Once Again, I Agree with Shaun Kenney?!?

The other day, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself in agreement with Shaun Kenney – the former RPV communications director, about whom Josh Chernila wrote on December 29, 2006, “He can be counted upon to be on the wrong side of nearly every issue, and the more wrong he is the more violently cruel he becomes.” –  on immigration. Now, will wonders never cease? That’s right, I’m agreeing with Kenney again, this time on the GOP chair election debate the other day. On that subject, Shaun writes, “If you have any love for books, and even a faint bit of respect for the Republican Party… prepare to lose your respect.” As Shaun points out, it should go without saying that “The Reagan Diaries” and Bush’s “Decision Points” are not great books that should shape anyone’s thinking in any way, shape or form. In fact, Bush’s book has been almost universally panned as utter drivel, with no self-reflection or insight or ideas or…but other than that! 🙂

Also, as Shaun correctly adds, “[William F.] Buckley would not have been amused.” In fact, Buckley’s view was that “the conservative movement he had created had in effect committed intellectual suicide by failing to maintain critical distance from the Bush administration.” No argument from me on that point, except that I’d argue the conservative movement didn’t have much intellectual heft prior to the Bush Administration, unless of course you consider “supply-side economics” and the “Laffer Curve” to represent intellectual heft.

P.S. In all seriousness, although I disagree with Shaun about 90% of the time, I’d place him in the top tier intellectually in the Virginia rightosphere (no, that’s not a backhanded compliment), along with folks like Norm Leahy (despite his sad, inexplicable climate change denial which calls into question everything else he has to say), James Bacon (that one goes without saying), “Bwana” at Renaissance Ruminations (just wish he’d write more than once every month or so and get off his Frank Wolf kick), “Loudoun Insider” of Too Conservative (at times a bit gossipy, but major kudos for having the intellectual integrity to calls ’em as he sees ’em), and of course Doug Mataconis (smarter-than-hell libertarian).