Fareed Zakaria Rips Conservative Movement In Time Magazine Piece
CNN host Fareed Zakaria, also the editor-at-large for Time magazine, derides today's conservative movement as out-of-touch and too abstract in a scathing Time article "How Today's Conservatism Lost Touch With Reality." He argues, "Conservatives now espouse ideas drawn from abstract principles with little regard to the realities of America's present or past."
Of course, if Zakaria is to paint with broad strokes and dismiss the modern conservative movement as entirely lost and ineffective, the reader would expect him to expound upon his point in detail and provide plenty of facts and evidence to support his thesis. His argument is largely devoid of substantial evidence and filled with debatable historical assumptions.
Zakaria mourns for the days of traditional conservatism "rooted in reality," but doesn't help his cause by distancing himself from this traditional conservatism in the first graph.
"Conservatism is true." That's what George Will told me when I interviewed him as an eager student many years ago. His formulation might have been a touch arrogant, but Will's basic point was intelligent.
This is certainly not a dismissal of conservatism, but neither is it a full embrace of conservatism. A friend of conservatism might have more authority to criticize today's movement than someone like Zakaria who keeps a safe distance.
Then he attacks the notion that lower taxes and spending will lead to economic growth, a favorite talking point of liberals today. "What is the evidence that tax cuts are the best path to revive the U.S. economy?" he asks.
Reaganomics would be a good starting point, although Zakaria makes no effort to address that conservative argument. He instead credits the economic growth of the 80's and 90's to government investing in education and infrastructure.
He also claims that Republicans are MIA when it comes to providing substantial ideas for improving health care in America. "When considering health care, for example, Republicans confidently assert that their ideas will lower costs, when we simply do not have much evidence for this."
Once again, Zakaria shreds the conservative side of an issue and moves on without providing a substantial rebuttal. Then he says Republicans "don't bother to study existing health care systems anywhere in the world," in a rather hasty accusation. "They resemble the old Marxists," he adds, "who refused to look around at actual experience."
He also hits conservatives for not embracing the findings of the bi-partisan Bowles-Simpson debt commission -- "because those ideas are too deeply rooted in, well, reality." Once again he sets up a straw-man argument by hailing the debt commission's findings as "reality" without explaining why, and condeming conservatives for running from it.
Does Zakaria know that President Obama has also been running from ideas proposed by the debt commission? Would he like to criticize him as well? Or is he too busy having foreign policy conversations with the president to hit him as "out-of-touch" with America? Is it because he voted for a "steady and reasoned" Barack Obama in 2008?
If Zakaria provided evidence and quotes to back up his barbs against Republicans, his argument would prove much more credible than it does. Instead, it appears he is content with accusations bordering on ad hominem attacks.
For the entire article, click here.
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Comments
"Green card"
Submitted by Xpat48 on Fri, 06/17/2011 - 6:04pm.
Turn in your "Green Card" and go home.
Eat Pork!
Time Magazine??? I used to
Submitted by jdhawk on Fri, 06/17/2011 - 6:29pm.
Time Magazine??? I used to know a Time Magazine. Is it still exist?
Screed Fakaria? Who's he?
So, it's the conservatives who resemble the "old Marxists?"
Submitted by Turn Right on Fri, 06/17/2011 - 7:02pm.
That's an incredible misrepresentation of the obvious, but not a surprising one coming from him.
I love how he positions himself above Will and then condescends to pass judgement: "His formulation might have been a touch arrogant, but Will's basic point was intelligent." George Will must be on the phone right now gushing to all of his friends that he's received an intellectual stamp of approval from Mr. Zakaria. (That's kind of like me saying that Einstein had a coherent thought about relativity.)
By the way, since we're looking for proof, exactly what is the evidence that deficit spending is the best way to revive the U.S. economy?
Now that since he fixed his own magazine's circulation woes, I guess that Mr. Zakaria has the time to lift CNN too.
He might get his message. . .
Submitted by rickbren on Fri, 06/17/2011 - 7:15pm.
. . . across if Time had more that 29 subscribers. . .
Get out of my country you Mumbian Muslim commie puke
Submitted by Dave. on Fri, 06/17/2011 - 7:34pm.
You don't belong here.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
Hey, I'm a WASPy male with
Submitted by JasonC on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 1:08am.
