Thursday, September 17, 2009

David Frum is losing his grip

His attacks on Glenn Beck grow more strident, but the invective is a smokescreen for an inconvenient truth: Frum is playing fast and loose with the facts.

Poor Frum is driven to distraction by Beck’s criticism of his old teacher Cass Sunstein.

GOP Surrenders to Beck’s Mob Rule


Two points of note. Frum accuses Beck of “reckless defamation” for distorting Sunstein’s record. Second, Frum never actually quotes Beck to show that he did any such thing.

Frum writes that Beck “relies instead on an argument of pure assertions” against Sunstein. That is funny because Frum does exactly the same thing to Beck.

The plain fact is that Beck is right about about Sunstein’s views on animal rights and hunting.

This piece in Slate is pro-Sunstein. But the author is honest enough to quote the man’s writings.


Sunstein on hunting:


"We ought to ban hunting, I suggest, if there isn't a purpose other than sport and fun," he says in his 2007 lecture. "That should be against the law. It's time now."


Sunstein on the rights of rats:
"If rats are able to sufferand no one really doubts that they arethen their interests are relevant to the question how, and perhaps even whether, they can be expelled from houses," Sunstein writes. "At the very least, people should kill rats in a way that minimizes suffering. And if possible, people should try to expel rats in a way that does not harm them at all."


Clearly, Beck is right about Sunstein’s radical animal rights views. That little phrase, “perhaps even whether they can be expelled from houses”, tells us all we need to know.

That, in turn, tells us a great deal about Frum.

Poor Mr. New Majority. He wants so much to be a Republican leader. Unfortunately, his only hope of ascending the greasy pole is for conservatives to remain disheartened, unpopular, and directionless. No wonder he hates Beck, Limbaugh, Palin, and Levin. They rallied the Right and rendered Frum superfluous.

Even more worrisome is their refusal to kowtow to Republicans who matter. At heart, I think, Frum is less offended by what they say than that they dare speak up at all.

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