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It's George Wallace's GOP - 2/28/2010 6:39:25 PM

AnimusRex

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Jonathan Rauch has a fascinating article out in National Journal about how the GOP has embraced George Wallace's vision of America.

He juxtaposes quotes from Wallace and Palin and they are strikingly similar, in tone and thought.

Sample:
Palin: "Voters are sending a message." Wallace: "Send them a message!"
Palin: "The soul of this movement is the people, everyday Americans, who grow our food and run our small businesses, who teach our kids and fight our wars.... The elitists who denounce this movement, they just don't want to hear the message." Wallace: "They've looked down their noses at the average man on the street too long. They've looked [down] at the bus driver, the truck driver, the beautician, the fireman, the policeman, and the steelworker...."

He makes the point that the modern conservative movement is based on a sense of grievance, that the educated elites are not only stealing from the working class, but looking down their nose and condescending to them.
What caught me was the conclusion:

Conservatism is wary of extremism and rage and anti-intellectualism, of demagoguery and incoherent revolutionary rhetoric. Wallace was a right-wing populist, not a conservative. The rise of his brand of pseudo-conservatism in Republican circles should alarm anyone who cares about the genuine article.

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RE: It's George Wallace's GOP - 2/28/2010 8:08:51 PM

popeye1250

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Rex, I think it's fair for people to have a sense of greivance, our govt simply hasn't been doing it's job in so many areas.
There's too much corruption in govt.

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RE: It's George Wallace's GOP - 2/28/2010 8:18:39 PM

thornhappy

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Cool article. The info about the Wallace/Goldwater division within the GOP was news to me.

Regarding Pawlenty's remarks, I've seen a few folks note that Chablis and brie are sold at Walmart nowadays.

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RE: It's George Wallace's GOP - 2/28/2010 8:33:36 PM

DarkSteven

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I would consider it unhealthy if populism were not to gain steam.

The banks have ripped us all off. They committed fraud and were bailed out when it all blew up. Over the screams of the American people who will be forced to pay.

We had a bogus war in Iraq sold to us, and were promised that the government would keep us safe before Katrina revealed incompetence of Biblical proportions. The banks are raising credit card abuses, while the Fed is keeping interest rates low so banks get to widen their profits while those on fixed incomes get ruined.

Time to get angry. The government has earned it.

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RE: It's George Wallace's GOP - 2/28/2010 9:45:45 PM

juliaoceania

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quote:

Time to get angry. The government has earned it.

Most of the things that pissed you off happened before Obama took office... to be fair, the republicans gave billions upon billions to their corporate sponsors... and yet there is no sense that the republicans are being blamed and after screwing the pooch, they want to blame it on the democrats... well... the democrats haven't fixed anything, but they didn't break it in the first place.

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