Hey, I'm a WASPy male with descendants who were on the Mayflower, and I think modern conservatism, especially the laugh-a-minute Tea Party movement and the notion that Palin or Bachmann could ever even be elected much less run the country, is a complete and utter joke.
What kind of xenophobic, nationalistic, "it's my country so get lost"-tinged, camel-riding-themed kiss-off do you have for me, you embarrassing bigot?
So what, WASPy male?
Submitted by Texndoc on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 1:19am.
We have the black Alan West and the black Herman Cain who think there's an idiotic Socialist in the White House. Complete and utter joke? How about the New York Times now reporting Obama went against the advise of his own Pentagon lawyers with his "I don't need a Libya war approval!" Peace Prize worthy!
Not sure whether West or Cain's descendants came over on the Mayflower, though. Very impressive!
What the hell does any of
Submitted by JasonC on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 1:26am.
What the hell does any of that have to do with anything? Dave's idiotic post suggests that because Zakaria criticizes conservatism, he's fair game for vicious racially-charged insults that sound like they came from a hyperactive 4th grader. So I'm just wondering how he'd choose to put down someone who finds modern conservatism similarly appalling but doesn't fit the mold of the all-encompassing 21st century scapegoat.
Mumbian is vicious?
Submitted by sentry_99 on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 1:50am.
Zakaria IS Mumbian. If you think being called Mumbian is a vicious insult, maybe you are the bigot.
You mean there is such a place?
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 2:02am.
You'll have to excuse Jasonc. His descendants came over on the Mayflower.
Positively puts him among the bluebloods.
When he left it it was called Bombay.
Submitted by Avitar on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 6:14am.
That they changed the road signs so he could not find his way back is just a rumor. One more Muslim leaving India does not make a big difference.
We who were FFV at James Town hold no resentment of the later arriving political wingnuts who came over later on the Mayflower and gave New England its first liberals. The Indians of the Northeast on the other hand, well mentioning the Mayflower will not get you a good deal at Foxwoods or the Sun Casinos
Mayflower Van Lines?
Submitted by drsamherman on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 8:35pm.
They came across from Canada last year.
OK, Jason
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 1:55am.
So Zakaria isn't Mumbian. I'm not sure if there really is a place called Mumbia.
Mumbai, Mumbia....Tomatoe, Tomahtoe
Submitted by sentry_99 on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 2:01am.
JasonC just loves tossing out the xenophobe and bigot labels. He's got his hand on his homophobe card so be careful.
Xanaphobic
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 2:04am.
Is that when you're afraid of Olivia Newton-John musicals?
Ask JasonC
Submitted by sentry_99 on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 2:12am.
I'm pretty sure he loves musicals.
→ sentry
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 2:21am.
He does a fabulous Liza Minelli, I'm told.
Glad to hear it.
Submitted by CobraMan on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 1:45am.
Glad to hear your views of modern Conservatism, but I have to ask, what does your ancestry have to do with your opinion? The last time I look, the the passengers on the Mayflower were all Puritans, not Conservatives. I would be hesitant to cite them as some type of credential.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
Don't fall for it, Cobra
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 2:02am.
He says his descendants came over on the Mayflower. Last I checked, that would be his children or grandchildren, an impossibility unless he's referring to Mayflower Moving Vans, of which many have been delivering in Texas.
OK, there's another possibility. Jason may be so inbred that he's his own grandpa?
Vast Right Wing Time Machine
Submitted by CobraMan on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 2:06am.
His descendants? Good catch, I missed that. So, who give this guy access the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy Time Machine? I've been on the waiting list for 20 years!
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
Yes, quite embarrassing on my
Submitted by JasonC on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 8:48am.
Yes, quite embarrassing on my part. Of course I met ancestors. I suck.
Why is it significan cobra? Because the original poster seems to think that a rational critique of conservatism can be dismissed through a flurry of hatred directed at the fact that Zakaria isn't American enough. Where I or my family came from isn't actually important, my point is that many multi-generational Americans have the same position as Z; it's not related one's Muslimness.
Yes.
Submitted by The Vet on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 11:45am.
Binky "Pinky Panties" Braveheart: ...have the same position as Z.
What, standing behind you while you while you pick up the soap?
"I suck"
Submitted by MightyMouth on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 10:32pm.
No truer words where ever typed by JasonC.
