Saturday, September 11, 2004

Principled Conservative, My Foot

Andrew Sullivan writes this about Doug Bandow:
REAGANITES VERSUS BUSH: Doug Bandow joins the growing throng of principled conservatives unwilling to give Bush a second term. Money quote:
Quite simply, the president, despite his well-choreographed posturing, does not represent traditional conservatism -- a commitment to individual liberty, limited government, constitutional restraint and fiscal responsibility. Rather, Bush routinely puts power before principle.
I wouldn't make too much of Bandow's supposed conservatism. In fact, he's one of the "holier-than-thou" brigade of deluded professional libertarians (a senior fellow at the Cato Institute) who prize ideological purity above all else. He's too high and mighty to give his endorsement to a mere mortal like Bush. He's waiting for the libertarian messiah to come in from the desert.

Sullivan has put his anti-Bush money on the wrong horse.