he had Sam Tannenhaus, who wrote The Death of Conservatism. Pretty interesting stuff about what conservatism means, history of the intellectual leaders, etc..
It's on charlierose.com under the Archive tab if anyone's interested.

One interesting thing he said: The greatest conservative presidents since FDR: Eisenhower and Clinton. Also, Obama has a conservative temperament. Also, the lack of conservative intellectuals hurts liberals. The evolution of conservatism was interesting.

__________________
1984 300TD

Sounds interesting. Clinton and Obama conservatives? Yes, in many ways, but mainly simply centrist. That is the beauty of them.

Most folks are in the center.

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

He starts with the rise of conservative thinkers and shows how their ideas are executed by Clinton and Obama. Centrism was a tenet of earlier conservatives. Centrism and reform. I thought some of it was a stretch, or not quite what the original conservatives meant, but the difference between conservatives now and then is surprising. It's kind of like seeing someone again after a long time. Then you see differences you don't see when you're with a person over time.
The old school conservatism is the kind I consider intelligent conservatism. New conservatism is lacking the intellectual substance of the old. That's why I like David Brooks and George Will (the latter a little less). They are the only voices of the old (and I think true) conservatives.

__________________
1984 300TD

watching it really piqued my interested in politics again. i've told people for years that this country would fall over itself to vote for a centrist, old school, intellectual conservative/republican, one that courts and protects the middle class. for some reason conservatives today court the upper class while using the lowest class to shout their idiotic slogans. democrats do not court the votes of the bong rippin' hippies on the super far left because it would be political suicide and would turn off the centrists. why then do the republicans insist on courting the inbred race baiting tea baggers to prove how american they are? i can't vote for a republican for a few reasons, one of which is that i can't align myself with the glen becks of the world. more george will, less glen beck, seems very simple.

edit: Tannenhaus is also right in stating that liberals/democrats have been suffering without intellectual conservatives to sharpen their arguments against. you don't have to actually do any political foot work when your only opponents are so weird and out there that no one is going to be curious as to what they offer politically.

__________________
1985 300D - 1984 Euro 280E AMG Clone (SOLD) - 1978 280CE (SOLD) - 1983 300D (SOLD) - 1981 300D (SOLD)

I just read your Kurt Vonnegut quote on the bottom. Hah! It is truly scary!

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Speaking of, I thought it was funny and true how he called them the same as hippies in the 60s. Counter culture anti-establishmentism. Hit the nail right on the head. I bet some of those tea baggers would have their head explode hearing that.

__________________
1984 300TD

Clinton was very left wing but had to centralize to get anything done, especially after the Contract with America. Obama was the highest scoring liberal senator in the Congress, he is pure socialist. He is worse than Carter, who was just stupid.

__________________
MB-less

What a joke...for every Joseph Stiglitz you democrats count among your ranks you've got two or three ACORN beneficiaries.

__________________

1983 300D

i'm not a democrat.

my point is that behind the democrats you DO find crazy leftist hippies and behind the republicans you DO find crazy conservative wing nuts. it just seems to be the trend for republicans to court that right wing base, rather than quietly tolerate them while they court those of us in the center. when one sides argument is solely "he's a marxist and a muslim" and those of us with half a brain know this to not be true, there isn't much of a debate or discussion left. it's depressing and annoying to me because i'd vote for an intelligent republican that actually had some good ideas and would actually keep me in mind when writing and/or signing legislation. instead they're falling all over each other to sling insults about birth certificates. i don't have time in my life to get into that bat ***** thought process.

__________________
1985 300D - 1984 Euro 280E AMG Clone (SOLD) - 1978 280CE (SOLD) - 1983 300D (SOLD) - 1981 300D (SOLD)

IMO, these terms have become meaningless (at least in common useage).

The problem that both parties have is that you actually have to stand for something, you actually have to present a vision of what you think the country needs to look like in 25 or 50 years. When was the last time you saw any leadership from either party. You can't just run on the "the other guy is an idiot" platform.

At the moment conservative means anti-change, anti-intilectual to the unwashed masses and pro-industry, low tax, low regulation to their real base. The religious crazies just don't have any place else to go.

Liberal/ progressive means redistribution of wealth to the recipients of federal money and a social "safety net" to people who thing government can actually accomplish anything. They also manage to appeal to what's left of unions while also being anti-manufacturing.

I guess you can fool most of the people most of the time.

The republican party is no longer conservative.


Both of the major party's are morraly bankrupt and politcally corrupt. I'd be very happy to see them both fail.

__________________
2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

...and I thought I was cynical.

Of course you are correct, their actions have no relationship to their public rhetoric. The "media" will do and say whatever will sell the most soap and the public seems to have unlimited gullibility. The system is completely broken, but it is fun to watch the train wreck. Eventually we (or our kids) will have to find someplace to live with a functioning government.

I love election time, they each spend a billion bucks to tell everyone how the other guy sucks. Than they promise the world. But in reality they are only paying lip service to stay in power. The real power brokers are the special interest groups that buy them.

Its amazing how the pulbic still buys it. The media of course is in their back pockets. Fox has a hard on for the republicans and the other networks are butt buddy's with the dems.


Its really sad because we do have some very good party's in this country. The Libertarian and Constitution partys are pretty good, far better than these morons.


What would go a long way to fixing the system is a cap on what the candidates can spend. If everyone is capped at say $50m than they really have to work and the better person probably will win.

__________________
2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200