National Review will no longer be hosting a GOP debate in February after the RNC “disinvited” the conservative publication, the magazine’s publisher said.
The news comes on the heels of a harsh cover story from National Review, penned by 21 conservative columnists, calling Donald Trump a “menace to American Conservatism,” ….
“Donald Trump is a menace to American conservatism who would take the work of generations and trample it underfoot in behalf of a populism as heedless and crude as the Donald himself,” National Review’s cover story out Friday reads….
RNC spokesperson Sean Spicer confirmed to ABC News that National Review will no longer be participating in next month’s GOP debate.
National Review was originally meant to share hosting duties for the debate with NBC, but earlier this month the broadcaster was also disinvited and CNN was given the debate.
Good decision. Regardless of what you may think about Donald Trump, any organization that has publicly condemned one of the debate participants in advance shouldn’t be allowed to moderate.
Since the RNC accepted Donald Trump as a member of the party who is running for the Presidential nomination, and exacted a loyalty pledge from him, it is only fair that they demonstrate loyalty towards ALL of the candidates.
Stella's Place 
Commentary from a Facebook friend (Thomas Lipscomb). He’s a Cruz supporter, by the way:
THE REVOLT OF THE NR PUNDITS
“I’LL TAKE TAFT” —– AGAIN?
Reminds me of nothing so much as the total meltdown of the conservative GOP in the 1952 election when its designated candidate, Robert Taft, the son of a former President, was suddenly confronted with the candidacy of popular interloper Dwight Eisenhower.
Taft was a principled, disciplined favorite of the conservatives who was so acceptable to them he was called MR REPUBLICAN.
Both parties had elements that saw Eisenhower as a perfect candidate. No one in either party really thought of him as naturally their candidate. As a military officer he was specifically enjoined from political partisanship. A superb poker player, Ike played a winning hand close to the vest.
In a masterful textbook example of armtwisting by the small internationalist branch of the GOP, they got him. And the rest of the GOP wasn’t quiet about being railroaded.
But while the entire country LIKED IKE… the Party and its long suffering priesthood and functionaries hated every minute of it. They had sat it out in Siberia for 24 years and were ready to “Take Taft”, as their buttons said. It was THEIR turn (sound familiar?) and they weren’t going to be kicked to the curb by some opportunistic interloper sponsored by just the kind of people they did not want influential in the party. For all anyone knew Ike was REALLY a Democrat and they were using him to take over the Party.
So although all the nation was dying to do was LIKE IKE… the GOP had a very public snit and left heel marks in the carpet right up to the convention, leaking and bleating and having a conniption fit that delighted the Democrats and gave them hope the GOP could blow a sure thing.
Nothing in history repeats quite the same way, but the scene last night for me had a sense of deja vu.
As many of you know, I am for Cruz. My account yesterday was an attempt to simply face reality. It seems to me the best thing to do of all the alternatives at this point. But we have been down a road like this before. I can’t claim to be surprised it is a bumpy one.
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It’s always been the GOPe’s turn. They always come up with an invertebrate crowned by the power brokers. This time, Donald Trump waded in, without invitation, without begging for their support, and most insulting (to them) of all, without needing their money or good will.
The people have been waiting for just such a candidate, and just such a moment. Millions of people have leaped up and clamored for more of his honest, in your face talk, listened to his ideas, supported his Take Back America campaign, seizing the moment, and shocking the handlers who thought them permanently docile and trained to the leash. Hah!
Donald Trump is not perfect anything. Not a perfect man, not a perfect conservative, not a perfect candidate. But he is like standing at the buffet and having the choice between red meat and soy meatballs. One is real, calories, cholesterol and all. The other is dry tasting garbage, deceptively appealing to your need for “what’s best” in someone else’s opinion.
It is indeed right that the RNC made this decision. But I bet they did it while gagging.
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But he is like standing at the buffet and having the choice between red meat and soy meatballs. One is real, calories, cholesterol and all. The other is dry tasting garbage, deceptively appealing to your need for “what’s best” in someone else’s opinion.
Very well said. Thank you!
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I agree with Palin, they talk about a pure conservative, what has trying to elect the most conservative in the race gotten us? They throw us red meat on the campaign trail and then we find out when they get to Washington it was red dyed soy burgers they were feeding us.
