Kristol returning to his demon roots.

I agree, 1. I have never understood the adulation of Hoffer. "Repairing the damage" of the Obama years is a fine goal, if we can be sure they will ever end.

What a crock. It is the policies of this administration and the Democrats who have portrayed disarray in the Republicans. The corruption, thug and dirty politics are the foundation of the Democratic party and they don´t budge. Unfortunately, because Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan lost, disarray becomes believable. I read the comments on this website and even some of the posters here are believing it. The nasty comments about John Boehner and Mitch McConnell point me to my opinion. The Democrats support their candidates no matter what. Our candidates have one hair out of place and we are ready to ditch them.

I think we have to take a look at our loyalty and see what it is based on. I know what mine is and I don´t see any disarray. More like conviction. How about you?

Well....he and his fellow talking heads are certainly a part of the racket.

Could not agree more with the above poster. I do not like kristol and his smarmy smirk is annoying. I think he means well, but comes across as cynical and out of touch.

You can dislike Kristol all you want.

I suggest you read the article he wrote. There´s absolutely nothing wrong with it, and you´ll get a chance to see that the headline above is inaccurate, misleading, and intentionally inflammatory.

He does not "slam" anyone or anything. He is quoting someone else and it is difficult to refute the logic that causes eventually devolve into rackets.

Kristol is an elitist, inside-the-beltway RINO. I lost all respect for him years ago.

The entrenched Government Elite have ´spawn´ than service their line of bull. They have ´advisers´ whom they keep to use as whipping boys when they must ´veer toward center (or left); and apologists like Kristol, who keep hammering their message home that true Conservatism doesn´t work.

It´s all part of the show, folks.

The object is like the term, ´Magician´s Force´, were the prestidigitator influences where you look in order to pull off his trick. The GOP keeps saying they are ´conservative´ and the only viable alternative to Democrats - except they aren´t.

The GOP ARE Democrats. TheGOP and the Dems are simply playing ´Shirts and Skins´ to keep us distracted while they take our Liberties away. Each party has protocols set up to ´invite´ new blood in, then corrupt them or discard them as necessary. But with the ability to falsify the vote as needed, as demonstrated in this last election, We the People have become, in their eyes, a farce that can be ignored.

The TEA Party Republicans are now being excluded and pushed out because the Elite think they don´t need them anymore. The real game is nearing it´s end. Soon, they think, they can simply rule over us by fiat and ignore the Electorate ´as is their innate right´. We peons will be relegated to serving them and accepting whatever scraps they deem we deserve.

Unless we stop them.

Think about it and remember our forefathers.

My conviction is with Constitutional conservatives. Not stab you in the back go-along get-along republicrats.

Our last presidential candidate ,along with the rest of the establishment GOP, went wee wee on the Tea Party movement. And the GOP continues to marginalize conservatives.

The Washington establishment love their parties more than their country...oh, and all of the other perks...insider trading, getting rich, free travel, lifetime benefits,...and on and on.

Funny how all of our "public servants" leave Washington as multi-millionaires.

Be sure and read the real Bill Kristol article. The Mediaite article IMO has twisted what Kristol wrote and has selected a tiny part of the whole, which comes at the end of his article. I think this article should be removed and should be replaced with the Weekly Standard article.

I´m not a big fan of Bill Kristol - I find him a bit arrogant. However his article in the Weekly Standard is not as insolently proud as the Mediaite article makes him appear. Actually Bill basically says America has experienced a "light footprint" in the past which, if we had stepped in earlier, wars brought about by other nations wouldn´t have had the grim results they had.

Just read the real article not this one.

I have my skepticism about Kristol, but the article is actually pretty decent. I´d only like to remind him that conservatism is really not just about trying to control the rest of the world. We´ll be able to lead by example only when we get our own house in order.

Forget all the polite talk.

The New Libertarian Freedom and Justice Party or whatever it´s called will be built from the ashes of this country when the left is finished trashing it and not until then.

The electoral system has been destroyed and therefore the peaceful transfer of power is in jeopardy.

Or should we just make nice and pretend everything is OK ?

