Conservative writer/commentator David Frum—the man responsible for writing the Bush “axis of evil” speech—has been doing left/right debates for the public radio show Marketplace.
Until now, that is.
This week (Marketplace, 10/12/11), Frum came to the conclusion that while he’s still conservative, he doesn’t do a good job representing the right-wing position in that kind of discussion anymore:
Well, we’ve been doing a point/counterpoint here between me and Bob Reich for a couple of years. And it’s been a lot of fun. I’ve certainly learned a lot from it. But I think that there’s a kind of expectation that when you do it, that you represent the broad point of view of your half of the political spectrum. And although I consider myself a conservative and a Republican, and I think that the right-hand side of the spectrum has the better answers for the long-term growth of economy—low taxes, restrained government, less regulation—it’s pretty clear that facing the immediate crisis—very intense crisis—I’m just not representing the view of most people who call themselves Republicans and conservatives these days.
Good for Frum.
Now if only some of the people who are booked on corporate TV to represent “the left” would do the same.
I guess he’s just admitting that he couldn’t out-debate Robert Reich.
Too bad, Mr. Frum. Better luck next time if you can find some facts to argue with.
At least he admits that he’s learned a lot. Frum lately often finds himself at odds with the crazy, anti-intellectual right, and I’ll bet he’s a bit worried. He has to know that his claim that the “right-hand side” has the answers is bullshit, because he’s smart enough to see plainly how bad things have gotten due exactly to the “right-hand side” of things. It actually sounds to me like he’s damning the nutzoid right with faint praise (” . . . (the)very intense crisis–I’m just not representing the view of most people who call themselves Republicans and conservatives these days. (emphasis mine–TimN)
“left” and “right” fists of the same corporate rule -that lingo needs to go anyway
Frum has been qualifying himself for a while from the increasingly difficult-to-defend positions of the self-defined American right as they have pushed further and further. I think it is quite scary that a man as far right as Frum is beginning to look like a moderate in comparison with his former ideological friends.
It’s good to hear frum admit that he’s actually learnt a lot and
frum’s simply admitting that he’s too sane to represent his party anymore….
No Woodward …he is simply admitting he is too sane to POSE as a conservative anymore.He was never a conservative(hell was Bush?).Always the wolf in sheep’s clothing.I always wondered why he was representing the conservative point of view- when he himself obviously was not one himself.No one expects people to be in lockstep .But the least you could ask is that they basically agree with the side they claim as their own.Long overdue him stepping out of this horrible fit.Smarmy how he did it though.
But what really happened here? Did NPR actually decide that Frum was too centrist for marketplace?