-By Warner Todd Huston
Apparently Ross Douthat’s buddy Reihan Salam doesn’t like former VP Dick Cheney. Salam’s recent TheDailyBeast.com column calls Cheney “America’s surliest pundit,” and moans that the ex-vp hasn’t “graciously kept his mouth shut” in retirement like Bush has. Like many of these circular firing squad leaders (think Douthat, Kathleen Parker, the McCain clan or David Frum) Salam is far more interested in shooting at folks on his own side than in trying to move ahead for the future of the conservative movement. It’s obviously some sick bid to be “liked” by the Old Media establishment.
Salam charges that Cheney is too busy “mugging for the camera” and attacking Obama with his “macho snarl” to see that he should just go away. Blah, blah, blah, and such and so forth. In truth, Salam offers nothing worth debating and nearly everything he says in this screed is simply erroneous, so I won’t bother with his self-hating blather against Cheney whose information is a must hear for any conservative looking to see where Obama is going wrong on homeland security and foreign policy.
But, the one issue that moves me to discuss Salam’s carping is simply this: why should a former president or vice-president go off into the night never to talk in public again? Even more to the point, how often has it happened, anyway?
Another Purported ‘Conservative’ Goes on Attack… on OTHER Conservatives”