MUTH’S TRUTHS

MANY KINDS OF TORTURE: “When you get right down to it, torture takes many forms. For one man, it’s being dunked repeatedly in water, while for another it’s being forced to sit through a Sean Penn speech or a Dixie Chicks concert.” - Columnist Burt Prelutsky

TERRORIST ENTITLEMENTS

“We have become so used to blurring the distinction between legal and illegal combatants, between prisoners taken in conventional battle and cutthroats out to murder innocent civilians of all ages, that it’s almost assumed now that terrorists are entitled to be treated according to the Geneva Convention — even though it spells out certain requirements for claiming the rights of a prisoner of war, like being responsible to a sovereign government and fighting in uniform.”

- Columnist Paul Greenberg

THE LIBERTARIAN “SWING” VOTE

“According to a Pew Research Center survey taken after the close 2004 election, libertarians have played a key role in keeping the GOP in power. . . . Pew’s libertarians amount to 9 percent of the electorate. In 2004, they strongly favored George W. Bush over John Kerry, 59 to 41 percent. If just 127,014 libertarian voters in Nevada, Colorado, and New Mexico had moved into the Kerry column, the Massachusetts senator would have landed in the White House.

“…Now more than ever, as campaign strategists target relatively small but vital blocs of voters in tight races, it’s in the interest of both major parties to court libertarians. Yet the two parties act as the political equivalents of highly dysfunctional companies like Ford and General Motors. Sputtering, rust-bucket relics of the past, they insist on following the same strategies that have brought them declining returns.”

- Reason magazine

THE REAGAN DOCTRINE

“A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency or simply to swell its numbers.”

- President Ronald Reagan at CPAC, 2/15/75

MUDDLED CONSERVATISM

“President George W. Bush, through his ‘compassionate conservatism’ — including its faith based initiatives, its greater federal role in education, its immigration policy and its excessive spending — has diluted and muddled conservatism. Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee appears prepared to expand on Bush’s compassionate conservatism to a degree even more objectionable to Reagan conservatives.”

- Columnist David Limbaugh

THE INTELLECTUAL CONSERVATIVE

“Fred Thompson is emerging as the policy intellectual of the Republican race, making all the sadder his lack of financing and organization. . . . A focus group organized by pollster Frank Luntz for Fox News - which hosted last night’s debate - began the evening with only two Thompson supporters. By the end, he was judged the winner in a landslide.”

- Holman W. Jenkins Jr., Political Diary, 1/11/08

HUMAN EVENTS JOINS FRED-HEADS

“We make this endorsement on the basis of much research, having interviewed Sen. (Fred) Thompson and some of his opponents, as well as examining what they have all said and done. We conclude that Thompson is a solid conservative whose judgment is grounded in our principles.”

- Human Events magazine endorsing Fred Thompson in the GOP presidential contest, 1/11/08

CONSERVATIVE TEST FOR GOP LEADERS

“Conservatives are demanding that House Minority Leader John Boehner fill an empty slot on the House Appropriations Committee with a fiscal hawk rather than the National Republican Congressional Committee chairman who could use the position to hand out earmarks for political gain. ‘House Leadership has said they are serious about earmark reform, said they are serious about cutting the pork and abuse; it’s time to put up or shut up and put Rep. Jeff Flake (R.-Ariz) on the committee,’ said Erick Erickson, editor of RedState.com.

“When the House returns next week, Republican leadership must fill the vacant seat left on the appropriations committee left by Rep. Roger Wicker (R.-Miss) who was appointed to fill Trent Lott’s (R.-Miss.) Senate seat. According to January 7 Politico story, Boehner is likely to choose RSCC Chairman Rep. Tom Cole (R.-Okla.) to fill the position. . . . The Club for Growth’s Director of Government Affairs Andy Roth said this strategy would backfire. ‘If they take a pass at Flake, then the base’s frustration will only continue.’

“…Flake has been the House’s most vocal critic against earmarks, often challenging pet projects on the floor late into the night to shame the members. . . . The fiery anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist said Flake shouldn’t just be a member of the committee, but that Flake should be at the helm of it.

“…The editors of the Wall Street Journal wrote on January 8 that it was unlikely Flake would be appointed, but that his candidacy represented an important test for House Leadership. ‘Mr. Flake could be counted on to police the worst excesses and be the taxpayer’s advocate on one of Congress’s most powerful committees,’ the editors wrote. ‘This is why he’s a long shot to get the job. But if he doesn’t get it, we’ll know House Republicans still haven’t changed their ways from the Tom DeLay-Bridge to Nowhere era.’”

- Columnist Amanda Carpenter

Posted on January 11th, 2008 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: National