Circular Firing Squads: Redux

I started this as a reply to two really great bloggers, who stand on, um, opposite ends of the poltical spectrum. Too many links to put in for Haloscan to handle. Besides, I was on a roll.

Okay, guys. KNOCK IT OFF! Please reference Of Bars and Blogs, especially the part about the shotgun behind the keyboard at LJIC.

There, are we all better now? Jeez!

Fred, you're right, up to a point. Some conservatives are absolutely floored by the nomination of Harriet Miers, when there were so many other seemingly well qualified candidates. And, unlike the left, conservatives haven't learned to have these fights in private, behind locked doors. It's a by-product of wandering in the wilderness from WWII until Reagan, almost 40 years. We fought like this through National Review, Weekly Standard, and the Wall Street Journal, and the conservative Think Tanks. We sharpened our ideas and our idealogy in the process. The MSM didn't care about the fights because conservatives weren't percieved as a threat. Now, well...you have to say we've come a long way since the debacle of Watergate.

Beth did an absolutely fabulous job of exploring the current cat fight on her blog and at Gun-Totin' Liberal.

Conservatives are fighting about merit, not some silly politically correct diversity issue. And, we are reacting to the trauma of the first Bush nominating David Souter. Miss Miers may be very good, in fact the "anti-Souter." Everything I've seen points in that direction. But for Mr. Bush to just say "trust me, I know what I'm doing" reminds us of his father's words about David Souter. Conservatives are also well aware of the fact that just because a Republican nominates a judge doesnt' make them conservative. Seven of the current nine were put on the bench by Republican Presidents. Not a track record to ease the angst of those of us who have worked so hard to see a reversal of the liberal tilt of the SCOTUS.

Unfortunately, the current Bush Administration is behind the times. They haven't come to grips with the New Media of blogs and talk radio any more than the Mainstream Media and the Democrats. They are unaware of how quickly information, and to a greater degree emotion, is disseminated today. And, they have underestimated just how restless the conservative base, after the anti-America protest in Washington, and the inability of the GOP to fight back. The shrill whine of "Mother" Sheehan made us angry, and we became angrier by seeing the GOP take it all so calmly. That anger came to the surface this week when the President avoided a fight with the left with the nomination of Harriet Miers.

The GOP is dangerously close to doing to conservatives what the DNC has done to Blacks. They have mistakenly assumed that the base is Republican. We aren't. Most of us are conservatives first, and Republicans second, or even third. The GOP takes us for granted at its own peril.

President Bush just began a speech on Iraq. So far, he's saying what he, and Republicans in Congress, should have been saying for months. It's about time. Conservatives, like myself, like Beth, believe our ideas are right. We are not ashamed of being conservative. And we don't want our leaders to be ashamed of being conservative either.

cross posted at Gun-Totin' Liberal