Wednesday, September 9, 2009

The Death of Conservatism

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C. / picture left) called Pres. Obama a liar from the floor as the President addressed a joint session of congress. It is politicians like Rep. Wilson that are prompting increasing numbers of Americans to reject modern-day conservatism. But what's even more important is the fact that modern conservatives are failing because they abandoned the principles on which the Republican Party was founded.

GoLeftTV:
Part 1
Part 2
Responsible conservatism honors and respects America's institutions, both governmental and societal.

The epithets so many on the right now hurl at Obama—"socialist," "fascist," "liar"—precisely echo the accusations Herbert Hoover and "Old Right" made against FDR in 1936. And the spectacle of citizens appearing at town-hall meetings with guns recalls nothing so much as the vigilante Minutemen whom Buckley evicted from the conservative movement in the 1960s. In the 1960's, William F. Buckley denounced the John Birch Society leadership for being "so far removed from common sense" and later said "We cannot allow the emblem of irresponsibility to attach to the conservative banner."

In the two video segments Mike Papantonio talks about the Republican Party with Sam Tanenhaus, author of the new book "The Death of Conservatism." [Amazon]

By late Wednesday, congressman Wilson's Web site had crashed, he had taken a beating on his Twitter page and his Democrat challenger, former-Marine Rob Miller, had raised thousands of unexpected dollars online for a possible rematch with Wilson in next year's midterm elections, according to Lachlan McIntosh, Miller's campaign manager.

Within eight hours of Wilson's outburst, his Democratic challenger had received nearly 3,000 individual contributions raising approximately $100,000, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said. [Update Friday Sept. 11, 2009 @ 9:30 AM - The money is still coming in for Iraq War veteran Rob Miller, the Democratic House candidate who has received a flood of donations since his opponent, incumbent (R-SC~02) Rep. Joe Wilson, shouted "You lie!" during President Obama's address to congress. Miller has received more than $733,000, from over 20,000 donors through all ActBlue fundraiser channels. ]

The conservative website RedState.com, as well as many other conservative support groups and individuals, has declared Wilson a "great American hero" for his actions and launched a fundraising effort for the lawmaker.

On "Countdown" Keith Olbermann offered a "Special Comment" about Republican Congressman Joe Wilson yelling out "you lie"

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