He's Baaack!
Riehl World View — ... Joe that is. And it seems not everyone is pleased. I resembled Ruffini's remarks some days back. You never know, they could pay off in some interesting ways. ...

Patrick Ruffini on Joe the Plumber
The American Scene — I think this might be the post of the year thus far.

Stupid Dumb II: The Dumbening
Eschaton — Stupid Dumb II: The Dumbening Here is the advice of a Serious and Indeed Cutting-Edge Young Conservative Thinker on the Issue of Making Conservatism Once More Relevant. In these serious times, conservatives need to get serious and ditch the gimmicks and the self-referential credentializing and talk to the entire country. If the average apolitical American walked into CPAC or any movement conservative gathering would they feel like they learned something new or that we presented a vision compelling to them in their daily lives? Or would it all be talk of a President from 25 ...

Quote Of The Day
RedState: Conservative News and Community — A movement self-confident in its place in American society would not have made Joe the Plumber a bigger story than he actually was. Since its very beginnings as a movement, conservatism has bought into liberalism’s dominant place in the American political process. They controlled all the major institutions: the media, academia, Hollywood, the Democratic Party, large segments of the Republican Party, and consequently, the government. Liberalism’s image of conservatives in the ’50s and ’60s as paranoid Birchers gave birth to a conservative movement self-conscious of its minority status. As in any tribe that is small in number and can’t ...

Quote Of The Day
A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days — A movement self-confident in its place in American society would not have made Joe the Plumber a bigger story than he actually was. Since its very beginnings as a movement, conservatism has bought into liberalism's dominant place in the American political process. They controlled all the major institutions: the media, academia, Hollywood, the Democratic Party, large segments of the Republican Party, and consequently, the government. Liberalism's image of conservatives in the '50s and '60s as paranoid Birchers gave birth to a conservative movement self-conscious of its minority status. As in any tribe that is small in number and can't fully trust its most natural allies ...

Future Really, Really Imperfect
pandagon.net - we are the public option — by Jesse Taylor The GOP will get the upper hand on policy by talking about how they’re going to talk about policy at some point in the future.  Eric Cantor, as usual, shows the way: Last night on Fox, Sean Hannity asked House Republican Whip Eric Cantor whether the president’s “massive amount of spending…is capable of getting us out of the economic downturn we now find ourselves in?” It was a perfect opportunity for Cantor to tee off on the spending excesses in the stimulus.  Instead, he said, “Well, Sean, if you’re talking about the stimulus plan that was passed, I’m trying to put ...

CPAC Begins
Riehl World View — ... This should be an interesting year for CPAC with the movement in the state many feel it is in. Given the lack of conservative governance seen from the DC GOP over the last several years, I imagine some conservatives are wondering why they helped them get to Washington in the first place. Ultimately, squandering Reagan's legacy as they did isn't an easy thing to live down. ...

Morning Skim: Kissinger on Afghanistan, and More
Opinionator — ... : Mexico . . . is in free fall, its state institutions under threat as they have not been since at least the Cristero uprising of the late 1920s and possibly since the Mexican revolution of 1910. While the Obama administration is obviously aware of what is happening south of the Rio Grande, the threat simply does not command the attention that its gravity requires. Next Right : Patrick Ruffini laments the “Joe-the-plumberization of the GOP” : In these serious times, conservatives need to get serious and ditch the gimmicks and the self-referential credentializing and talk to ...

Joe the Plumber and the Self-Marginalization of the GOP
Ace of Spades HQ — Joe the Plumber and the Self-Marginalization of the GOP Patrick Ruffini takes a look at the state of the movement. I'm not sure I agree with his use of Joe the Plumber per se as a symbol of the party's troubles. I do think, however, there is something wrong with the party, and I'm not looking to dismiss any critiques out of hand. Looking at our over-reliance on identity politics -- not an identity politics of race or gender or sexuality, but a softer one of "one of us" -- might be a good place to start. It's that bugaboo, I think, that caused Jindal to deliver his rebuttal ...

GOP Looking Forward
Sound Politics — ... majority Democrats were forced to retreat from their position. That, the strategist says, was the kind of clearly-articulated policy alternative that Republicans will be seeking to put forward today. That's a critically important shift. Despite the rallying of the conservative base on the issue of the stimulus, the GOP will not be successful electorally unless it can repeatedly emphasize its alternatives to what Obama and Congressional Democrats are pushing. 2) Patrick Ruffini on " The Joe-the-Plumberization of the GOP " (amen that he gives it a talking to): When you think ...

Joe The Plumberization
Outside The Beltway | OTB — ... Patrick Ruffini decries the “Joe-the-Plumberization of the GOP.” If you want to get a sense of how unserious and ungrounded most Americans think the Republican Party is, look no further than how conservatives elevate Joe the Plumber as a spokesman. The movement has become so gimmick-driven that Wurzelbacher will be a conservative hero long after people have forgotten what his legitimate policy beef with Obama was. [...] Conservatives should not need Joe the Plumber to prove their middle class bona fides. We are naturally the party of the middle, and we don’t need gimmicks to ...

