AEI Ordered NOT To Speak To Media Because "They Agreed TOO Much With What Obama Was Trying To Do"

[kpete]

Bruce Bartlett says AEI health care experts “had been ordered not to speak to the media because they agreed with too much of what Obama was trying to do.”

David Frum and the Closing of the Conservative Mind
Mar
25
Bruce Bartlett

As some readers of this blog may know, I was fired by a right wing think tank called the National Center for Policy Analysis in 2005 for writing a book critical of George W. Bush's policies, especially his support for Medicare Part D. In the years since, I have lost a great many friends and been shunned by conservative society in Washington, DC.

Now the same thing has happened to David Frum, who has been fired by the American Enterprise Institute. I don't know all the details, but I presume that his Waterloo post on Sunday condemning Republicans for failing to work with Democrats on healthcare reform was the final straw.

Since, he is no longer affiliated with AEI, I feel free to say publicly something he told me in private a few months ago. He asked if I had noticed any comments by AEI "scholars" on the subject of health care reform. I said no and he said that was because they had been ordered not to speak to the media because they agreed with too much of what Obama was trying to do.

It saddened me to hear this. I have always hoped that my experience was unique. But now I see that I was just the first to suffer from a closing of the conservative mind. Rigid conformity is being enforced, no dissent is allowed, and the conservative brain will slowly shrivel into dementia if it hasn't already.

more:
http://capitalgainsandgames.com/blog/bruce-bartlett/1601/groupthink-right-would-make-stalin-proud

[Old and In the Way]

1. The conservative mind was welded shut a long time ago.

No one has seen it in 40 years. What masquerades as conservative thinking is really just a totalitarian mindset whose only principle is getting and maintaining power. When they get power, they abuse it to further their own ends. Nothing conservative about so-called conservatives today. Anti-socialist, yes. Conservative, no.

[zbdent]

11. welded shut, put into an adamantium box, and then buried under 30 feet

of concrete ...

[zipplewrath]

2. Congratulations folks

"they had been ordered not to speak to the media because they agreed with too much of what Obama was trying to do.

You just declared a victory for passing a conservative health insurance reform package. Now THAT'S a BFD. What ya gonna do next? Invade Iran?

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

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[zipplewrath]

9. Probably presuming you've read what I have

I don't always put all the underlying explanations in. I presume after a time that much of the info is "common knowledge". Say, for example, when Obama explained that his HIR was very similar to the Dole/Baker package of 15 years ago. Or when he said he rejected "progressive ideas" in writing it. Or any of the half dozen (moderately) conservative writers that have acknowledged that much of this is the stuff of conservative ideals.

[blindpig]

14. Yep

Can't go confusing the rank & file. Gotta talk shit about what the corporations are pretty much lovin'.

In truth, the rank & file of the Democratic party and the Republican Party are both hopelessly confused about the nature of this administration. It is neither 'socialists' nor the friend of working people. It is the friend of business, as is every presidential administration, it's part of the job description.

[malaise]

3. The conservative brain will slowly shrivel into dementia

Done and dusted. :rofl:

[MissMarple]

4. Well, why does he think the AEI was started in the first place? To develop conservative spin.

And now the right wingers believe their own spin.

Surprise! Surprise!

[tigereye]

5. I suspect he will find a more open-minded place to work...

[druidity33]

6. maybe at HuffPo...

where Dan Froomkin ended up? Or Slate.com where Spitzer is? More likely at Politico though...

:shrug:

[FrenchieCat]

7. Well if Bruce Bartlett said it, then it must be true!

:eyes:

[slipslidingaway]

12. Same thing was said of Billy Tauzin when he spoke of his deal...

with this administraton.

:shrug:

[Edweird]

10. The proof is in the pudding, so to speak. The bill is to the right of Newt Gingrich.

For some reason a Dem passing corporatist ultra RW policy is considered a 'win' by some. It's bizarre.

[bvar22]

13. As soon as Big Corpo got what it wanted...

(Individual Mandates + NO Public Option) the MSM became surprisingly accommodating of HCR.
No more "Death Panels", no more "Big Government Takeover", no more depictions of "Teabaggers" as loyal, patriotic Americans.....

The MSM is still in Hard Sell mode for HCR.

[Nikki Stone1]

15. This would have lost them Progressive DEMOCRATS

That's why we're just finding out about this now.