I like what #4 said!

I second the other posters above - read the full article that Kristol wrote.

Some aspects of conservatism have become rackets - to me the most important being the conservative talk radio - Fox news entertainment complex. It has so misled the people that even truly smart people such as Michael Barone made huge errors this past election.

Bill Kristol, impotent and frustrated, speaks his opinion, but no one cares. If he has a domestic and foreign policy that he would like the nation to follow, he should go before the electorate.

The ´leaders´ of the GOP teamed with the Dems to smear, ridicule, bash and squeeze out all who believe in the original intent of our Fore Fathers. It is all about power and Repubs and Dems share the power to keep us in thrall. Taxes are the key to control. Tax the productive to pay the leeches to vote for the elites. Same ol same ol. Romney did not understand this. Ryan did but he was shackled by typical advisers to our candidates. Remember what McCain´s people did to Palin. Romney´s people were not vicious to Ryan..they just kept him down. If the Schmidts of the Repub party advisers are allowed to run campaigns again we may as well have Carville calling the shots. The outcome is the same: Dems win. I wonder if predictions of midterm elections being lost by Repubs is true. It seems to me quite possible. It may take a purge of all the rino´s before any good thing can happen. I personally would rather Boehner and his ilk be gone than not. Defend him all you want..he is a useful idiot for Dems imho.

I agree with #7. Follow the link and read Kristol´s article before you slam him.

I agree with one person who said the inside the beltway guys are not worth listening to. Bill Kristol has been nothing but a whiner and not helpful. At all!

I read the original article he wrote and found it severely lacking. If the movement has degenerated into a racket give us some examples! Point some fingers! But instead we get the really unimaginative reference to the old "foot prints in the sand" that you see on pop posters and bookmarks.

I do believe Bill needs to retire and let someone take over who can hold the people who are the problem within the Party and the Conservative movement. Until I start hearing some real meat, I´m DONE with the Republican Party. And I´ve leaned GOP since before I could vote!

There is not a single pol in Washington willing to speak the truth. We are hopelessly bankrupt, with no possibility of paying off all that is "owed" to the 47% (and growing) of takers.

It´s been OVER for a long time, some people don´t see, some people refuse to see it, and others are milking the system, which this story could be about, but I have no interest in reading anything that mentions Bill Krystol.

Buy plenty of ammo, and stay away from the coal mine canaries of NY, IL and CA, because things are fixing to get REALLY ugly.

Fred Barnes and Bill Kristol head the Weekly Standard. Fred is a real Conservative whereas listening to the mumbling anti Romney rhetoric on the FoxNews panel one cannot assess what he stands for! I try hard to understand what this panelist is trying to put across, heavens forbid he certasinly is not a Conservative.In fact I switch to another channel when this mumbler is on the panel.Another subject I agree with Charles Krauthammer let the country go over the cliff. They have been working on it for two years and still not got together. As soon as Speaker Boehner looked at Obamas plan he should have immediately rejected it as nonsense. Mr Speaker offering 800 Billion of the peoples tax money is a bone, arogant Obama wants the whole course over a trillion dollars. Mr Speaker listen up let the country go over the cliff. Only then will both sides wake up.

This Mediaite version of what Kristol actually wrote is misleading.
Mr. Kristol- a Beltway Bhoy if ever there was one- makes a valid point about America´s place in the world and what we as conservatives must be ready to do. Big feckin´ deal.

I did not see the Tea Party slams the article would have you believe is Kristol´s point.

Main thing I got from Kristol´s article is that we American conservatives need to be ready to repair the damage done by Obamunism, both with our design for the future and with new leadership that will lead from the front and he quotes Longfellow that we need to ´leave footprints in the sand´ worthy of a great nation.

The article highlights the "racket" that the GOP has become. It doesn´t name names or say anything specific - it´s just pablum and old quotes. If you´re not fighting the current regime with every word you speak, you´re helping them.

I think it´s a fine article and find nothing wrong with it. He is right about everything he says, for a change.

We need to clean house! Kristol,Barnes ,Rove and Morris are the first ones to go.