2/26: Getting Ready To Rumble
Blogometer — February 26, 2009 2/26: Getting Ready To Rumble Liberal bloggers are pleased that Pres. Obama is proposing a $634B reserve fund for health care, which they see as evidence that Obama is "serious about pursuing health care reform." Although lefty bloggers were quick to note that $634B "isn't quite enough to pay for the subsidies that are an essential part of a universal-care system," they nevertheless see this proposal as "a good first step." While a few conservative bloggers are expressing concerns about the cost of this proposal, the rest have been relatively quiet. It appears that the real blogosphere fight over ...

Patrick Ruffini Hates Joe the Plumber, Adam Smith Lapel Pins, Exaggerated Worship of Generation-Ago Presidents, Hollywood, Plungers, and Tax Cuts for the Rich
J. Bradford DeLong's Grasping Reality with All Eight Tentacles — ... The Joe-the-Plumberization of the GOP | The Next Right: If you want to get a sense of how unserious and ungrounded most Americans think the Republican Party is, look no further than how conservatives elevate Joe the Plumber as a spokesman. The movement has become so gimmick-driven that Wurzelbacher will be a conservative hero long after people have forgotten what his legitimate policy beef with Obama was. A movement self-confident in its place in American society would not have made Joe the Plumber a bigger story than he actually was.... ...

No More Mister Nice Blog — ... are talking about Patrick Ruffini's essay at the Next Right encouraging his fellow right-wingers to end the Joe the Plumberization of the Republican Party. Yes, Republicans would be wise to stop worshiping Joe -- but Ruffini is wrong about the reason they're doing it: ...

Gimmicks and the GOP
The Mahablog — ... Patrick Ruffini’s article “The Joe-the-Plumberization of the GOP” is as fascinating for what it unintentionally reveals as for what Ruffini argues. Let’s start here – ...

Happy Hour Links
Weekly Standard Blog — Senate passes an unconstitutional bill to give the District of Columbia representation in Congress. Congressman Keith Ellison attacks Jon Kyl's decision to invite Geert Wilders to screen Fitna at the Capitol. Patrick Ruffini on the Joe-the-Plumberization of the GOP. Dawn Johnsen, Obama's nominee to head up the Office of Legal Counsel at the DOJ, has compared pregnancy to involuntary servitude, but she now denies it. Don't pass up the opportunity of a lifetime: Apply for an internship at ...

Substance Matters!
The American Scene — Patrick Ruffini on the left: They controlled all the major institutions: the media, academia, Hollywood, the Democratic Party, large segments of the Republican Party, and consequently, the government…. They dominate Hollywood not by actively branding liberalism in their movies, but by coolly associating liberal policy ideas with sentiments everyone feels, like love (gay marriage) or fairness (the little guy vs. some evil corporate stiff). Though I think Andrew Breitbart is spot on in raising a red flag on the threat we face in Hollywood, I fear that the ...

Yes, but…
Upper Left — Lots of chatter about Patrick Ruffini's frustration with his party's direction… If you want to get a sense of how unserious and ungrounded most Americans think the Republican Party is, look no further than how conservatives elevate Joe the Plumber as a spokesman. The movement has become so gimmick-driven that Wurzelbacher will be a conservative hero long after people have forgotten what his legitimate policy beef with Obama was.Ruffini's frustration with the conservative canonization of (not) Joe the (not) Plumber is ...

Quotes of the day
Hot Air » Top Picks — ... They controlled all the major institutions: the media, academia, Hollywood, the Democratic Party, large segments of the Republican Party, and consequently, the government. Liberalism’s image of conservatives in the ’50s and ’60s as paranoid Birchers gave birth to a conservative movement self-conscious of its minority status. As in any tribe that is small in number and can’t fully trust its most natural allies (i.e. the business community or the Republican Party), the meta-debate of who is inside and outside the tribe is magnified exponentially.” *“Much as their blind loyalty ...

The JTP Virus
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan — Ruffini regrets the "Joe-the-Plumberization of the GOP": This culture of identity politics means we get especially defensive about the Liberal Majority's main lines of attack, because we think of our position as inherently fragile. The one that spawned the Cult of Joe the Plumber was the meme that Republicans want tax cuts only for the rich and that we don't stand for working Americans. When find a highly visible figure who contradicts this notion, we swing into action. And we go on to press the argument to the point to absurdity, replete with ...

An Army of Joes (chad)
Ace of Spades HQ — ... . Earlier this week Patrick Ruffini lamented the fact that Joe Wurzelbacher has become the spokesman for conservatism: If you want to get a sense of how unserious and ungrounded most Americans think the Republican Party is, look no further than how conservatives elevate Joe the Plumber as a spokesman. The movement has become so gimmick-driven that Wurzelbacher will be a conservative hero long after people have forgotten what his legitimate policy beef with Obama was. A movement self-confident in its place in American society would not have made Joe the Plumber a bigger ...

