"Frightened" David Frum Quits National Review

NY Times:

In a span of 252 days, the National Review lost two Buckleys -- one to death, another to resignation -- and an election. ...

Now David Frum, a prominent conservative writer who enmeshed himself in a minor dustup during the campaign by turning negative on Governor Palin, is leaving, too. In an interview, he said he planned to leave the magazine, where he writes a popular blog, to strike out on his own on the Web. ...

"I am really and truly frightened by the collapse of support for the Republican Party by the young and the educated," he said.

Read the whole story: NY Times

Comments

[LMT]

"I am really and truly frightened by the collapse of support for the Republican Party by the young and the educated". Well, there ya go. I think the key word is "educated". Why anyone with half an ounce or more of intelligence would reject the Repuke agenda is no mystery to me.

[WhatsLeft]

Maybe that's why Republicans are so quick to cut education. Keep 'em dumb and we keep 'em.

[openhand]

this is what they designed solitaire for.

[wijg]

“The answers to the Republican dilemma are not obvious and we need a vibrant discussion­.”

The answers to the Republican dilemma ARE obvious. XME, hits it on the head... GUNS, GOD, GAY!
When the Republicans stop pandering to these small minded people, you might stand a chance.

[Keith52]

"I am really and truly frightened by the collapse of support for the Republican Party by the young and the educated,"

Could it be the "no ideas" platform? Or the "against everything / for nothing / hate and intolerance " platform? Maybe?

[DebbieinPhx]

It has become the anti-intellectuals party and Sara Palin is their Pin up/Poster girl. That being said all those yuck y "educated" snobs at the Review... well, they just plain needed to go away, right?

[Keith52]

Yeah education is a liability with "real America" anyway.

The RNC just need to get on that cruise ship and channel Teddy Roosevelt.

[james4truth1066]

who does run Soda Head and Polling Place? Must be associate with GOP, they seem to have some new propoganda that they run here on a daily basis.

[caremore]

anti-intellectuals, talking yackers, haters and imcompetents are losing their entitled leader....­..they must go down with the coattails they rode in on.

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

The tyranny of orthodoxy has hit the Republican Part and I love it. The you are for us or against us attitude will keep them the minority party for decades I hope.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Fer us or agin Amurka, even.

[XME]

The GOP's problem, in a nutshell:

http://www.cagle.com/news/GoodbyeGOP/images/bagley.jpg

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Brutal!

[AnotherMike]

You know, I get the fact that it's all about ad revenue, but can HuffPost have some class and start denying the attack "surveys" that are commonplace on this site, please?

Is anyone else about a mile past tired of this?

[zippywpinhead]

try firefox...

[OttoMann]

I don't even see them -- I look right past them like the obnoxious billboards that they are. However, the woman staring at me with bug eyes for the Vimax ads constantly creeps me out -- she's everywhere!

[DebofMD]

I am too; I really dislike seeing those on this site.

[WhatsLeft]

the large ads that need to "collapse" annoy me. Stop it. Please.

[osage]

Democrats fight amongst themselves in defense of diverse principles they ACTUALLY believe in, while Republicans only fight amongst themselves as a consquence of the fact that they ACTUALLY no longer have any discernible principles they can identify themselves with. The only thing they're fighting for now is a seat on a leaky lifeboat on a Republican Titanic. After eight years of Republican principles being practiced and or ignored by the ethically and morally bankrupt and incompetent Bush administration, Republicans don't know whether to blame themselves or Bush for their multiple failures and their unprecedented rejection by the American people. NO ONE wants to associate themselves with the word Republican. Never in my sixty years have I seen so many Republican men and women running election campaign ads without identifying themselves as Republicans. Republicans have always used the word LIBERAL as if it were an epithet, but in 2008 the word REPUBLICAN has become the worst thing you can call a politician.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

If "iberal" is an epithet, "republican" is an epitaph.

[PatriciaB]

Over and over again Limburger and Shamity have said that they are not Repubs but Conservatives. So there you have it --3 parties: the relligious conservatives, the fiscal conservatives and the Moderate Repub parties-they will all have to choose which of the 3 they want to belong. This is so much fun to watch as they self-destruct.

[cyndeewi]

This is what Hanitity and Limbaugh need to be talking about instead of Obama.

[stop7997]

In a battle of facts and ideals, the conservatives (Republicans, whatever) will always lose out to liberal ideas, thence this coalition of theocrats and Ayn Randians that have dominated the Republican Party since Reagan. But the one thing that binds it all together is fear: fear of government, fear of Communists, fear of terrorists, fear of liberals, fear of immigrants, fear of non-whites, fear of gays, fear of the other. When the theocratic wing began to take dominance, then fiscal conservatives and moderate Republicans started to quake in their boots over the prospect of the monster they had created and began to abandon ship in droves. In his book "American Theocracy", Kevin Phillips, one of the early architects of the modern Republican Party, admits this outright.