This string of comments is pretty much divided down the middle - those who agree with Kristol and those who disagree.

Regardless, we have four political parties in the US operating as two. The radical left/Dims and the Mod-RINO/Tea Party. Throw in the Christian element and maybe there are five.

The problem, of course, is we only have two candidates. So what is the solution?

Either we all have to play nice with each other to get some of what we want or we have to be honest and make the changes necessary and form a third party.

This carping is wasting time. We don´t have that long to 2016. Kristol is right about one thing for sure - we need new leadership and outside the beltway thinking.

The leaders of the GOP are taking the whole country over the proverbial cliff.

I reapect Bill Kristol but I am not a big fan. Like his parents he has a brilliant mind and is a member of the World´s intellectual elite. His opinion should be considered. Problem is, IMHO, his world view is shaped by his upbringing and very upscale education. He necessarily sees things from the topside of the topside. He is not a liberal: I´m just not sure what he is.

"Liberals have learned at a fearful cost, the lesson that absolute power corrupts absolutely. They have yet to learn that absolute liberality corrupts absolutely."

Gertrude Himmelfarb (1974)
(Bill Kristol´s Mother)

I think it´s time everyone in DC relearned the first lesson.

I agree with other posters ... read the original Kristol article - it´s linked at the end of this one. Mediaite is a known tool of the left, and we should all remember that another tool of the structured left is to ridicule and demean. Done publicly enough, often enough - especially using the ´´words´´ of another opponent and reinterpreting their meaning as evidence to intended distortions - lies can register subliminally as truths.

We are smarter than that.

And why is this Mediate column about another column an acceptable Must Read? Let´s get the original here instead. Mediaite is a waste of Lucianne.com bandwidth.

That minor diatribe out of the way, we all know what is needed by the TEA Party conxervatives is bold colors, not pale pastels. Our heroes are out there, somewhere. We need to support them when we find them, vet them thoroughly, then stand by them when they stand up for us. No more go-along-to-get-along. Getting along merely and always means, equivocate and fail.

I read the article. I found it reasonable and I agreed with it. It It is being taken out of context, which appears to be the new norm for Republicans. What disaster is it going to take for us to get serious and pull together? Wasn´t the reelection of Obama enough? Well, we WILL have the financial collapse and then political enemies (communism, loving a weakened America) will react and have their try at knocking us out. A nation under God will overcome. What are we waiting for? Church? Hardly. The Rinoism of Christianity far outweighs that of the Republican Party. We will have to look to God himself for help then. As always, he will be there.

I read the article. I found it reasonable and I agreed with it. It It is being taken out of context, which appears to be the new norm for Republicans.

What disaster is it going to take for us to get serious and pull together? Wasn´t the reelection of Obama enough? Well, we WILL have the financial collapse and then political enemies (communism, loving a weakened America) will react and have their try at knocking us out. A nation under God will overcome.

What are we waiting for? Church? Hardly. The Rinoism of Christianity far outweighs that of the Republican Party. We will have to look to God himself for help then. As always, he will be there.

Hoffer made all kinds of observations, often reversing his opinion, as most of us do with time and experience. This particular one seems correct to me at this point in time. He is fully deserving of “adulation”. And this comment from Kristol seems to me one of his more accurate.

Here´s my take on the election: Maybe enough "independents" still had too bad a taste of Iraq and Afghanistan in their craw to consider another Republican president.

Kristol wanting to double down on being tough in the middle east seems to continue that bad legacy without the provocation of 9/11/2001 or Saddam H.

He observes that we have no Reagan waiting in the wings, yet he and his fellow punditocracy members (like Ann Coulter) over the years have done what they could to knock down anyone with the potential to be one, pushing us in the direction of one RINO after another.

Bill, you are correct that the movement has descended into the rackets state, but fail to mention that you´re one of the racketeers.

I´m in favor of whatever political faction supports low taxes, less spending and minimal regulation. Unfortunately that doesn´t seem to exist at the moment.

