http://www.takimag.com/blogs/RichardSpencer.xml The Online Magazine for Independent Conservatives, edited by Taki Theodoracopulos en rbs6@duke.edu Copyright 2008 2008-05-16T06:26:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/reductio_ad_hitlerum/ http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/reductio_ad_hitlerum/#When:06:26:00Z I don’t know where to begin… We seem to be passing from an era in which our president and his intellectual coterie felt that all foreign-policy decisions must be justified in light of 1938 into a new one in which think-headed “value conservatives” trot out their big value words (damned appeasers!) without even the pretense of knowing what they once referred to.  For the love of God, can’t the people at “Hardball” hire one of the writers from this website, all of whom know a lot about the crucial year of 1938 when George Washington defeated Hitler in the Battle of … 2008-05-16T06:26:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/a_new_myth_of_06/ http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/a_new_myth_of_06/#When:00:55:00Z Throughout the primaries, John McCain instructed us that the Republicans’ congressional ass-whipping in ’06 had nothing to do with the war, nothing at all, and that it was in fact those nefarious earmarks, symbolized by the “bridge to nowhere,” that did them in. While attending this Tuesday’s immigration conference put on by the Manhattan Institute, I witnessed a new “myth of ’06” taking shape, this one just about as plausible as McCain’s. The progenitors of this latest whopper were the leading lights of open-borders conservativism, including Michael Barone, Alan Ehrenhalt, the executive editor of Governing, and Jason Riley of the Wall … 2008-05-16T00:55:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/are_new_immigrants_assimilating/ http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/are_new_immigrants_assimilating/#When:02:31:00Z I was off to NYC on Monday to meet with our beloved patron and editor, and while I was there attend an interesting-sounding conference on the question “Are New Immigrants Assimilating?” put on by the Manhattan Institute. Unfortunately, on the train ride over, I caught a wicked 24-hour bug and thus have been out of commission and unable to comment on it yet. (Although I was thankfully roused back to health by reading Bill Kauffman’s review of Ron Paul’s book.) I was shocked, though not particularly surprised, to observe that while I lay in repose, the study presented at the conference, … 2008-05-15T02:31:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/obama_stuff_non_white_people_like/ http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/obama_stuff_non_white_people_like/#When:23:17:00Z Of the amazing, wonderful things that Obama would do if elected, I think we can safely chalk up “making Muslims love us” in the “ain’t gonna happen” ledger.  Edward Luttwak talks some sense in the Times: One danger of such charisma, however, is that it can evoke unrealistic hopes of what a candidate could actually accomplish in office regardless of his own personal abilities. Case in point is the oft-made claim that an Obama presidency would be welcomed by the Muslim world. This idea often goes hand in hand with the altogether more plausible argument that Mr. Obama’s election would raise … 2008-05-12T23:17:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/gop_gets_fiscally_responsible_denies_veterans_benefits/ http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/gop_gets_fiscally_responsible_denies_veterans_benefits/#When:18:05:00Z Since the GOP didn’t feel many pangs of conscience over No Child Left Behind or the 500 some-odd billion dollar Medicare extension package, it’s rather surprising to be reading passages like this from the Post: House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) yesterday called the domestic add-ons ‘unnecessary extra spending’ and denounced Pelosi’s decision to bring the bill to the House floor without first letting the Appropriations Committee review it. To show their displeasure, Republicans forced procedural votes this week that delayed consideration of the bill. What is this pork-barrel bill? A big corporate bailout? A new welfare program? Appropriations for … 2008-05-09T18:05:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/kauffman_speak/ http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/kauffman_speak/#When:13:58:00Z It is extremely rare indeed to attend an “Old Right” speaking event and find the entire audience, including the liberals and neocons on hand, rolling in the aisles. But such was the case when Bill Kauffman spoke at CATO yesterday afternoon about antiwar conservatives and his new book. I certainly can’t reproduce his charm, sharp wit, and èlan, so I’d suggest that you watch a video of the event here. There are two lines from his talk worth repeating: “Why should political discourse be delimited by Arthur Schlesinger’s ghost and Bill Bennett’s ghost writer.” “War: it spreads venereal disease, if not … 2008-05-09T13:58:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/barrack_over_baldwin/ http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/barrack_over_baldwin/#When:18:51:00Z As my last attempt at humor shows, I’m highly skeptical of all forms of conservative Obamania. Still, I think that voting for Obama over a third-party traditionalist like Chuck Baldwin might be a good idea. Even if I’m not totally convinced myself, here’s my reasoning:  Baldwin might get the VDARE-Takimag seal of approval, but he’s simply not going to be taken seriously by the major media outlets, and he’ll undoubtedly end up getting under 1% in the general. That is, he’ll quickly become the “crazy conservative” candidate who’s all too easily marginalized and demeaned. None of this is fair, but it’s … 2008-05-08T18:51:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/a_post_neocon/ http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/a_post_neocon/#When:16:26:00Z Lawrence Kaplan, a neocon of the New Republic deviation, has some rather intriguing things to say to say about what the Iraq war will ultimately mean:  I also think that the Iraq experience has set back the cause of idealism in American foreign policy and the willingness of Western countries to intervene for humanitarian reasons. Take Darfur: I think it’s because of Iraq that nobody wants to intervene there. So on the whole the effects have been huge and overwhelmingly negative. I don’t see anything good that’s come from this war, I’m afraid. If it’s true that the interventionist class has … 2008-05-08T16:26:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/diagnosing_obamania/ http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/diagnosing_obamania/#When:14:27:00Z As I find myself sliding into an advanced stage of Obamania, I think I might be well suited to write a serious pathological study of this terrible disease, which is striking down so many of our best conservative and libertarian thinkers in their prime. It’s also very important that we start looking into Obamania now, for even if a cure might be out of reach, the disease seems to be having an appreciable effect on the current presidential race. According to experts in these matters, Obama owes his first-place standing to the millions of independents and Republicans who voted for him … 2008-05-08T14:27:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/paul_speaks/ http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/paul_speaks/#When:00:55:00Z Today I attended Paul’s talk about his great book, which is #1 by the way, with the great new organization called the American Conservative Defense Alliance. I asked Paul a question similar to the one I posed this morning regarding how us Paulians--more than a mere remnant but the makings of a mass movement--can express ourselves this November. For better and for worse, Paul wants to avoid sending down orders to the troops, and talked around the subject of long-term education. Paul doesn’t think you can change things with politics--this certainly makes him an endearing, trustworthy figure, but then frustrating as … 2008-05-08T00:55:00-05:00