Tim Blair

More nuance:

http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vppea023950604sep02,0,7325020.story?coll=ny-viewpoints-headlines

This is an interesting direction Hugh Pearson's taken here:

Bush = Hitler
GOP = Nazis

What a unique and thought-provoking new approach to political analysis.

When a war leader has done so much for his country as Benedict Arnold, to answer such base accusations is demeaning. And, hey, where was Thomas Jefferson? He could have served, and he didn't, and then he mislead us into war with the Barbary Pirates! How dare someone who never served question the patriotism of the conqueror of Ticonderoga?

The ironic thing is, as the New York Daily News' Jack Matthews noted on Sunday, that while the majority of those in the entertainment business are liberal, the majority of those who are elected to political office are, if not pure conservatives, at the very least moderate Republicans.

Matthews' explanation of why that happens is wrong in my opinion -- he said it's Republicans who are obsessed with celebrity, and so they elect any actor (Reagan, Schwarzenegger) or musician (Sonny Bono) who gives them the time of day. But those who run as Republicans have to prove they can think for themsevles and justify their beliefs far more than those in the entertainment industry who are liberal Democrats, and can spout any line of reasoning without being challenged.

The fact that few liberal Democrats from the entertainment world run for political office is due in part to the fact that celebrity will get you only so far, and in an election race you're going to have explain your positions to the voters beyond a few buzzwords for a TV soundbite.

I've just been sent this quote; by the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, former Democrat Senator from New York,

Somehow liberals have been unable to acquire from life what conservatives seem to be endowed with at birth: namely, a healthy skepticism of the powers of government agencies to do good.

Another thing. What goes on in Topanga Canyon, LA ? Yesterday I received an invitation from a 'switched-on' Democrat to a party on 9/11 !? Call me old-fashioned but I would have thought Americans viewed 9/11 as a day of quiet reflection.. But then what would I know...I'm just another fuckin' aussie - jafa

The goals of the left and the right are the same.

The left favors direct action. The right sees perverse side effects and favors indirect action whose perverse side effects it does not yet see.

``If everybody stands on their toes, everybody can see better,'' is a Democrat position.

They notice then that the rich are standing on their toes and blocking the view of the poor. Bush is responsible!

That is nuance, and it serves the same purpose as carpenters' putty.

While the majority of those in the entertainment business are liberal, the majority of those who are elected to political office are, if not pure conservatives, at the very least moderate Republicans.

At the same time, the majority of the super-rich to obtain political office are also liberal, or at the very least moderate Democrats. Democratic Senators are much wealthier than Republicans.

I suspect partially this is because people who play against type have a stronger position, and are less able to be caricatured as the "typically extreme" member of their class. Note how Democrats feel free to blast Bush for being wealthy when many of their own politicians (especially Corzine and Kerry, the latter thanks to his marriages) just blow Bush away on wealth. Similarly, Republicans would find it very easy to rally against a "limousine liberal Hollywood type," but not more conservative types. (Conservative actors and artist types also tend to have a very down-to-earth, everyday guy image, too.)

Nice post, Tim.

Realizing there are too many exceptions to make this a valid generalization, I still say thank god for the coupling of leftist aesthetics and sensibilities to conservatives' knowledge of structure and the human condition. Long may the union be fraught with tension and good humor (which all of you here provide in ample measure)!

Conservatives are the ones who have "visions of Utopia" dancing through their brains??? And he says "impeccable memories" as if that's a bad thing. Then again, for liberals, at least the leftist, statist, dumbist variety we have today, having a good memory is definitely a bad thing. ("September 11th, 2001? September 11th... Something bad happened that day, you say? Oh yes -- I remember now -- that's the day Bishitler destroyed the World Trade Center in order to have a pretext to start a war against friendly, peaceful Afghanistanshire, in order to enslave all the hobbits and steal their oil! Truly a day that lives in infamy!")

Andrea beat me to showing amazement at the "Conservatives, with their definitive solutions and visions of utopia" line. This, from the heirs of the French revolution, Marx, and the five year plans of the Soviets, along with the "War on Poverty", etc. Marxism has as its core a belief in utopia (the end of history) on this earth. Conservatives, religious ones at least, have as their core a belief in the inherent sinfulness of man. And we're the historically illiterate ones!?

What a mess of a piece by Mr. Stein.

Rambling, incoherent, ahistorical. A hat trick in futility. I guess the editor saw the copy and just said, "The hell with it; just run it!"

Every modern conservative thinker - from Burke (Reflections) onward - has spent two centuries repudiating the utopian vision promoted by the Left. It's the Left that believes in organizing society through state action. It's the Left that believes in the fundamental "goodness" of human beings and that man is naturally good. It's the Left that believes that if power is accumulated in the hands of the right people (i.e., them), then society's imperfections and injustices can be corrected.

The Right, on the other hand, holds a sceptical if not hostile view towards "Man." Man is naturally, well, bad. Or, at least, there's a duality towards human nature. Whether from Original Sin or from secular sources, conservatives have always recognized the depravity of man. His sinfulness, his lust for power, for fame, for achievement.