Reagan famously said that he didn’t leave the Democrat Party, it left him. Would he say today that he didn’t leave the Republican Party, that it left him? Apparently, Kristol thinks so. So do I.

I won´t criticize Kristol today... he´s making legitimate arguments that can and should be debated. The real cunundrum to be pondered involves the conflict between being a conservative and being a Republican. Most conservatives I know refuse to identify as Republicans. They simply won´t work within the Party for electoral victories. How´s that been working out lately?

Kristol: "Isn’t it the historic task of American conservatism to shape an America that will lead again from the front, with a stride worthy of a great nation?"

No, Bill, it is not. That nonsense was an invention of the progressive 20th century, not the founders. Washington asked, "Why by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humour or caprice?” Why, indeed?

American foreign policy has been in disarray since the fall of the Soviet Union and our embrace of a "New World Order". It´s been like Abbott without Costello ever since. What we have found is that our "leadership" is a shell game, done mostly today as proxy for the House of Saud protecting itself from the evil strain of Islam they´ve propagated worldwide. Our "allies" are proud military manikins, unable to project power anywhere themselves. And that is the road down which we have now embarked.

The UN already calls the shots involving military intervention, and none is in our national interest, but in the interests of some "international community." When our prosperity is finally "fairly" redistributed, we´ll all wonder where it went, and how it happened.

We are reading at Mediaite an article ABOUT an article. The Kristol article is linked at the bottom and was also posted separately here (it´s just down the LCom page):

"Footprints in the Sands of Time"
http://lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=714973

Wouldn´t it make sense to read Kristol´s piece before commenting on either?

Well Kristol it worked real good for Romney, Dole, & McCain....the 2010 & Walker´s election proved Kristol wrong,very wrong. You can never win being middle of the road. If Kristol´s ideas are followed we may as well just have one party. Romney should have included the tea party, Paul, & everyone else. He played it the Kristol way & lost.

I have no idea what some here are talking about. Did you read the original Kristol piece about which Mediaite is writing here?

What is wrong with this?

And the conservative movement?—?a bulwark of American strength for the last several decades?—?is in deep disarray. Reading about some conservative organizations and Republican campaigns these days, one is reminded of Eric Hoffer’s remark, “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.” It may be that major parts of American conservatism have become such a racket that a kind of refounding of the movement as a cause is necessary. A reinvigoration of the Republican party also seems desirable, based on a new generation of leaders, perhaps coming?—?as did Ike and Reagan?—?from outside the normal channels.

The good news is that these new leaders do not have to create something de novo. They have an American tradition to appeal to. That tradition would suggest a “light footprint” isn’t the best America can do. It would suggest that it’s not really America’s destiny to tiptoe through the world, hoping not to do too much to disturb dictators and jihadists.

We have talked here about a need for new leaders. What´s the beef?

Dims ´lead from behind´. Actually, they avoid international issues so that they can create dependency at home. The best line in BK´s piece is that Obama is no Harry Truman. I wish he would have enumerated some of the rackets. It´s much easier to do, I would suggest, if you´re talking about the dims.

I am wondering what has happened to Rene Ellmers, R-NC (2nd district). She was ALWAYS in pictures with Boehner last term, was a Tea Party candidate, but since the election, she has been nowhere to be seen.

Was she one of those who fell from grace?

The only substance in his article was the US should be stronger on foreign policy. He said the Republican party should DO something - but he didn´t say what. Should they go more liberal and favor bigger government? Should they go more conservative and favor smaller government. He didn´t say. But his history indicates he is probably in favor of the bigger government more liberal position. What I doubt he understands is bigger more liberal government can´t support a bigger military to do the active foreign policy that he favors.

I am ALWAYS interested in finding out what Anjali Sareen, analyzing Bill Kristol, in Mediaite, can tell me what´s wrong with conservatism. I depend on these ´reliable´ sources.

They want their piece of the Communist one world government pie.

I have my reservations about any of the RINO/Elitest Republican circles. It seems to me that we have many Democrats om Republican clothing that run the Republican party. They are the ones that setting us up to lose as Dole, McCain and Romney to name the last few...this same group also controls the actual seats of power such as McConnel and Boehner and why they are trying very hard to limit the influence of the Tea Party. Sooner or later this will be overcome when we see the confluence of Obama and Elitest Republicans do themselves in.