But you can't fight fear with more fear. You can only fight fear with facts. Since our world economy is living proof of the falsity of fiscal conservatism, the American people are finally beginning to ask tough questions and demand rational answers based in fact, not fear. Hannity and Limbaugh are still playing the last card in the deck: the fear card, because it's the only card that has ever worked for them. In fact, it's the only card they ever held.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

But you never heard those turkeys criticizing Bush for being unfaithful.

They got just what they asked for. That they don't like the results is perhaps the fault of the message, as well as the messenger.

[zippywpinhead]

the brain drain continues- after decades of pandering to the fundies, rac.ists and hicks, the GOP intellectuals have lost control of their party to these losers. Now, they're fleeing their own party like a bunch of rats fleeing a toxic, sinking ship...

[jacobomorales]

Correctomundo my friend! Pandering empty slogans and non-ideas to the truly uneducated bunches as a way to hide the fact that you had nothing to offer anyone with an IQ of 75 and above. The smoke rose and the ugly truth was seen.

[Wilbur]

"Brain" drain may be a bit too generous of a term for these bozos, don't ya think?

Wilbur

[zippywpinhead]

relative to what will remain it's valid...

[StillIRise]

For at least the last three elections, including the most recent one, the GOP USED the religious right, the racists, and hicks - in other words the lowest information voters - to win or try to win votes. They are now stuck with them. and they now define this brand of the Republican Party! Talk about the hunter being captured by the game, or the tail wagging the dog ... this is backlash BIG TIME. They weaved a web of deceit for eight years, and now they're the ones trapped in it.

[MrsPeel]

Well, F.r*u.m helped create the mess, so it's probably good he's taking a time out to reflect.

Surely Fr.um and Bu-ck.ley were embarrassed by Low*ry's, uh, hor.mon.al effusion over r.ah.ah *P-al-in. Low*ry is such a lightweight. I can just imagine Wm. F. hosting a "Firing Line" over the state of his magazine and the Repubs.

I especially enjoyed the last line of this quote from Ric.ha.rd Brook-hiser, “I think the tone of what we do, I’m certainly proud of,” he said. “You can’t be responsible for the world.” It's just too rich to comment further.

[lakat]

What in the world did you say there? If you must write in code that no one understands or wants to try to understand, you have to see that it is a futile undertaking. Why bother.

[Provit2me]

Mark my words - the Rep. party is going to split. I have been watching this for a couple of years now. I don't care what party you are in - if you can support a view with facts and logic I'll listen and even poss. adjust. But, I have listened to friends and family who support the Rep. party but just not this religious / divisive rep. party. They often say that if they could just get rid of these 'nut c@ses' maybe some intelligent Rep. would have a chance. These repubs. are open to religion/ gay marriages and pro-choice and really want to move on and catch up to the rest of the world and now it appears they may be able to reorganize and become a new animal with a soul and a spec of humanity..­..we can only pray. It would be nice to have a real debate in this country and move beyond Roe vs. Wade, gay marriages, god, guns and patriotism. (This if for my sister and a brother (rep))

[23000Days]

Divided they fail.... I'm happy with that!

[Cyano]

If my 87-year-old lifelong card-carrying Republican aunt can get disgusted with the GOP, anyone can. Her reasons (over a year ago)? The war-mongering and the over-spending. She is now a registered Independent.

[sfmama]

I think this is interesting. My father, 71,a lifelong Republican, is also done with this party. Repubs all worry about losing the young and educated (as they should) but I think they are losing people of all ages and from various walks of life thanks to the Bush years of governing without brains, morals or any connection to reality.

[ClevelandTom]

I think you need to consider the historical record before assuming the GOP is about to split. The Democrats, for example, have survived a much more divisive period than what the GOP is now experiencing. The period leading up to and after passage of LBJ's civil rights laws with the Viet Nam war opposition thrown in for good measure is the prime example.

[jacobomorales]

That is good news...

[StillIRise]

I believe in the healthy debate that opposition parties serve, but this brand of Republicans has become no more than the the party of opposition ... PERIOD. Other than tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and wars from which they can profit, they are opposed to everything that America stands for. Human rights and civil rights are anathema to them. They have become self-righteous, judgmental hypocrites, with nothing to offer except fear. True conservatives, such as Frum, will continue to walk away from this brand of Republicans, and they will be left with the bitter, clinging, low information base that they themselves have created. For the sake of our country, I hope that the Republican Party can once again become the opposition party that America needs, or maybe we simply need a credible third party to take its place. But in the mean time, I'm really enjoying this. After helplessly watching them tear the country apart for eight years, it's rather entertaining to watch them tear themselves apart.

[MyNameIsJames]

This anti-intellectual beast has been nurtured for a long time in the Republican Party. Now it has taken over. David Frum meet your mutant spawn!