Posted on May 10, 2013


“We are, have been, and will remain a center-right country,” Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer told the crowd of nearly 600 gathered for the 28th Annual John M. Ashbrook Memorial Dinner in Ashland on May 3. Republicans and conservatives will win the coming elections as long as they present the voters’ choice as one determining “the size, scope, and power of government.”

Krauthammer applauded Ashbrook, because “teaching the depth of the philosophical issues underlying the uniqueness of the American experiment” is important aspect of the Center’s work.

Krauthammer, who many on both left and right see as America’s most influential news analyst, offered encouragement to conservatives worried about the future of the country after two consecutive presidential losses. To those who argue conservatives should “redo, undo, rethink our principles,” he answered: “Rubbish!”

“Our case is the right case and . . . resonates with the deepest instincts of Americans,” Krauthammer asserted, pointing out that Americans overwhelmingly identify with a moderate or conservative political perspective. Gallup polling shows that in 2012, 38% of voters called themselves conservatives and 36%, moderates. Even exit polls at last November’s elections found that by a margin of eight points, Americans felt government was currently doing too much, not too little.

Krauthammer’s trenchant assessments of national politics frequently brought the crowd to laughter. Analyzing the ideological stance of our current president, Krauthammer distinguished between the usual position of American liberals and the agenda of Obama: “A liberal is someone who doesn’t care what you do as long as it’s mandatory;” Obama, in contrast, “wants to move us more toward the European model of the entitlement state,” a model which history shows to have failed, since much of Europe is “insolvent.”

“The clueless mainstream media were utterly shocked” by Obama’s second inaugural address, Krauthammer said; yet Obama had clearly announced his agenda in his first State of the Union Address, when he declared an intention to transform health care, education, and energy policy. “Think about that. Health care is one sixth of the American economy. Education, you all know, is the future.” Energy, Krauthammer continued, provides “the sinews of the economy,” since it governs how products and services move and at what cost.

Krauthammer explained the two consecutive Democratic presidential wins as consequences of bad timing and a weak candidate field. In 2008, a “war-weary” country voting “six weeks after the worst financial collapse in 70 years” predictably chose the candidate challenging the party in power. In 2012, facing a “totally winnable election,” Republicans failed to muster strong contenders for the nomination.

Romney’s clear grasp of the country’s problems made him “the only plausible candidate” in the field. However, to an electorate still suspicious of Wall Street after the financial collapse, Romney was tainted by his career in finance; and voters disturbed by Obamacare could not forget that Romney as Governor of Massachusetts had introduced the only comparable statewide health care scheme. More fundamentally, “Romney was not fluent in conservatism,” having developed his conservative principles late in his political career.

Republicans will win the next presidential election, Krauthammer asserted, noting that only once in the last 70 years—at the end of Reagan’s successful presidency has a party that has held power for two presidential cycles kept it for a third. Moreover, the field of candidates in 2016 will be young, strong, and crowded with energetic and principled leaders. Midterm elections in 2014 should also show a strong conservative rebound, just as occurred in 2010.

“We are, have been, and will remain a center-right country,” Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer told the crowd of nearly 600 gathered for the 28th Annual John M. Ashbrook Memorial Dinner in Ashland on May 3. Republicans and conservatives will win the coming elections as long as they present the voters’ choice as one determining “the size, scope, and power of government.”

Hogwash...on a couple of levels.

Calling the country "center right" is just one of those things that right wingers accept without facts...and Krauthammer depends on dimwits to continually repeat it...without facts.

I'm sure he's glad you stepped up, Illy.

That's just semantics, though...the more important laugher in this statement is that Republicans are center right, and will win something with it.

Republicans are getting more and more owned by the Retarded Wing of the Republican Party...also known as the Tea Party. Far right, factually vacant, and not likely to win much of anything on a national scale.

Even if the country were "center right"...which it is not...the country is not in any way in line politically with the Republican Party, because it is not center right.

Republicans are not what they used to be, and conservatives don't have a party any more.

Sorry.

Fish on...

Todd

Well Hank they better stand for something other than look what's he's doing and saying no to every effort to help this country.
WTF kind of change is that? Even the dumbfuk Fox News watchers can see that's not a plan.
The GOP better start coming up with some really good ideas fast, or Hillary is going to smoke them like a cheap cigar.

The GOP has a plan...continue to play to the lowest common denominator...ignorance...by continuing to put up TeaBaggers as candidates.

They'll whoop ass on any candidate with a brain in the primaries, and then, followed by a crowd with illiterate and laughable signs waving all over the place, get their asses roundly beat in an actual election.

In this manner they will continue to leave the Democrats in the White House and in the majority in the Senate, and when even the dimwits in the dimwit House districts who elect these clowns get tired of them being clowns, then they'll lose the House, too.

Any Republican with half a brain who rails against this inevitability gets run out of town on a rail...much to the hilarity of the rest of us.

Fish on...

Todd

"us" you mean there are more than one person with defective reasoning powers?

Yeah...says the guy who thinks Krauthammer is a genius, not to mention thinks he himself is a genius.

Fish on...

Todd

You're wrong again. The majority of people who will vote for Hillary do not care about Benghazi, the snipers in the Balkans, her vote for the war in Iraq, Whitewater, or Bill's AIDS, the rest have not even heard of any of it.

I wouldn't say the Krauthammer is a genius, however he is reasonable.

He used to be reasonable...now he's "center right"...which is to say, far right...he speaks to and for a small minority who continue to delude themselves into thinking they speak for a lot more people than they actually do.

Fish on...

Todd

It would be indeed strange, to believe that you have the capacity to deem whether Charles Krauthammer is reasonable or not.

I bow down to you, oh Sage one.

Fish on...

Todd

P.S. Just kidding.

As always, it's the thought that counts.

Man I don't think I am a genius Odd. I fully realize how little I know. And that puts cretins like yourself on my , How Sad List.

I am just thankful that folks with your line of reasoning didn't survive the formative years of this country. Now, it seems, all sorts of common sense resistant entities abound.

In order to be considered smart, one must demonstrate critical thinking skills.
You might want to try that sometime.

Said the backslider.

I seriously doubt it.

I was using the military definition Hank, getting credit for something someone else did.

How about goldbrick?