I await the grand awakening but it can´t get a foothold until the current power brokers are done away with...hopefully at the ballot box!

I agree with #17. Boehner has already given details of two confidential, private meetings he´s had with beaten, defeated, subdued (per info given to the Times) GOP in congress. The message is Obama won and all elected GOP congresspersons are worthless losers who must take their medicine. And that Boehner has no choice but to give Obama whatever he wants from now on. GOP are portrayed agreeing that all is lost. They view Boehner in awe, Times describes him as sage counsel. Boehner´s unattributed message via the Times is he´s only here to serve a multi-millionaire lame duck president. As one of the Reps. Boehner smeared said, Boehner´s message was really to the 57 million who voted for GOP candidates in 2012, telling them they don´t count, nothing they say matters, and above all shut up. The NY Times is a vicious, hateful weapon. The de facto head of the GOP has already used it twice to jab We the People. It´s the same message Jeb Bush would give, in my view. The GOP is the Dems. In any case, they don´t care about winning, don´t care about the country, and hate us more than words can describe.

What a silly article. Kristol baffles me: "Major Parts of Conservatism ... Have become rackets". Indeed!

Having made that declaration, Kristol declines to name specifically which parts of conservatism and which conservatives are "rackets" and "racketeers", respectively. And exactly why these parts of conservativism are "rackets." And what crimes conservative mafiosi have committed against the Establishment polity. Come on, Bill, have some guts. Spit it out.

No, having made these thunderous charges, the mighty Kristol shrinks from naming names and citing groups that have degenerated into rackets, let alone spelling out how the conservative movement can "de-racket" itself and bring itself up at least to the moral level of the labor union movement, ACORN, or the Democrat Party and its community organizers.

Instead, he drifts off into some vague, airy-fairy fluff about "renewal" and repairing the damage wrought by Obama, while quoting Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on

Personally, I think Kipling would be more in order: Ref: "Recessional".

I´m with poster #3 -- kistol and barnes are sooooo part of the Eastern elite in DC that they don´t "get it"....

WE conservatives are alive and well out here in the Heartland. WE will keep working on sending as many "conservatives" to the House and Senate as WE can....

As for the "entrenched republicans" who have served in DC as "republicans" as RINOs -- WE don´t believe a word coming out of your mouths....

I´m so happy DeMint is resigning and moving over to the Heritage Foundation. WE can grow from there....BTW -- I think Rand Pauls idea of voting "present" is an excellent game changer.....

Don´t count US out -- billy boy -- WE Tea Partiers are as conservative and active as before. Your problem is you need to visit the real world....

LZK

I´ll see Kristol´s Longfellow, and raise him some Gildas Sapiens:

"For a time the boldness of our enemies was checked, but not the wickedness of our own countrymen: the enemy left our citizens, but our citizens did not leave their sins."

I can´t believe this tread, most of you didn´t read the article, and your commenting on it, having no idea of what your talking about. To me this mind blowing, I was brought up to never comment on something I had no knowledge of. Then again I was born i nineteen fifty four, so it may be a general thing.

To me Kristol´s key observation in his original article (yes, I read it and applaud it), and one whose real significance is easy to overlook, is: "The Republican party has no obvious Reagan". Say it to yourself and think it through carefully. It is non-trivial.

The problem for the Republican Party isn´t finding more "leaders," it´s finding ONE "champion". That is, a dynamic, charismatic leader who can not only clearly articulate the positive consequences of our core principles but also exude them and stand up to fight for them against all attackers. This. A champion. A Reagan. Not the seven kinda-sorta conservative dwarfs yearning to not offend anyone in order to become our candidate.

Find our champion. Do this and all the squabbling factions led by the various kinda-sorta conservative dwarfs will once again coalesce and follow. That´s what champions do.

"Liberty" is nothing more than a punchline to elitist statists of Kristol´s ilk. I read the article and it is focused on reestablishing neoconservatism, spilling American firepower, blood and treasure in foreign lands. Not one single word about the causes of individual liberties snd free market capitalism, without which America is just another world player with a large arsenal.
We need to refound our nation at home first, to relight the beacon of true freedom, not the faux freedom of the corporate welfarist, bedroom snooping, nation-building big-C Conservative racket.
Folks are waking up to the reality that the D´s and R´s are wings of the same bloated party, intent on splitting the vote with perpetual issues politics, with an eye on party victories (i.e., turns at the carcass), and a goal of ruling. Always ruling. Power for power´s sake, not for some greater cause.
To paraphrase Hollywood´s Maximus,the time for Kristol and his ilk honoring themselves will soon be at an end.

Go back and read #9. He says it all

9 is strong go back readit
Kristol is the essence of RINO loser
wxact copy of democrat socialist
out to preserve their racket, destroy
America driving it into bloated indebtedness to the communist command
Chinese. How stupid! And the Diane Sawyers
TV protect the Beltway thieves every day
that she says nothing. Diane and Kristol
are one of thousands of thieving players in the Washington Charade. Protect each other and threaten any of the newly elected with
what? Do you imagine they threaten them with their lives and the lives of their families? There have been too many suicides
and deaths not to rule out the threats.

Love the Longfellow poem. Once upon a time, we had real poets who wrote real poetry.

And the Hoffer quote is interesting, as well. "Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket."

Certainly this is true of many a cause -- the paramount example being "the Civil Rights movement."
What more sordid racket exists than our present-day race-hustlers (Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton et al ad nauseum)
...who exist not to end misery, but to promote it so that they may profit off it?

Other examples of great causes degenerating into rackets would be charitable foundations (Ford etc), and charities themselves
e.g. the March of Dimes, which was originally founded to combat polio, and had to find new "causes" to gin up in order to perpetuate themselves after the polio epidemic had run its course ... and now, sadly and ironically, the March of Dimes is a Big Business that supports abortion related industries.

But Kristol does not name names. What conservative organizations, exactly, is he claiming have become rackets?

Some badly need to wise up. Consider banshee Coulter Chief Racketeer, always looking out for no 1 and who gives new meaning to the phrase; ridiculous person.

It´s a good article.
99.99 % about Obama.
The headline completely distorts the column to play the right and it worked.
Based solely on the headline, the predictable ad hominem attacks of RINO,
country club Republican , elite establishment, drop dead, go away, etc are flung at Kristol.
From the brouhaha this week at Freedom Works,
it looks like that place may have become
a money making racket.
The far right has always been unhappy with the Republican Party .
It´s time for an amicable divorce , too much wasted energy acting like circular firing squad.
The Tea Party can have their own candidates
and run Palin / West .
The common wisdom is that a 3rd party always hurts Republicans-this election has thrown common wisdom out the window.
With the Tea Party free to go in the direction they want and the Republicans also freed , it may be that , like some divorced couples,
they are better friends after the divorce.
The two parties may actually draw votes away from Democrats.
The constant fighting among people who agree on the broad outline of most issues , only helps Obama and the Democrats.

I haven´t read the article yet but if anything has devolved into a racket it is the Democrat party and their Liberal/Progressive ilk. The mainstream media continually ignores the 800 lb Gorilla in the room - corruption. If folks would concentrate on eliminating corruption it would clean up most of what is wrong with BOTH the Democrats and Republicans. The Democrat Party by its very nature is corrupt so they have no interest in cleaning up corruption. Their alliance with the Union thugs is corrupt. They are like one great big crime family. If the Republicans just go along to get along with the Democrats then they are corrupt too. The TEA party should re-invent itself as the anti-corruption party. I think we should stop worrying about who might not be Conservative enough and stamp out corruption instead. Probably 1/3 of the entire Federal budget is lost to fraud and abuse. Think of how that would help fix the deficit if all the fraud and abuse was finally stopped? The fraud and abuse includes welfare payments to cheaters, food stamp fraud, long-term unemployment fraud, medicaid fraud, Social Security fraud for starters.