And btw 'JasonC' how many muslims where founders of the United States of America? In fact did we or did we not have to kick muslim ass to stop them from pillaging and raping on the Barbary coast? So your love for 'Muslimness' should have died about September 11, 2001.. if not before!
Too bad there ain't a term for Binky's style of hate.
Submitted by The Vet on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 2:49am.
There is no term for hate based on political ideology. But it is a very real bigotry espoused by JasonC in post after post.
His constant dirisional hatred of the Tea Party. The Tea Party has done what harm to any person on this planet again?
His constant dirisional hatred of conservative women. And his new hatred style posts that they cannot be President. As though the voters of this country have no say in the matter whatsoever. Only the hatred of Binky Braveheart counts.
His constant dirisional hatred of anyone he considers a lower class. Consumers of such lowbrow habitats of McDonalds, SUV's, Walmart, & big brand beers.
Go back to parading around in your pink panties and your pink t-shirt in front of Marine Recruiting stations. We were happier without your mollycoddling milksop whining while you off were nursing your hurt butt.
He Is Just Estabishing a Caste System
Submitted by Avitar on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 5:56am.
He is from a Bombay though his father is described as an Islamic Scholar and a member of the Indian national Congress party. That was the communist party in India that took the country for a ride into poverty for its first fifty years of independence.
Apparently we don't have enough communist in the US and the MSM needs to import them. I did not understand it in the sixties when they brought Peter Jennings in from Canada with no education and tried him out three or four times as I recall before he finally learned enough to hold down the job, At least in his case the network only had to run fifty miles up the road to Yale to get him.
Binky Braveheart insults an entire class of people.
Submitted by The Vet on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 6:51am.
Binky "Pinky Panties" Braveheart: ...laugh-a-minute Tea Party movement...
He has actually said much worse than this about the Tea Party people. Insulting and hating based on political ideology, that last refuge of bigots, it ain't frowned upon yet.
Let's see what his buddy Fareed had to say about conservatives and Republicans based on a bigoted political ideology ---
little regard to the realities... ...tragedy... ...what is the evidence... ... not based on facts... ...any discussion...is impossible... ...always and forever bad. ...that history has been forgotten. ...do not have much evidence for this. ...don't bother to study... ...resemble the old Marxists... ...shy away from the sensible ideas...because those ideas are too deeply rooted...reality... ...pays little attention to history or best practices from around the world... ...woolly-headed professors...
Sounds like one big hatefest to me. Dave was right to respond to this little hate filled JasonC style bigot the way he did.
Pack sand Binky "Pinky Panties" Braveheart. Pack it hard. Leave it smooth.
WASPy?
Submitted by LAM SON 719 on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 7:58am.
Is WASPy code for liberal homosexual? You and your ilk live in mortal fear of Palin and Bachman.
GO BACK TO YOUR COUNTRY
Submitted by jmigyanka@msn.com on Fri, 06/17/2011 - 8:10pm.
AND RIDE A CAMEL TO HELL.
See my response to Dave
Submitted by JasonC on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 1:09am.
See my response to Dave above. Repeat to yourself. Try not to move your lips too much while reading.
In the running
Submitted by Tjexcite on Fri, 06/17/2011 - 8:38pm.
There is so many people trying for the job left vacate in 1945 when Herr Joseph Goebbels died. They don't try to hid what they are doing in being nothing but Propaganda for Führer Obama and claim they are fair.
1940 = Jew hate
2011 = Conservitve hate and Jew hate.
Earth to Fareed...
Submitted by MightyMouth on Fri, 06/17/2011 - 10:54pm.
Conservatism has not changed. Remember, progressives have changed... for the worse. And always will 'progress' down to anarchy. So if you want conservatism, look to tradition. Of course you will always be the fool in these regards.
Zakaria is irrelevant
Submitted by Galvanic on Fri, 06/17/2011 - 11:05pm.
I've never heard any of his analyses that reflected either scholarlship or realism.
→ Except
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Fri, 06/17/2011 - 11:08pm.
Obamadinajad thinks he's a great thinker.
The time is ripe for a 2nd edition of this book
Submitted by needle on Fri, 06/17/2011 - 11:39pm.
http://www.amazon.com/Liberal-Crack-Up-Emmett-Tyrrell-Jr/dp/0671527355/r...
- Looking forward to the self-annihilation of the Manipulated Stories Machine.
