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Entry: Nationalism is What We Need Now--The Case for an "Unpatriotic Conservatism" Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/nationalism_is_what_we_need_now_a_case_for_an_unpatriotic_conservatism#23476 Post contents: "Scott, don’t you think that 'national security' for many voters included the Iraq issue?" Where did "national security" come from? It wasn't part of the exit poll results that I quoted. "My argument does not hinge on the 2004 election." Except that you blamed Americans who voted for Bush in the 2004 election for the continuation the war--and said that they voted for him because of "misguided patriotism" (i.e., because of the war). "What’s your best guess as to what motivated overwhelming public support for the Iraq War at its outset . . . " Patriotic impulses that were deliberately stoked by the nationalists who wanted the war. We don't disagree on that. (We disagree, apparently, on whether patriotism is a good thing or a bad one.) " . . . and what continues to motivate grassroots conservative support for it today?" Ah--if we're going to talk now about "grassroots conservatives" (a subset of those who supported the war), then I have no qualms in saying that what motivated their support at the beginning of the war and continues to motivate it today is nationalism. "Grassroots conservatives," however, are not the same as the average American who supported the war. Sent at: 2008 05 16