2/27: Move Over, Reagan
Blogometer — ... in favor of Sen. Durbin's amendment, which seeks "to encourage and promote diversity in communication media ownership, and to ensure that the public airwaves are used in the public interest." Righty bloggers view Durbin's amendment as a backdoor method of regulating the airwaves: THOUGHT OF THE DAY: The GOP And The Middle Class Yesterday we posted Patrick Ruffini 's complaint about "the Joe-the-Plumberization of the GOP," in which he made the following appeal to conservatives: "We need to be confident, like the left is, that we are the natural governing party because our ...

Layer Cake
Ross Douthat — I liked Patrick Ruffini's attack on the Right's Joe the Plumber Wurzelbacher (enough with the nonsense, right?) fixation. But I also liked Daniel Larison's ...

Ruffini: The Right Must Abandon Gimmicks and Addiction to the Past, Embrace Newt Gingrich…
Matthew Yglesias — ... If you want an idea of how completely brain-dead the conservative movement is, you desperately need to read this post from Patrick Ruffini. ...

Friday evening links
Maggie's Farm — ... believe him. (H/T, NEONEO) Krauthammer begins: Not a great speech, but extremely consequential. If Barack Obama succeeds, his joint address to Congress will be seen as historic -- indeed as the foundational document of Obamaism. As it stands, it constitutes the boldest social democratic manifesto ever issued by a U.S. president. Read the whole thing. Conservative strategies: Who needs Joe the Plumber? A quote: Conservatives ...

Keeping the GOP Ideas-Based & Relevant
Sound Politics — ... I linked to Patrick Ruffini's rejection of " The Joe-the-Plumberization of the GOP ." Ruffini's core point was that in order to be successful, Republicans need an agenda and a message that can be presented successfully without partisan labeling or communication gimmicks. Sure, such labels and gimmicks sometimes make sense. Yet, absent a strong message, voters that switched from Bush in 2004 to Obama in 2008 won't be regained. On a related front, ...

The Weaknesses of the Republican Message
PoliGazette — ... Patrick Ruffini despairs the JoethePlumberization of the Republican Party and argues that Republicans need to get back to acting like the party of the middle class because Republicans are, he argues, the natural party of this group: ...

Rush Is Not the Problem
The Next Right — ... It's one thing to reject spokespeople with neither egghead credentials nor talent, like Joe the Plumber, or those who are positively cringe-worthy, like Coulter. Rush belongs in neither of these categories. There is value in having provocative voices who know how to string two sentences together with arguments rooted in conservative ideas, not cultural pastiche. And though provocative and sometimes impolitic, Rush's arguments are usually calibrated and thought-out in their own way. Wanting Obama to fail from wrecking a country we all hope succeeds is not something a GOP ...

Why We Need to Ban Earmarks
The Next Right — ... I agree that earmarks are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to wasteful spending. Of late, I've also taken a dim view of symbolism as a substitute for policy. But here's the thing. ...

Can We Have Buckley Back?
Patrick Ruffini — ... But there is another subtext that makes Jon's appeal more urgent. As a pretty down-the-line conservative, I don't believe I am alone in noting with disappointment the trivialization,  excessive sloganeering, and pettiness that has overtaken the movement of late. In "The Joe the Plumberization of the GOP," I argued that conservatives have grown too comfortable with wearing scorn as a badge of honor, content to play sarcastic second fiddle to the dominant culture of academia and Hollywood with second-rate knock-off institutions. A side ...

The Pit of the Pendulum, or How Republicans Can Be Gaining During a Conservative Civil War
Hit & Run — ... As a pretty down-the-line conservative, I don't believe I am alone in noting with disappointment the trivialization,  excessive sloganeering, and pettiness that has overtaken the movement of late. In "The Joe the Plumberization of the GOP," I argued that conservatives have grown too comfortable with wearing scorn as a badge of honor, content to play sarcastic second fiddle to the dominant culture of academia and Hollywood with second-rate knock-off institutions. A side effect of this has been a tendency to accept conspiracy nuts as a slightly cranky edge case ...

Cutting Off The Fringe, Ctd
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan — ... As a pretty down-the-line conservative, I don't believe I am alone in noting with disappointment the trivialization,  excessive sloganeering, and pettiness that has overtaken the movement of late. In "The Joe the Plumberization of the GOP," I argued that conservatives have grown too comfortable with wearing scorn as a badge of honor, content to play sarcastic second fiddle to the dominant culture of academia and Hollywood with second-rate knock-off institutions. A side effect of this has been a tendency to accept conspiracy nuts as a slightly cranky edge ...

MOVEMENT CONSERVATIVES vs. THE PRAGMATISTS: THE BATTLE IS JOINED
Right Wing Nut House — ... time they have appeared, mainstream conservatives from William F. Buckley to Ronald Reagan have risen to reject these influences — and I expect that will be the case once again here. But there is another subtext that makes Jon’s appeal more urgent. As a pretty down-the-line conservative, I don’t believe I am alone in noting with disappointment the trivialization, excessive sloganeering, and pettiness that has overtaken the movement of late. In “The Joe the Plumberization of the GOP,” I argued that conservatives have grown too comfortable with wearing scorn as a badge of ...