Zerokaria
Submitted by Chris Norman on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 2:35am.
Zakaria is a puffed up, self-important, little pouter pigeon isn't he? He speaks as if he's on high, when he has a third tier show on a third tier news network and is an "editor-at-large" - whatever the heck that means - at a has-been news magazine turned political propaganda leaflet.
By the way, I'm not one to be a politically correct scold, but I really do think we should cool the "sand monkey" and "camel jockey" references here. We're just playing into the hands of liberal charges of "racism". Call Zakarias and Bashir anything that describes their political thinking, but leave out the references to their nationalities and religion. Okay, I'm done.
Be Kind to Fareed Zakaria His World No Longer Exists.
Submitted by Avitar on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 5:35am.
As the son of a member of the Indian National Congress and an Islamic scholar there could not be a man alive less qualified to comment on American history or good Government generally.
Yes they are still publishing TIME. About eight weeks ago they started to send it to me without me asking for it I am writing a letter this weekend telling them to stop sending me that raciest hate filled rag.
I know that he probably has citizenship since he has a degree from Yale but it would be better if Yale were not allowed to bring in foreign students if Fareed Zakaria, is the product that they are going to turn out. They like their Boston rival Harvard also have the difficulty explaining why their High School aplicants for admission score higher on US history tests than do their graduates.
Certainly the politics in India has past Mr. Zakaria by and China has a couple of hundred million people more qualified than him. Why not have one of them phone in a report once a week? As a Yale graduate he should be able to retrain to work in if not to run a convenience store.
Fareed not qualified...
Submitted by adamsmith on Sun, 06/19/2011 - 12:33pm.
to run a convenience store. That takes actual work and dedication to growing a small private business. I don't buy my cigarettes and Java Monster Mean Bean from Commies anyway. Send this Commie back to India. I don't need to listen to his Commie crap.
Man Bites Dog!
Submitted by Mike009 on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 9:55am.
Zakaria is just one more left wing journalist - his article is cliche-ridden - not exactly man bites dog. Take his quote from the first paragraph, substitute "liberal" in place of "conservative" and it reads like this:
"(Liberals) now espouse ideas drawn from abstract principles with little regard to the realities of America's present or past."
Now it makes sense...
I don't get it
Submitted by dgv on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 9:12am.
Is this article trying to prove Zakaria is liberal or wrong?
Well I don't know many scathing communist articles that include whacko leftist nuggets like this:
"Conservatives used to be the ones with heads firmly based in reality. Their reforms were powerful because they used the market, streamlined government and empowered individuals. Their effects were large-scale and important: think of the reform of the tax code in the 1980s, for example, which was spearheaded by conservatives."
"This is certainly not a dismissal of conservatism, but neither is it a full embrace of conservatism. A friend of conservatism might have more authority to criticize today's movement than someone like Zakaria who keeps a safe distance."
You don't have to be a friend of something to write fairly about it. Or do you mean to say that conservatives should not critique the left because they don't have the "authority"?
If this is a "scathing" article you must be pretty thin skinned.
Let's see......
Submitted by pbthinker on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 9:27am.
Fox News has Juan Williams, Lara Liasson, Bob Beckel, etc. who does CNN have. Fox will have Juan Williams host Bill O'Reilly's show, what does CNN have. I'm sorry, all liberal all the time just doesn't do it for me. The thing is the Zakaria is far left, not just a little liberal, so we know what he thinks.
In the end, however, CNN has lost its credibiltiy anyway so who cares. Let them, and MSNBC, have all the weidos they want, on their shows, and keep those Democrats ill-informed and voting for anything and everything liberal.
This Kind of BS is Why Time Mag is Dying a Slow Death
Submitted by Nightfly on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 10:00am.
A few years back my wife purchased some magazine subscriptions to support one of the local school fundraisers. Included in that was TIME. I looked over the first two articles and found the same kind of liberal/socialist propaganda and filed all the remaining issues in the recycle bin before opening. When our subscription ran out we were hounded by TIME to renew with discounts,etc. Needless to say, we did not renew. Shouldn't the Green folks be after these creeps for wasting so many paper resources on a weekly basis? That's really all this once proud magazine accomplishes today.
Does Anderson Cooper tea bag
Submitted by buddyc on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 9:23pm.
Does Anderson Cooper tea bag Fareed?
When CNN shows them tea bagging each other I will watch CNN.