Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Crist And Jeb?

Daniel Larison of the American Conservative asks a reasonable question.
In policy, Crist is hard to distinguish from the tradition of former Gov. Jeb Bush, who angered a lot of conservatives with his liberalizing views on immigration but who has otherwise been widely respected and admired by many rank-and-file conservatives. Obviously, I am far removed from both Bush and Crist, so this does not recommend Crist to me, but what makes Crist the unacceptable “moderate” in the minds of movement activists that does not similarly tar Jeb Bush?
It's quite simple. When conducting a witch hunt, it is important to ignore the plank in order to spike the speck.

6 comments:

Jason Pye said...

Immigration isn't a big issue for me. I believe in open borders, from a philosophical standpoint.

Jeb Bush was relatively good on fiscal issues, thought not perfect, and no one can be.

Crist started off really well on fiscal policy, but has done horrible in the last year. That's the main concern.

griftdrift said...

And I can understand the fiscal conservative wing being a little spooked. But that ain't what the witch burners are playing. Erick still hasn't answered my question about his accusation of "dubious personal issues". This is about identity politics for the Erickson-Malkin axis.

As a libertarian, here is the question I would ask myself. Does Crist spotty, not thoroughly stained as some would portray, weigh more heavily than Rubio's full embrace of social issue crazy?

I know my answer.

griftdrift said...

should have been "spotty fiscal record"

Jason Pye said...

Erick is my friend. I don't always agree with him, but he gets paid to bring in visitors to Red State, so I can understand why he may exaggerate things a bit.

Malkin gets on my damn nerves.

I can understand your issues with Rubio, but I don't necessarily believe he is a theocrat.

This is why I'd like to do podcast with you about libertarian politics.

griftdrift said...

I meant to follow up with you on that and forgot! I'll email you.

Unknown said...

"issues" aside i think crist and jeb bush just don't like eachother--and jeb is seen by conservatives as a "good guy" for whatever reasons and since sides apparently have to be taken jeb's side is going to get a lot of love...