"Men are not angels" Madison observed. It's from that fundamental view of man that government is organized. And because man is sinful, society - built by man - cannot be perfected. Imperfect creatures cannot create perfect things.

And so conservatives accept the limits of man, the limits of the ability of humans to create utopia, the limits of the state.

Utopians? Absurd.

SMG

Yeah, I would have thought its opponents would even recognise the Right is generally anti-Utopian.

Good article today in WSJ about makeup of both major US parties.

Show me trained on how to link to words and stuff... I'm also available for birthdays, bar/bat mitzvahs, and I sweep up afterwards.

When a serviceman has gone through what Kerry went through, to answer such base accusations is itself demeaning.

Hertzbery is so dim he does not realize that the Swiftboat veterans served three times longer than Kerry's abbreviated tour, yet the liberals gleefully accuse the Swiftys of all manner of sin.

Also to state that Kerry “volunteered” for the Navy is very misleading. Kerry “volunteered” after receiving a draft notice from the Army. The Army lost about 38,000 men in Vietnam to the Navy's 2,000.

SMG

What am I?

Born innocent until proven guilty is my view with an inherent need to survive and the ability to choose what's right.

...its transubstantiation of the worldwide solidarity...

Time for a new word:

Vapordarity: Solidarity which sublimates instantly when any heat is on.

Great to see a great mind back in action. Ever heard of a straw man . Look it up on Google. Tim is the unconscious person's funny man

I always considered myself liberal in some things (mostly in that laissez faire, mind-my-own-business tradition), but as an artist, I take issue with being lumped into Joel Stein's idea of liberalism. When I recognize my imperfections and failures, I own up to them (not a noticeable trait among the "liberals" of today, I believe --- see Kerry, John). I don't believe in utopia. I don't know beans about philosophy or talk shows, and my memories are anything but impeccable. I do, however, recognize bullshit when I hear it.

Warmongering Lunatic — Ah HAH! In fact, Thomas Jefferson served with the Virginia Militia: perfectly honorable service even if he never actually made it to Valley Forge... mind you, they never found all his records.

It's good that the Noo Yawk media have identified the swifties as a rump group. At least that way they'll know what they're kissing on November 3rd, surely a first for many of them.

Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry has called the invasion of Iraq "the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time" and says his goal is to withdraw U.S. troops in a first White House term

Unless, of course, he decides not to. Don't worry, he has a plan. Can't tell us about it until after the election, though.

Gary:
Okay, that sounds fine if you're living on a isolated island by yourself.

We're talking about how we arrange society, how we can create a government or a sovereign power that we give power to. Do we assume the best in people? Or the worst?

My readings of history certainly show some pretty bad things done by humans ruling over other humans. What does your reading show?

With the risk of really sounding like a pedantic prick, see Madison in Federalist #10.

Assume the worst in people ("Men are not angels") and then create a government from there.

SMG

It's simple - one half of the world's lefties have time on their hands to write half-assed I'm-joking-but-I'm-not-joking crap.

And the other half have time on their hands to read it.

(It's only a generalisation but I like it.)

Actually, I think Stein has it exactly wrong. It is conservatives who are prepared to accept imperfection - the imperfection of humanity - and left-wingers who insist upon treating humanity as if it were perfect, thus assuming that all the world's ills stem from mysterious "root causes".

Thus conservatives believe in a strong defence force and a strong police service because they realise that the imperfectability of man means that restraints like those will always be necessary to prevent chaos. Left-wingers assume that if only Halliburton and the Jews weren't in the way, the world would be a utopia and we could beat our swords into ploughshares. History shows again and again who is right.

SMG

Well I don't believe in inherited guilt whether it be "Original Sin" or a persons circumstances. Giving excuses to those that choose to be that way when there is plenty of examples of people in similar circumstances that don't.

its servility to polluters and fossil-fuel extractors

Being a fossil fuel extractor myself [oil and gas] I take it that this dipwad doesn't drive a car, ride in a cab or bus, have air-conditioning, use a computer or electricity. If he does...he'd better be glad that I exist.

jafa-

Cree!

(Lileks couldn't out-geek me on the geekingest day of his life if he had an electrified geeking machine.)

You know what's hilarious about Kerry's new flip-flop? He's just quoted Howard Dean from the primaries nearly vertabrim.

And you know what Kerry's response was then?

But who challenged Dean immediately? John Kerry. On December 16, at Drake University in Iowa, Kerry asserted that "those who doubted whether Iraq or the world would be better off without Saddam Hussein, and those who believe today that we are not safer with his capture, don't have the judgment to be president or the credibility to be elected president."
Kerry was right then.

More here.

Conservatives see things in crude black and white. But those on the left -- intellingent, nuanced -- are capable of detecting delicate tonal variations invisible to the conservative eye.

"Intellingent", Tim? Either you are exploring a left-style piece of subtle, nuanced political satire, or you've made a right-style mistake.

I hope it's the latter. Hee hee!

And I hope you spill your hot coffee in your lap, Andrew D. (is the "D" for "dipshit"?)

Oh, did I type that mean thing?