HERE´S AN IDEA:

when posting an article about another article, how about posting a link to the referenced article in Comments?

http://WeeklyStandard.com/articles/footprints-sand-time_665188.html

I do not care to hear from the right honorable Mr. Kristol in any format with his smirky smug demeanor. However if he is to continue to appear on programs, I suggest he at least audit a course in Speech 101 at a community college perhaps, so his mumbling enuciation can be understood.
(s/off)

Pa Bill

#37 MDConservative, fine comment and I agree...

While the globalists use our military as a mercenary force...Americans and Military families in particular continue to pay the price for the New World Order Progressives with their anti-American, anti-Constitutional feckless policies...And as in Benghazi...they lie to the American people rather than reveal their subrosa activities such as missile running...

Who will stop them and how? The vote has been corrupted with foreign electronic tabulators...So how do we get back to our Constitutional principles ?

Don´t believe the headline--it is completely MISLEADING. It is intentionally inflammatory and spins everything askew.

Thank you #7 & 11 and others who didn´t fly off the handle before reading the actual article. I am no fan of Kristol, but I think he is right about a lot of this. While Kristol rightly admits we need to get new, clean blood into the party through new and different channels, he doesn´t specifically say that a big problem with the party is the establishment elite who have become professional politicians that do everything in their power to stop conservatives from creating a smaller and less intrusive government. The establishment will do anything to keep the status quo of corruption so they can continue to become millionaires in office and have unfettered power, influence and control.

I read the article. I also happen to believe that listening to the fools like Bill Kristol or Fred Barnes is why the GOP is so screwed up today.

Reading the full "Footprints on the Sand of Time" article gave me no solace. The conservative movement is not in disarray - it is at the point of fundamental reorganization. Its members now realize that the enemies are not only NerØbama, Schumer, Reid, and Pelosi: they include Boehner, McConnell, Christie, and others in the GOP "Establishment". As those active in the Goldwater and Reagan movements can attest, the "Rockefeller" aka "Establishment" wing can be suppressed from time to time, but it always comes back. It has never and will never relinquish the levers of power within the party. It will drink the blood of conservatives as needed to stay alive, but will ultimately proceed with its own agenda.

There are 30-year cycles, but there are also longer underlying cycles. We´re in one of the latter, where the realization of our "irreconcilable differences" with the party elite dictates a more fundamental reorganization.

Conservatives must break away from this co-dependence and form a party of their own.

The philosophy is correct as it applies to businesses and government. Look at the oil industry. Independent drilling and development companies have worked out how to extract oil from tight formations. Starting in earnest in 2009, these independents have exponentially grown their oil production from exploratory to a million barrels a day in TX plus 600,000 in ND (assumes 1.1 million bpd conventional in TX and 0.1 million in ND). The big oil guys have allowed themselves to be stalled by the government in Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico, and the East Coast. Some have piddled around with government money to extract oil from shale, tar sands and algae.

First thing let´s horse whip those using going over the cliffs and agree after reading all these remarks, find the best medicine to cure a headache. Start yesterday if not sooner to decide what and who we are as close to being elect able in the next presidential election. With the Conservative DNA in our thinking, then settle on HIM or HER as soon as possible. We all will have to learn to hold our nose´s more or less to find that person, if as a party we want to win and not just find the perfect candidate in our minds, who doesn´t exist, RR was not perfect.

Bill Kristol is on a journey to the left...odd it normally doesn´t happen this way!

My suggestion is we need to put "conservatives" like kryston and barnes (you can add couple more names) out of financial support!
We need conservative mainstream media instead of Weekly Standards (I mean other so-called publications as well) owned by these guys. Personally, these publications tick me off.
Conservative mainstream media needs to be understood by anyone and read by many because it would have all the info people need - sports, business, local news, etc.
I tried National Review and frankly, was falling asleep of this "academia" style.