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Reading your description made me think of Michelle Obama’s school lunches. A co-worker (before the plant was closed) may have said it best when describing his dad, who said “you’ll eat it and you’ll *like* it.”
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A comment on Facebook, pertaining to the above post:
Reading your comments, I’m reminded that Ike was also characterized as being inarticulate, and because his style of public speaking wasn’t considered high brow, he was viewed by the establishment of his time as also being not terribly bright. I remember sitting with some other young Senate Committee staffers in the 1970s with Senator Moynihan one evening when everyone was sitting around during a filibuster. He was talking to us about leadership, and someone asked him which president that he’d worked for and known was the smartest. He’d known or worked for every one up to that point since Ike. He surprissed everyone by answering quickly “That’s easy, Eisenhower”. He explained that Ike used the way he spoke and his understanding that intellectuals and the media muckity mucks in particular viewed him as stupid as a tactical weapon to make sure that he was always underestimated by them. Moynihan went on to say that smart guys from the Ivys would come down down to impart their wisdom to the president, almost always with a class prejudice against Ike because he was a rural Kansas farm boy and career military, and that in Moynihans words “They’d start talking, and long before they knew their pants were unzipped, he’d already have had their underwear all the way off.”
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😳😳😳
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I can’t believe how in your face they are. Do they not realize that they are going to hurt themselves? They are running off at least half of their customers.
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What few they still have.
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Pride clouds judgement until you’re on the spit, roasting in hell.
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Brent Bozell the Media Research Center President, who signed the attack piece on Trump written in the National Review was on Fox this morning, frankly he appears to have lost his mind. He sounded shrill, angry and scared.
Bozell (apparently William F Buckley’s nephew) endorsed Cruz and asked Trump to stop invoking William Buckley’s name. He stated with a straight face that people know Ted Cruz can not be bought 🙄 Oh he also equated Cruz to Reagan.
Something that Trump has done across the board from Bush, Cruz, Hillary, Bozell Inc. and many others is make them so angry that they are visibly shaken. The pro-establishment, anti-Trump crowd is unhinged, it is uncomfortable to watch them as their self-righteous anger is so off putting
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What irks me more than anything…. remember when Cruz was fighting the good fight – ALONE – against ovomitcare, etc., and did his filibuster and Imam Maximka shut down his whole gubmint-subsidized-workforce??? “Shut down” monuments so that the vets couldn’t go see them, ALL that crap?? Where were these shiteweasels THEN do defend Ted Cruz and extol his conservative creds?? Worthless dung, all of them, and I _______ in their general direction.
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Where were they then? Have you ever watched a football game and seen the players pile on after the ball is down and the whistle blows? Those guys, they are the pile on after the whistle blows guys.
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Exactly!!
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Same place where they are now. Doing what they think is the most beneficial to them. I have learned to simply accept everything 95% of them do is totally directed at preserving their wealth, their career, and their standing in the pecking order in the inner circle. I really believe they have lost the soul of genuineness.
Who butters their bread? That is where they are.
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More interesting commentary on National Review’s latest issue:
I didn’t have a problem when I read the NR editorial. It used a couple of phrases that were unwise IMO but basically stuck to the issues.
When I skimmed over the symposium however it took on the appearance of a desperate attempt to declare him illegitimate, not just wrong.
An influential journal like NR has a responsibility that we as individuals do not simply because their soapbox is so much larger. They should stick to the issues and avoid comparisons to guys like Spiro Agnew, convicted of public corruption and words like “insane”. Those things come back to bite in the general election should Trump be the nominee.
The vehemence with which most were written seemed to carry an implicit question about whether they would support him in the general election.
For all his faults and lack of conservative bona fides not voting for Trump is a vote for either a truly evil, criminal, far left hag or a truly horrible pseudo-Marxist, either one of which would sow a whirlwind of destruction on the country we would be lucky to ever recover from.
I find Trump’s tactics against his fellow candidates and the character they reveal not very appealing. I find his lack of conservative consistency and his obvious ignorance of certain subjects unfortunate.
OTOH, I would probably find those tactics hilariously effective against the mendacious Dems. And the fact is we don’t know which way Trump would rule as president.
