"Conservative Intellectuals Fear the GOP Is Out of Ideas"

[applegrove]

Conservative Intellectuals Fear the GOP Is Out of Ideas

By Peter Coy at Business Week

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-03-12/conservative-intellectuals-fear-the-gop-is-out-of-ideas#r=pol-ls

"SNIP.......................


Since they weren’t running for office, the panelists could afford to say things you won’t hear from Republicans on Capitol Hill. Roy said that the Democratic Party “has a more legitimate claim of being a national party” in terms of its regional and ethnic diversity. Salam said “our mental model of capitalism is wrong.” Levin said “capitalism requires a kind of citizen that it doesn’t produce.” McArdle said that the GOP formula that worked well in the past—deregulation and tax-cutting—doesn’t answer today’s problems. Barro topped her, noting that judging from today’s low interest rates, the bond market is much calmer about federal budget deficits than Republicans are. “A conservative is somebody who thinks every market is efficient except the Treasury bond market,” he said.

The Romney campaign in 2012 deliberately avoided an ideas-based campaign, fearing that any specifics could end up being used against the Republicans at the polls, Levin said. “That just has to change,” he added. On the same note, Roy said the Republicans need a conservative version of President Lyndon Johnson, who modernized the Democratic Party in the 1960s through sheer force of will, overcoming the opposition of old-fashioned Southern Democrats to make Democrats the party of civil rights.

As for new ideas, McArdle—disclosure: a distant Bloomberg colleague—pushed a favorite of hers: payroll tax rebates for the long-term unemployed. The idea is to make them cheaper for employers to hire, increasing their chances of getting a job. Barro questioned whether the tax rebate would just end up in employers’ pockets by bringing more people into the labor market and driving wages down. McArdle responded that it would work if it was clearly targeted at just the long-term unemployed.

In any case, payroll tax rebates aren’t likely to pass muster with conservatives who oppose all spending hikes, since the hit to the Social Security and Medicare trust funds from cutting the payroll tax would have to be made up with general revenues.


......................SNIP"

[Skittles]

1. "conservative intellectuals"

[Brigid]

4. Yep, definitely. an oxymoron if ever there was one!

[City Lights]

11. I know, right?

[Le Taz Hot]

12. That was my reaction.

Talk about an oxymoron.

[applegrove]

2. Levin said “capitalism requires a kind of citizen that it doesn’t produce.” LOL!

Capitalism does produce unfeeling robots. But the 1% doesn't have enough votes.....yet.

[PeteSelman]

3. Doesn't really matter, does it?

They still win elections. They're still going to have the House next year and most likely the Senate.

They may never win the presidency again but the only ideas that will go anywhere are theirs.

It's almost unbelievable that this is the case. Almost.

[Gothmog]

5. There are conservative intellectuals?

That is news to me

[JaneyVee]

6. Well there's an oxymoron.

[CJCRANE]

7. This is just begging for an Onion headline

something along the lines of...

"Conservative Intellectuals Find New Idea".

[Solly Mack]

8. Is it bad joke day or something?

A Colin Powell selfie, McCain says it is (the) "1st time I've been embarrassed about members of my party" and now this - "Conservative Intellectuals Fear the GOP Is Out of Ideas".

LMAO

[AlinPA]

9. "Conservative Intellectuals"? What/who the hell would that be? As far as ideas, some of the GOP list

is:
Eliminate taxes
Eliminate food stamps,
Eliminate Social Security
Eliminate Medicare
Eliminate Medicaid
Eliminate the Clean Water Act
Eliminate the Clean Air Act
Eliminate the EPA
Eliminate the Department of Education
Eliminate the minimum wage
Eliminate the FDA
Eliminate National Parks
Eliminate gun laws
Eliminate the Endangered Species Act
Eliminate gay people
Eliminate immigrants
Eliminate non-Christians
Eliminate science in schools
Eliminate public schools

They have lots of ideas.

[applegrove]

10. I think this is an attempt to paint GOP plans as something other than a cabal

of rich people trying to dial back the clock to the Edwardian era.

[charlyvi]

13. BWAHAHAHA!

That is all.

[lindysalsagal]

14. BOTH of them????!!!!

Well, then, it MUST be true!

[stage left]

15. The "Conservative Intellectuals" have lots of ideas.

It's just that all of them are bad.

[applegrove]

16. I think people like Ann Coulter and Paul Ryan come up with ideas to trick

people out of their vote and enjoy the game. After all Anne did say she mostly comes up with the stuff she comes up with to make her friends laugh. I'm sure Paul Ryan thought he had a couple of zingers on the voting public this past week but he got called out on both.