SALON

Wednesday, Aug 1, 2012 3:15 PM UTC

What They’re Saying: A new Salon feature

The right in their own words

By

Topics: Things they're saying, Conservatism, Republican Party, Media,

What They're Saying: A new Salon featureElephants run rightward. (AP/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

Liberals and conservatives used to have their own opinions. Now they have their own facts. With partisans looking to alternate universes of information conservatives can find ample data bolstering arguments that, say, people who don’t earn enough to pay federal income taxes are somehow “lucky duckies.”

In the spirit of intellectual exchange, Salon is starting a new feature called What They’re Saying. Each post will mine the conservative brain and spotlight the most outrageous, obsequious, reality-defying and hopefully sometimes insightful and profound thought produced by our conservative friends.

For starters, let’s look at this gem from William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard and pillar of the conservative cause. In yesterday’s disposable campaign story, Romney spokesman Rick Gorka told the cranky press corps to “shove it” and “kiss my ass” after they couldn’t get their questions answered. Gorka then apologized for his incivility, understandable on the last leg of a draining trip. Kristol, however, enshrined Gorka as a conservative hero whose “pithy comment” might just signal the Romney campaign’s resurgence:

Au contraire: The trip will prove to have been a big success—unless the Romney campaign succumbs to the media narrative and becomes defensive and apologetic. If team Romney hangs tough, and indeed follows up on the trip with a fighting spirit and a breadth of message that’s been somewhat lacking heretofore, the trip could be an inflection point for the Romney campaign. Romney’s excellent speeches, along with his visits to the Western Wall and to Gdansk and Warsaw, successfully captured an appreciation for the spirit of liberty and the West’s Judeo-Christian heritage, and for those who, like Americans, have had courage to fight for both. Now Team Romney has to have the courage to stick to its guns, and to move ahead boldly and confidently.

A good start would be for Mitt Romney to walk off the plane in Boston arm-in-arm with Rick Gorka, showing solidarity with his aide who tried to insist on respect for their Polish hosts at a solemn memorial site, and who had the wit to tell the press corps what to do.

Readers are invited to contribute suggestions for future editions of What They’re Saying to whattheyresaying at salon.com.

Alex Halperin is news editor at Salon. You can follow him on Twitter @alexhalperin. More Alex Halperin.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 18 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

What They're Saying is a Salon feature spotlighting quotes that embody conservative thinking and dogma. Quotes recommended for inclusion are welcome at whattheyresaying at salon.com.

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Slave descendants seek equal rights from Cherokee Nation
57 points58 points | 3 comments
vote
Oklahoma senator: Tornado aid “totally different” from Sandy aid
42 points43 points | 6 comments
vote
Oklahoma senator who voted against federal funding for Hurricane Sandy victims: Tornado aid “totally different” from Sandy aid
38 points39 points | comment
vote
"Apparently, we have deserving and undeserving disasters, Oklahoma senators James Inhofe and Tom Coburn explain"
27 points28 points | 2 comments
vote
Obama opposes GOP bill on Keystone XL oil pipeline: The White House said Tuesday that the bill “seeks to circumvent longstanding and proven processes” by removing a requirement for a presidential permit. The legislation also says no new environmental studies are needed.
22 points23 points | 2 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations