Are We Ready to Say that "Conservatives" Are Dead Yet?

[Cary]

Please note I've put the word in quotes. By "conservatives" I mean the radical right coalition that did so much damage to our nation these past 27 years. I am pretty sure everyone knows what I'm referring to. It's the religious right and neocons, and the various and sundry other elements that foisted their nonsense upon us.

I am not saying that the same pernicious elements could not worm their way into the works and bring us down further. But I don't see the same confluence of malevolence coalescing again any time soon. The turkeys might end up in a photo op with Sarah Palin, but they aren't going to fly any time soon and they don't seem to have any way out of that funnel they're in, upside down and about to have their necks cut.

Not quite dead yet, but pretty damn close?

[DJ13]

1. No, they still seem to have enough influence to push Obama right

When President Obama feels he can stop worry about needing to bend over backwards to placate the right in the name of bi-partisanship THEN we can consider the conservatives "dead".

Not before that.

[Cary]

7. I'm thinking you have that wrong.

This 90 to 6 deal, wherein the Senate failed to fund the closing of Guantanimo, suggests something different. It's not a matter of "placating the right in the name of bi-partisanship." Obama is not omnipotent.

Politics is the art of the possible and one must choose their battles wisely. I think he may be more shrewd than you give him credit for. Obviously he can't get everything he wants, and healthcare is going to be a biggie.

There is a bigger picture to look at.

[DJ13]

11. .......and healthcare is going to be a biggie.

Even on health care he's too concerned with the conservative viewpoint to try and promote the single payer option.

Im sorry, I like Obama, I voted for him twice, but I wont make excuses for his failing to be the kind of progressive I thought he was.

He's surrounded himself with the kind of people that caused me not to support Hillary, and his policies are too DLC for my taste so far.

[Cary]

13. I too am for single payer.

Single payer is our only ultimate solution.

But can he get single payer now?

[GreenArrow]

27. He can't get it if he doesn't ask for it

.

[Cary]

28. The asking happens behind the scenes.

There's a reason he entertained the industry money people. I think he knows what he's doing.

[depakid]

2. They're still alive and well in the US Senate

and even in the Democratic party.

[Iggo]

3. By Conservative you mean Radical?

:crazy:

[Cary]

8. Radical right extremists. Yes. n/t

[spoony]

21. You know in the horror movies

where you think the monster's dead and you have to step over him to get to the door? Well, what always happens? The lesson: even if they seem dead, they're still dangerous.

[mitchum]

4. I just got out the Ouija board and the ghost of Gerald Ford said...

"It's a new day and you have nothing to worry about"

I don't really need that sarcasm smilie, do I?

[timtom]

5. I believe they're simply disoriented.

I don't believe a significant number of them can change.

[Cary]

12. If they can't change, what future do they have? n/t

[timtom]

24. They will continue as they always have.

This agon has existed since the founding of our nation. Those of good sense who desire to see the best in man and those who are of selfish purpose and wish to see the worst in man.

[cbdo2007]

6. whether they're dead or not I wouldn't let your guard down

I think that's what they're hoping for. Everyone to pronounce them dead so they can start building up again.

Just keep fighting the good fight and assume they're always alive and well. Otherwise you'll wake up one day and realize they've got the upper hand again, just like they did, and we did before that, and they did, and we did and so on.

[Norrin Radd]

9. Welcome to DU. I agree.

[Cary]

10. But they're out of their fucking minds.

Really. I exaggerate not.

Out of their fucking minds and I can't stand listening to them. Losing has made them worse--not better. I expect more losing is going to make them more worse.

This purity thing they have going has to kill them. Here in Illinois this happened 5 years ago when they culled a successful Republican Senator, and then culled a viable Republican candidate and brought whack job Alan Keyes. Now the fire eaters and moderates can't stand each other and they can't get together to do anything. They hold no statewide offices and lost solidly Republican Congressional seats like Henry Hyde's and Dennis Hastert's.

What they did here in Illinois is happened on a national level. At the same time their demographics are failing them.

And they're out of their fucking minds. Please excuse my language but words do fail. . .

[cbdo2007]

20. Oh, yeah I totally agree they're idiots.

Just warning not to write their obituary just yet.

[leftstreet]

14. Voters held the funerals in 2006, and again in 2008 n/t

[Greyhound]

15. Not dead, just calling themselves Democrats.

Same meaningless rhetoric, fantasies, and lies, just coming from the "other side", now.

[Cary]

16. I don't see that.

There is a huge difference. It isn't perfect but it's a lot better than the bullshit we've gotten from Republicans and the radical right.

[Greyhound]

17. LOL.

:rofl:

[Cary]

18. I'm glad I'm not as cynical as you are.

It's kind of nice to have hope that things are getting better. You should try it.

[Greyhound]

22. False hope with no basis in fact is how we get into these messes.

You call it cynicism, I call it experience.

Pouring money into the black hole of the financial industry while ignoring the thousands or millions of small businesses that actually employ people and drive the economy is only beneficial to campaign coffers and the billionaires that fill them.

Pretending that any of this is helping the nation as a whole is nothing but wishful thinking at best, blind faith at worst.

[Cary]

26. Experience?

I am not dissing Dennis Kucinich, but if you think he ever had a chance in hell of being president, then you're not one to be touting your own experience.

Barack Obama is not Dennis Kucinich but that doesn't mean he's the same deal as George Bush. As a pragmatic, left leaning moderate I relate to Barack Obama.

It seems like you have a problem with that. Well, if you do, my experience tells me it's your problem.

[Greyhound]

30. Now you want to talk about Dennis Kucinich? I thought we were discussing

the "demise of conservatism"?

I do like DK and most of what he stands for, especially that he does stand for what he believes, but he is hardly the issue in your post. My family are/were all old-school Republiks and I've known many, many over the years, and as you might guess, had many many debates with them over a variety of issues.

George Bush and his Republik Party are not conservatives, they are extremist oligarchs that have pushed out the conservatives while co-opting the word conservative. Like Specter, those conservatives have gone to the party that remains, but they are still conservatives. They fear and resist change, they seek to conserve a system that has benefited them and care little that that benefit has come at the expense and detriment to millions of their fellow Americans and billions of others around the world.

Your definition of Barack Obama as a left-leaning pragmatist is entirely subjective and utterly meaningless outside the US. In any nation of Europe, for example, he is a hard-line conservative along the lines of Sarkozy.

[Forkboy]

19. Nope. If they're down let's keep our boot on their throats.

You cut off the head they'll just grow a new one. I have no plans to ever let my guard down against them.

Ever.

[Xolodno]

23. Nope...

The neo-cons are essentially setting themselves up for epic fail the next election (and possible extinction). Moderates don't seem to mind at this point other than telling them they can't push all of them out of the party....while taking the wait and see approach (they are going to watch them crash and burn a horrible fiery death).

After 2010, I suspect the moderates will slowly regain control (as they will probably be the only ones with fund raising capability after a devastating loss) with a new message, I suspect they will borrow heavily from Ron Paul...not all of it of course, just the parts where ironically he and Democrats seem to agree and areas that appeal to everyone's sense of individuality. I think that's why Ed on his show today tried to paint him one color...he knows some things Ron Paul says does make sense and could be a catalyst for reviving the Republicans.

[Dark]

25. Don't underestimate them. They have comeback before...

nt

[AlinPA]

29. No. Don't forget they own the media.