Like everyone else in the right-wing blogosphere, I’m going to take the last stand on this whole “I hope he fails” business with Rush. Katherine and I have made our positions pretty clear here at Vandy Right. Patterico, Jeff Goldstein, Gabriel Malor and Ace have all had their say on this, and I encourage you to read them all.
All of that being said, I want to take a quick step back and say how helpful and important this debate is for the Right. Some will definitely disagree, but I see this tug-of-war as the culmination of a whole lot of frustration with a great number of things on our side. Some are worried about how this looks to voters, and perhaps that Obama is winning his game; perhaps, perhaps, but before our side is ready for primetime, we gotta work out these real issues within our movement.
As a guy who loves Rush and who subscribes to the Salam/Douthat/Gingrich faction that we need fresh ideas for policy, I can only see good things coming out of this for the movement. It’s like we’re a married couple venting about the things that bother us about each other. I’m optimistic, however, that we’re not headed toward divorce.
Some of us are concerned that our talkers are turning off voters, and others of us are ticked off at a group of “elites” that seem to want to abandon principle for political expediency. Doesn’t this typify the overall struggle of a political movement, the conflict of politics and philosophy? Better that we figure this out early on, before an election, than when more people are paying attention in 2010 and 2012.
UPDATE: Welcome, Protein Wisdom folks. As Dan Collins reminds me in the comments, he had something to say on the issue too. Thanks for the link!
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Thanks, Mike, couldn’t agree more.
I had my say, too. ;-P
Well said, Barack fiddles while America burns