His tactics and inconsistencies may not be appealing but overall his ethics aren’t really any lower than we have to expect of any politician are they? Other than his use of bankruptcy which is hardly immoral or illegal, or even particularly unusual in a boom and bust business like highly leveraged real estate and casinos, where are the scandals in his many business interests? He did inherit a lot of money but he multiplied it several times over, unlike say a Mark Cuban who is treated as a business genius and whose accomplishments consist mainly of conning yahoo into giving him a couple of billion dollars for nothing and nearly twenty years later still having a couple of billion dollars.
Moreover Trump’s family including his exes seem quite normal, accomplished and loyal to him. Were he truly the unscrupulous lunatic he is portrayed as that would be very unlikely.
I wish he was more conservative but a magazine that has supported without question in the general election GHWB, Bob Dole, W twice, McCain and Romney has no business acting as though Trump is so far out of bounds they need a symposium to not just disagree with him, but stop him.
Moreover so long as a guy is a dirty fighting creep, if he’s fighting my enemies dirtily more power to him. Beats the hell out of the polite losers we’ve come to expect as our anointed nominees.
Posted by: Ignatz Ratzkywatzky | January 22, 2016 at 10:55 AM
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https://twitter.com/RJGatorEsq/status/690579507095429120
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Such misplaced piousness! Good gravy. I’ve read bits and pieces of some of the “Voices against Trump” from NRO and I am embarrassed for them all. These are not dull uneducated ignorant people, so intellectually dishonesty and sour grapes is the only conclusion that I can draw from their writings.
They have basically joined their voices to say “I’ll take the candidate under the rock rather than the candidate who is exposing the candidate under the rock”.
Trump has cleaned up well since his liberal days. He has put his money where his mouth is. The “Voices Against Trump” continue to need the the status quo to exist so they can continue to bemoan the undeniable fact that the current crop of conservatives we just elected again have betrayed us once more.
And if the qualifier is going to be as the “Voices Against Trump” claim that Trump is not a real conservative I suggest that they take a good hard look at some bona-fide conservatives turned out after they got their seat of power. Ted Cruz, Paul Ryan, Ron Johnson can be their primary readers.
“Voices Against Trump” needs to quit wagging their finger, they need to quit scratching their heads, stop telling us to hold our noses in the voting both, stop pretending that electing certified conservatives has done America a lick of good over the last 12 years, quit the Pharisaical pontificating and get off the gosh darn track.
We need a border not excuses, hand ringing, capitulation and certainly not breathless mediocre praise for the imperfect “better” alternative to Trump Pffftt..… Trump is the only candidate who has made a serious and believable goodwill promise to do something about our borders.
Piss off Voices Against Trump you are backing the wrong horse.
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I learned long ago to take all these people with a grain of salt. I make it an intellectual exercise to see how quickly I can refute their logic, find fault in their reasoning, and notice facts they never mention. It is much more fun, and keeps my temper in check.
And all that said, I do not see how the RNC could have possibly done otherwise. Not possible to have debate moderators who have shown their bias. Meagan Kelley and possibly Brett Baier and Chris Wallace perhaps should also be included.
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I like Trump for all the reasons Menage listed. I’m waiting for him to win – and get rid of every single career thief rooted in every congressional, alphabet, educational, sjw, younameit district/agency that’s bleeding this country dry. All the alphabet agencies are corrupt, the media’s corrupt, the justice system is corrupt. Like I’ve said in the past – I don’t care what he does as long as he kills the gravy train and screws up their 2 party system politics from now until forevermore.
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I will personally help too ReFocus the VA! It will be a bloodbath for about 6 months.
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I’d love to help, too – but I’m not civil service qualified. And I think it’ll be a bloodbath for the whole 4 years. I.Don’t.Care. As long as most of the parasites are fired, I don’t care.
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Ya get to start with sending the whaaambulance over to this building! 🙂
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/01/22/letter-heartbroken-national-review-publisher-addresses-cancel-my-subscription-demands-over-against-trump/
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Somebody told me voters supporting Trump were just doing it to give a middle finger to both parties and that will hurt the country.
I asked, “So what if it is? They’ve been giving us the finger for years while destroying the country.”
