (a potential conversion on the road to Dem-asskicks), he hasn't left the very teetering, Bullwinkling, snowboulder-threatening precipice of Black Sox disillusionment, a burning deck whence all but he and 15 million others had fled...
O, Conservative Crack-Up post, thank heavens you're safe!
We were frightened, those twelve hours you vanished under a shroud of mystery from the front page and archives (though your URL survived, heh), that you had been swallowed up inside "Silky Pony's Panties", lurking in the shadows nearby - a fate rumored by many but seen by none, and which no one has yet to survive...
Per the mystery August 6, 2008 8:59 PM poster: "Okay, Cleveland, I'll bite. What, exactly was disgusting about Schwenkler's post? And enlighten us all about the criteria for determining who qualifies as a pseudo-con."
A disgusting pseudo-con, is for example, a person who attempts to pass himself off as a conservative but actually believes disgusting, un-American, un-Christian and anti-Conservative things, like this:
" Jean Lopez has officially lost whatever credibility she may have had as an authentically Catholic political voice. Thinking that the abortion issue creates a moral requirement to vote for John McCain is one thing - a mistaken thing, I think, but still a view within the realm of reasonableness. But being openly 'enthused by the prospect' that our nation’s next Vice President will be one who emulates the lying, bullying war criminal who currently occupies that position is something quite different...."
Schwenkler is a fraudulent conservative, and displays no political creds. Authentic Conservatives, even while being blunt, generally are marked by fairness and civility. OTOH, phrases like "lying, bullying war criminal" uttered publicly against a decent, self-sacrificing, honest man like our VP, are the mark of immature, deeply troubled people for whom truth and fairness aren't even afterthoughts. Schwenkler is a bully with a keyboard.
Another example of a pseudo-con, mystery poster, is a person who doesn't know that.
As much as pseudo-cons would like there to be, there is no war among authentic Conservatives. But there is most certainly a divide between authentic Conservatives and hyphenated conservatives such as our gracious host, although by starting this thread Rod has shown himself to be closer to Conservative thought than he lets on.
Rod also gets a big gold star from authentic Conservatives for his earlier thread wherein he articulated and supported the open secrete liberals and homosocialists detest and never, ever mention: Communism (their idol of sorts) throughout history makes Nazism (their worst nightmare) pale by comparison. That's why Hollywood is fixated on Nazism as the evil of all evils, while giving Communism a "gotta break a few eggs to make an omelette" pass. Yes, National Socialism (Nazism) was abhorrent--straight out of hell-- but you could have knocked me over with a feather when I finally saw someone with as much to loose as Rod actually write the truth about it vis-a-vis Communism.
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