Conservatives Should Stop Defending Brats

I cannot stand it when I am in a store and there is a bratty kid pulling cans off the shelf while mom is chasing him. "I'm sorry, he is just a bright boy and so full of energy." The parent is actually so "full" of it. We roll our eyes and try to navigate around the mobile disaster area in tennis shoes. I want to get away from that aisle as quickly as possible.

I believe conservative media has suffered a terrible blow this past election cycle. It wasn't by the Democrats who simply articulated the same dangerous ideas that haven't worked nor were well received in the past. We expect Democrats to behave like Democrats. The problem was with Republicans who often tried to "out socialize" the Democrats and proved electorate cynicism about the GOP as the party of the rich as they voted for a bailout.

Many, if not most, elected Republicans have become Democrat copy cats and I am convinced that most Americans will simply vote for the real thing. Why vote for a Democrat impersonator when there is an actual Democrat available? These poorly behaving Republicans have talked about wealth redistribution (bailouts), have promoted the myth of Global Warming, and have disregarded the need of defending our borders. These are the same positions supported by the Democrats' Standard Bearers.

Smart conservatives in media have distanced themselves from such politicians. All four or five of them. The vast majority have joined the ranks of the mom in the store with the child out of control and the voters are distancing themselves from the brats and may soon do the same to their apologists.

As I have said, most conservative pundits are guilty. I sounded almost schizophrenic near the end of the campaign because I am disgusted by McCain's positions, but felt Obama was so much worse. Fear about the Fairness Doctrine (which should be called the Censure Doctrine), the extreme positions Obama took on the war and the economy, and the simple lack of choices made conservatives get in line behind the GOP. We have nothing to show for it and I am not convinced that we would have if McCain had won. Maybe the shock of Obama is what America and the Republican Party needs.

Conservative pundits need to hold candidates to task and stop being satisfied with the "lessor of two evils." If we held those who are dishonest about their philosophy to the same standards of admitted liberals, we would have a much more honest political process and would find conservative pundits held in higher regard, with greater credibility, and would force the Republican party to the roots that made it once so successful.

Kevin Price is a syndicated columnist whose articles frequently appear at ChicagoSunTimes.com, Reuters.com, USAToday.com, and other national media. Kevin Price is Host of the Price of Business (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Hear the show live and online at PriceofBusiness.com. Visit the archive of past shows here.