Here is a quote from ex-Bush speechwriter and GOP strategist David Frum (as told to Barron YoungSmith of The New Republic). He’s talking about Sarah Palin:
Here's a candidate who embodies and epitomizes not just conservative values but a conservative style. At the same time, she's a person who inspires very little confidence in her ability to run a modern government. Which of these things is more important to you?
Frum voted for the McCain/Palin ticket, and said he thought there was nothing to choose between Palin and Obama when it came to fitness for high office. He's the most well known of those Republicans who criticized the Palin VP pick very harshly (as did his wife, Danielle Crittenden, at the Huffington Post), and he writes genial posts on occasion about the English and American novel, but he is the farthest thing from "nonpartisan" that can be imagined.
He and others are trying to find a new direction for “conservatism,” by which they mean the Republican party. To begin to see why they are unlikely to succeed, and why David Frum is not a good ally for those who might consider themselves to be “cultural conservatives” without strong ties to either party, try to answer the following questions:
1. What are “conservative values”?
a) Values typically possessed by the mass of people who accept things as they are
b) Opposition to values typically possessed by those who can’t rightly be considered part of
“the mass of people who accept things as they are”
c) Values that derive from conservative institutions, such as Christianity, the writings that constitute “Western Civilization,” and the medical professions
d) Values that my parents, grandparents, and teachers shared
2. What best characterizes a “conservative style”?
a) “Of the people,” practical-minded, taking cues from the past
b) Proudly defiant and defiantly anti-intellectual
c) Calm, staid and dignified
d) Reminds me of the most respected members of the community in which I spent the most time as a child
3. What would “inspire confidence in [a person’s] ability to run a modern government” or other large organization?
a) Has worked in large organizations, had management positions within them, got things done effectively and reasonably efficiently, left behind a good reputation among other people in those organizations
b) Knows everything without having to ask or to look it up, and doesn’t take no for an answer or let anyone push him/her around
c) Good manners, conservative moral values, requires hard work from themselves and others, makes the bottom line a priority
d) Reminds me of the people my teachers and past employers had labeled as having “leadership qualities”
4. Which set of answers would be given by
a) Ramesh Ponnuru?
b) Ross Douthat?
c) Andrew Sullivan?
d) David Frum?
e) Leon Wieseltier?
f) Jim Manzi?
5. Who can the GOP most easily do without?
6. Who is most likely to stick with the GOP no matter what?
7. Why do conservatives feel that “values” and “style” are appropriate criteria for choosing a president?
8. Who or what is responsible for the fact that global warming and obesity are considered partisan issues?
a) Human nature
b) Capitalism
c) Secular humanism
d) “Arrogant libruls always telling people what to do”
e) National Review and rightwing talk radio
9. Who or what is responsible for the fact that “modern art” was long considered a partisan issue?
10. What is the difference -- if any -- between a policy argument and a strategy argument?