Now that isn’t why I’m voting for Trump, although I do enjoy watching them all squirm. I’m voting for Trump because of immigration. He’s the one who started the conversation. He’s the one who can beat them and he’s obviously the one that has all of them soiling their pants. I truly believe that if Trump had not ran they would have already given us amnesty.
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If Trump is the guy, then he better dam well clean the sewer up. If not, I guess I’ll prolly go to my grave p*ssed off at the world. Somebody’s gotta clean up that craphole. Him or Cruz, I don’t care which one. Ain’t none of those other weazel’z got a hair on their *ss to do anything that needs doin’. That’s all I have to say about that.
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Too bad in D.C. life ain’t like a box of chocolates.
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What?
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Wait a minnit – I messed up my pitcher…. now. So, What??
😀
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Ya’z made beer come out’a my noze on that one Miss Wee. 😆 😯
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😀 😀 😀
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I think we know these people. 😯 😆
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Beer chug!!! What’s the magic word? Conservative??? 😀
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Trump!
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Hah! Seeing that background reminded me of the video woman tryin to get past Trump Tower security with all those yellow flowers. So many couldn’t even see her and she kept dropping them until security had to step in and take the flowers but they gave her one at the end.
http://youtu.be/GnZkvxP-Awk
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As too the threads topic, “They”, said the Same about Reagan!!!
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Read it and weep:
(Hit your “home” button, because the page defaults at the bottom.)
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2016/01/national-review-against-america.html#comment-form
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CTH posted a link to this, which explains a lot about the “conservatives” who write for National Review:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/01/30/the-obama-memos
Obama sprang coatless from his limousine and headed up the steps of Will’s yellow clapboard house. He was greeted by Will, Michael Barone, David Brooks, Charles Krauthammer, William Kristol, Lawrence Kudlow, Rich Lowry, and Peggy Noonan. They were Reaganites all, yet some had paid tribute to Obama during the campaign. Lowry, who is the editor of the National Review, called Obama “the only presidential candidate from either party about whom there is a palpable excitement.” Krauthammer, an intellectual and ornery voice on Fox News and in the pages of the Washington Post, had written that Obama would be “a president with the political intelligence of a Bill Clinton harnessed to the steely self-discipline of a Vladimir Putin,” who would “bestride the political stage as largely as did Reagan.” And Kristol, the editor of the Weekly Standard and a former aide to Dan Quayle, wrote, “I look forward to Obama’s inauguration with a surprising degree of hope and good cheer.”
And that’s just the beginning. And these guys can’t stand Donald Trump? Excuse me if I doubt their judgment (and that’s giving them a big benefit of the doubt).
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Lolol projectlion!
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Poo kittah, musta eaten at chipolte?
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LOL!
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I’m dyin’, here….. 😀
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This tone-deaf turd. 🙄
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/jeb-bush-the-rnc-was-wrong-to-uninvite-national-review-from-the-debate/ar-BBozJ4D?li=BBnbfcQ
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Poor boy wonder, I almost feel sorry for him.
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Not me. I want to see this family buried. His kid is in a state-wide office here and I want him gone too. Done with all of ’em. 👿
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You could send Wee or nye to give them all hugs.
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I’ll only punish my enemies. Could never do that to good peeps. 😉
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Well, I guess you could always take Jeb snipe hunting along the border.
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I’m running out of land. Don’t know ’bout Seattle B, there. 🙄 I’ve hugged enough to get me 30 to life.
Which’ll prolly be less than 30.
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Poor ol’ Jeb I guess will just have to go visit the border to get any love.
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Some days I truly feel like I’m living in the Twilight Zone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdkuOEqKkZM
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Lovely asked “who butters their bread?”. In the case of National Review, they’re a 501(c)(3) non-profit – and forbidden from engaging in political activity:
Political activity. If any of the activities (whether or not substantial) of your organization consist of participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office, your organization will not qualify for tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3). Such participation or intervention includes the publishing or distributing of statements.
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p557/ch03.html#en_US_201502_publink1000200036
Considering how cavalier they’re being, it would be awfully fun to see them lose their exempt status as a result of this – here’s how to file a complaint with the IRS:
Click to access f13909.pdf
here is their TaxID/EO (exempt organization) filing info
13-3649537 National Review Institute Washington DC United States
(this was also posted at CTH in a series of replies)
Happy Friday, all 😉
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