I bet you think David Frum's devoted Republican wife would be doing her spouse a solid by closing her MacBook and stepping away from the keyboard. Danielle Crittenden's shameless attempt to re-brand her Iraq-War-hawk husband as warm and fuzzy is as transparent as the beleaguered Richard Nixon's desperate invocation of Checkers, his children's black and white pup. Not once. Not twice. But four times we learn that the Frums are dog owners! They have three dogs!
Mrs. F. has taken a stand here for poor David who it seems is being cut loose by his Republican benefactors. This week, he jumped or was pushed from AEI -- the so-called "think tank" that paid certain neocons to "think" America into Iraq. Richard Perle, John Woo, Paul Wolfowitz and yes, David Frum: what a roster of foreign policy geniuses. Does Danielle really think his reputation can be rehabilitated? That taking a few easy shots at the GOP's lunatic fringe and its audiovisual department at Fox "news" makes him a thoughtful moderate?
David's pithy, nonsensical offerings, including the marquee-value "axis of evil" provided Roger Ailes and his androidal half-wits along with the rest of the mainstream media just enough snake oil to lure a frightened, post-911 nation into the Middle East sinkhole. Those who got Iraq right and warned of a quagmire were shouted down by the Bush/Cheney enablers, including David Frum.
Interesting that he didn't ramp up criticism of his party's gun waving, democracy hating, faction until after it failed to stop President Obama's health care package. But what if the lunatic strategy had worked? Exactly when did David see the light? Didn't he support the candidacy of John McCain - the man responsible for giving Sarah Palin and her paranoid fantasies a very loud megaphone? Why didn't he speak out before? He had concerns about Palin's vapidity during the campaign but brushed them off by suggesting: "she'll learn". What if McCain had won and Palin was actually the VPOTUS now? (Imagine it: secret service code-name MOOSE).
Despite these discrepancies Crittenden wants us to believe her husband is just speaking out, "no matter what the consequences to him" for the "ideas" he believes in. How brave. Just what consequences is David suffering for enabling the Iraq war? Is he at least going to admit he was wrong? Is he sorry?
Perhaps as a "consequence" he could donate the royalties from "An End to Evil" to Veterans for Common Sense. Maybe the money from "The Right Man", Frum's homage to George W. Bush should be put in trust for military families who need it. My friend, photographer Nina Berman could point him in the right direction.
Mrs F. writes that she and her hubby are part of the "conservative movement" - a benign little description that evokes soft, sepia memories of Ronald Reagan. Reading Crittenden's post, it's as if the last eight years never happened. Her breezy, we-are-all-friends-here tone just can't paper-over the thousands of on-going human tragedies caused by the "thinking" and "ideas" of her husband and his former colleagues. Major cognitive dissonance.
"Put down your pitchforks," she pleads. What a bizarre choice of words from a woman who maintains she is a defender of civil debate. Wasn't the pitchfork the only tool available to peasants who needed to defend themselves? Just asking.
Mahatma Gandhi warned against "politics without principle" and he might say that Frum and his fellow Iraq War propagandists have a lot to answer for. But I'm not holding my breath they would even hear the message. I'm sure to the macho folks still at AEI, including the bellicose John Bolton - Gandhi was a wimp.
As for David and Danielle - good work keeping this controversy alive! It can only ensure a healthy advance for David's next book. Has he been on the phone to his agent yet? Maybe David Frum's next chapter will include a 12-step, foreign policy intervention and rehab somewhere? That would sell.
Danielle Crittenden: Put Down Your Pitchforks, People
I've been married to David Frum for nearly half my life and have lived through numerous controversies that have resulted from his speaking out for the ideas he believes in.
Steve Clemons: My Fault: Apologies to David Frum!
It truly is a shame that the AEI didn't realize that it could reinvent its own place and relevance in Washington with the kind of creative bridge-building and policy innovation that Frum was pushing.
Sometimes, like Edie Beale we have to take "staunch" positions.
Great, great photo.
J
Should liberals flock to Frum and welcome him with open arms? Of course not. Frum's not about to become a liberal regardless. What's important is that the GOP, the party of war, whose ONLY significant advantage over Democrats has been their ability to lockstep, is starting to show real stress fractures...the kind that could lead to their honest-to-goodness demise. Can't we just be happy with that?
More importantly, one thing everyone in America should hope for is a return to rational, civilized debate on national issues. Regardless of what you think of Frum's opinions, at least acknowledge that it would be preferable to have him on the opposing side of the table than Limbaugh, Coulter or Palin. With any luck Frum will join a group of rational GOP dissidents that will rise above and supercede the Tea Party mentality and we can have something of a return to sophistication in politics.
I'm having a harder and harder time arguing right wingers when they say liberals will always find something to complain about.
That sentence alone betrays your lack of political, ethical and historical understanding of "the right wing" that I've read in quite a while.
David Frum is a sophist's sophist. Over many, many years I've listened to him "torture" (a perfect word) the English language in an attempt to justify the morally corrupt policies of the Republican party.
David Frum should now be looking for a nice, green, slimy stone to crawl back under and hibernate for about 100 years.
And like I stated in my response to her column, almost every single time I've seen David on TV he was sticking to the neo-con talking points about this President and his administration - like you asked him, just when did he figure out what was going on with the fringe elements and the republican echo chamber, Fox "News"?
The man has the blood of thousands on his hands. I don't care if he owns a few dogs, as wonderful as dogs are, they really don't have the power to absolve him of his sins against humanity.
"the GOP's lunatic fringe and its audiovisual department at Fox."