Comments on: Quote of the Day

By: Phil Fraering

Phil Fraering — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 22:09:22 +0000

I can imagine him writing in 2012, talking about how we’ll have no chance but to vote for “X” because we were stupid and voted for McCain, who had gone and done “Y” during the occupation of Tehran or Abu Dhabi or something like that.

By: Phil Fraering

Phil Fraering — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 20:52:56 +0000

As far as I can tell, Helprin spends the column castigating conservatives for not wanting to choose the lesser of two evils even as he also castigates them for having chosen the lesser of two evils by having voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004.

By: Jay Manifold

Jay Manifold — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 20:19:51 +0000

As usual, Helprin nails it. Conservatism seems doomed to repeated capture by parasitical “leaders” who operate entirely by using the opposition as a foil. They promptly head for the tall grass after an electoral victory. See, for example, the “10th Amendment Movement” of the early ’90s, from which nothing was heard after the GOP takeover of Congress in the ’94 election.

By: Tyouth

Tyouth — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 20:18:35 +0000

I just read the rest of Helprin’s column: Is there another McCain running that I haven’t read about?

By: Tyouth

Tyouth — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 20:02:07 +0000

“— and they will wake up to a great regret”

I don’t think conservatives will “wake up to a great regret” – they already have it.

“They might be those whose influence and coffers swell on discontent, and who find attacking a president easier and more sensational than the dreary business of defending one. They rose during the Clinton years. Perhaps they are nostalgic. It isn’t worth it, however, for the rest of us.”

Presumably Stein refers to the handful of conservative talk hosts with respect to the “influence and coffers swell” comment. This discounts the audience (of talk-hosts) that, after all, listen in large part because the talk hosts reflect the mind set of the listeners. And, regarding who the “rest of us” are; I imagine that he refers to main street and wall street employers who would miss the cheap labor (country club Republicans, perhaps, would not be too inaccurate a label). IMHO the old saw “money can’t buy everything” is quite true. In this case it won’t buy the protestant-democratic-individualistic culture that has made this a great country.

By: Fred

Fred — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 17:46:13 +0000

Shorter Mark Helprin: Our problems are your fault.

It’s that kind of mindset that gets wives beaten. Conservatives won’t respond well to being assigned the role of battered wife.

By: MD

MD — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:38:56 +0000

Yes. I, for the life of me, cannot get the level of hysteria in some quarters. Disappointment, yes. But, hysteria? When does that emotion ever help a person make a good decision?

By: Jeff Ringleheim

Jeff Ringleheim — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:49:08 +0000

Not sure who that eleite group is that will benefit but in general, if the country swings to the Left, you get the govt you deserve or have helped bring about.