We need a conservative party… the upper levels of the republican party is an elitist, entrenched, gutless, chicken hearted bunch of Washington losers who only want us true conservatives to be around to vote for their ivy league candidates. After the election, they do what they please. See now that the Speaker is meeting with the big O trying to work out a cliff deal… what he should be doing is getting the house to pass legislation to retain the bush tax cuts and shove it right to the senate and dare them to vote against it… They won´t do it though. I don´t know a single street fighter in the Republican party. I know lots of people like that in the Dem party… I just don´t believe in their goals.

When the progressive junta redefined the Democrat party the moderates and conservatives had no where to go so they moved into the GOP.
When the Libertarians couldn´t build a strong winning party they also aimed for control of the GOP.
The Tea party hanging loose also leaned toward the that venue.
Then add the independents and you do have a party evolving with no faction willing to blend and each wanting total control.
The party that existed from mid 1950´s are now called the establishment now has all the others trying to redirect the whole into their own private junta too.
With the prevailing combined my way or the highway movements each demanding control the situation is not a racket not a business and is certainly is not effective.
The GOP then has become like the multi party nations and will have to form
co-operative measures to win.
I think it´s called too many cooks spoil the broth.
it also leads to failing to address the real nation breaking failures.

Number 10: I agree with you 100%.
I was personally stabbed in the back when I ran, as a Republican, by the Republican Party as they endorsed and funded a corrupt opponent who stated he was a Republican, but was actually a poser Democrat. I warned them. I am done with them and I only vote when I can verify a true conservative candidate.

I did read the Weekly Standard piece. Others have expressed what conservatives must do much more effectively and clearly, and without labeling the conservative movement as a “racket” (what on earth does he mean by that?). I can’t stand Bill Kristol. He’s so smug. He strongly resembles an elitist liberal. All he lacks is the prissy little beard.

HERE´S AN IDEA:

when posting an article about another article, how about posting a link to the referenced article in Comments?

http://WeeklyStandard.com/articles/footprints-sand-time_665188.html

There is always a link to an article being discussed - it isn´t always in url form. Often it is embedded. In this case, the link is in the "here" in this sentence at the end of the article:

Read the full piece, here, via The Weekly Standard (underscore added)

Sorry, forgot to say that the only thing conservative about Kristol is his belief that we should be running around the world instructing people in American style democracy, and intervening in local disputes. My brand of conservatism understands that it is best to let other countries and cultures make their own mistakes and find their own way -- while we tend to Anmerica´s problems here at home. And we should stop paying for the defense of other countries -- bring all the troops home.

nobody cares what you think bill

#4--the demdogs have one goal and it is not to criticize each other--it is to ruin the GOP--they have no real beliefs, as long as it opposes the GOP. Our people read the bias media stream and pick their own party apart. We don´t need to help the demdogs rip our party. But it appears we are never able to stop doing that.

You know, there´s signal and noise and fire and smoke. The post mortem of this election is all about smoke and noise. The first and foremost goal of conservatism---number one on the list of things to do to regain a foothold in this nation---is to neutralize the liberal media!! They have spent the last 40 years dumbing down and liberalizing the public through their news censorship and mushroom growing propagandizing (keep ´em in the dark and cover them with manure). It´s no wonder 63 million ignorant mushrooms voted for the most incompetent, unamerican person to ever run for president in 2008. I´m not convinced that there aren´t a couple of conservatives rich enough buy to out two of the big three broadcasters (ABCCBSNBC) and turn them into legitimate news organizations. The WAPO is slowly dying and maybe someone can convince Carlos Slim to give up bailing out the Times so it will go belly up. Until the American people are told the truth (the WHOLE truth) consistently every night on the 6 o’clock news they are going to continue to be dumb enough to fall for the socialist/labor/democrat lies on the campaign trail. How many times have you asked yourself "how could they be so dumb to vote for him"? Well, if your world view was filtered through ABCCBSNBCCNNWAPONYT you’d understand why. If we were ever to get a well-informed electorate, the conservative Republican message would be well received and it would be the democrats who would be doing the post election soul searching after every unsuccessful election.

The assumption is that those commenting on the Mediaite piece would have read it. The link to the Weekly Standard column by Kristol is right there in the Mediaite piece.