8th grade pundit - the next Rush Limbaugh?
 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/fa...o_interstitial
Look at the part about his school, poor kid, I doubt he has much in the way of social interaction.
Edit: Oh, and get this: 'President Obama is the most Left Wing politician in my (14 year old) lifetime.'

The kid is articulate and knows what he's talking about. Just because you don't agree with his ideology doesn't mean he deserves to be criticized in such a way. With the publicity he's getting already, odds are he'll become a fairly successful politician, which, no offense to you Proggy, is likely a better outlook than your life has right now.

Further, conservatism as he preaches it, is actually very agreeable.

- Limit Government
- Value Life
- Personal Responsibility

Now how can you disagree with that? The "Respect The Constitution" thing I'm not so sure about because I'm not completely sure what he means by that.

Well no ****, he's seems like a ****ing genius...Anyway, I'm not criticizing him or his views, where did you get that from? Seems like his Dad really pounded the conservative viewpoint home, but he seems to well informed to be called brainwahsed.
Edit: In retrospect I was being rather patronizing.

Chill, just because no one is ever you're joking or not doesn't mean we're all self-important twats.

Same thing could be argued for "ideal" socialism, communism, and anarchism.
All forms of gov't can be made to look great on paper. For actual results of said form of gov't, look around. Eight years of an extremely conservative white house, with quite a few years going unchecked by a republican senate, and we basically managed to clusterfuk the world's economy.

I don't get how people can actually agree that republican ideals are the best fix for it all.

All this kid has done is rehash the same modernized Burkean theories the Republicans have been preaching for the past few decades. It doesn't take any articulation or intelligence. It takes the ability to read an Ann Coulter book and watch a Ronald Reagan speech and then summarize, summarize, summarize! Something most people have been doing since Elementary school book reports.

Proggy is right with his "criticism (though calling that criticism is really pushing the term)" anyway. A fourteen year old kid saying this is the most anything he's seen in his life time is stupid. That aside, calling Obama the most far-left wing politician just shows how much this kid actually knows about politics. All it takes is watching CSPAN once and seeing Kucinich or someone along those lines speak to realize that Obama isn't as far left as it gets. In fact if you look at his policies you'd see he isn't as much a Marxist or Liberal as people think, in fact he's a centrist that leans to the left. I realize this runs contrary to what the media and CPAC tells you, and I don't know how to break this to you, but all mainstream politicians are centrists with slight leanings. People just too get caught up in "What!? He supports abortion and civil unions?" To realize the difference between mainstream fiscal Conservatism and Liberalism comes down to who gets taxed and who gets to reap government benefits.

Now as for your comment, Dac, about conservatism being agreeable...I don't know where to begin. For one, you should know "value life" is just a nuanced way of saying "ban abortion" which runs contrary to his "limit government" sentiment. The conservative party and this associations this kid has, don't want to limit government, they want to limit government when the Republican party isn't in power. Bush went from a surplus to a two trillion dollar deficit and pissed all over the name of constitution in the name of national security. The Republican party, and CPAC, are in no place to talk about limited government and respecting the constitution because historically they never have. As far as "Personal Responsibility" that just means eliminating welfare programs and a flat tax. Modern conservatism has nothing to do with those ideas as they appear at face value, it has everything to do with promoting a society where the rich get richer and the poor stay poorer. That is what this kid is preaching, if it was what you seem to think it is...he'd be speaking at Libertarian convention instead of being Rush Limbaugh's opening act.

This, although I think you're being too harsh, but that's probably just the internet talking.

Because those ideals are hardly practiced by the Republican party. This kid makes a point to establish a difference between the Republican Party and Conservatism, which is admirable.

@ Sleepy Jack, the kid isn't that far off of calling Obama one of the most left wing politicians; he's got the most liberal voting record of any relevant politician. I think you over-interpreted his statements. Personal Responsibility does not = a flat tax in my eyes. Now, in Limbaugh's yes, but I'm being rather hopeful with this kid.

8th grade pundit; as follow,
 

First let me say that not every thread has to get so serious:nono:,(sleepy jack, who i agree with most of the time!) I take it that (proggyman, :tramp:who makes me laugh most of the time!) is young and is contributing to me wasting time every day,:soapbox: i believe if everyone kept their tongues firmly in cheek, we'd be better off(wayfarer, who makes me chortle most of the time.)and lets face it, my opinion is always right anyway. :bonkhead:So it doesn't really matter so much.

And on this Young man, published author and public orator, I may not agree with what he says but I'll defend to the death his right to say it.

Those ideas are practiced by the Republican party. Bush let the economy go unregulated and cut "unnecessary" programs (like FEMA, cue poor response Hurricane Katrina.) Limiting government means Wall Street running wild and children go without health care because it's "socialist." We have had conservatives in the White House, the Conservative party is the dominant sect of the Republican party.

He doesn't have the the "most liberal voting record of any relevant politician." The same people that said he has the most liberal voting record in the Senate offered no criteria which they based it off (other than incredibly vague areas) and said the same thing about John Kerry when he became the Democratic nominee (he manged to drop about twenty places from being the most Liberal in a matter of a few years, odd.) Barack Obama isn't that far left compared to Berry Sanders, a socialist and then when you compare him to guys like Kucinich and Stark in the House, then that's just a joke. There's so many things wrong with that ranking and it was so obviously driven by partisanship it isn't even funny.

Barack Obama: The Most Liberal Senator? An Analysis
Is Obama the most liberal senator? - First Read - msnbc.com

Personal Responsibility is exactly what the Republican party and Conservative party argue with when they're talking about eliminating Welfare programs of any sort. Reagan used it as the basis for cutting government programs in the eighties and Bush did after him. They also DO think it means a flat tax in their mind, to them economic equality and "fairness" means a rich guy paying what a poor guy pays and the poor guy, if he's fiscally responsible should be able to deal with it. This kid is nothing but a partisan hack.

I really don't think anyone has hopes of a flat tax actually coming to a reality, not to mention it actually working...

John Stuart and Steven Colbert really had there fun with him.

Hey, where did my posts go?

Are you joking? Fred Thompson, Rudie Giuliani and Mike Huckabee were all Republican presidential candidates this year and are all in favor of a flat tax, or as they call it a "fair tax."

They weren't remotely relevant to the topic.

So where did they go?

They were deleted.

That's lame. :(

he's nothing special.

Man, I can actually visualize the GOP "think tank"
An actual underground bunker with fifteen or so 60+ yr old white guys going "they want black people apparently, Tom, where can we find a negro?"
"I've got just the guy."
"Right, so black guy check, now youthful sex symbol. Man, where's this country going? Richardson, you still got that Palin on stand-by?"
"Check"

6 months later

"Dammit Richardson, what happened?? Ok scrap the Palin plans. I MEAN WE NEED YOUNG."
"You don't mean... but he's not ready!"
"bring out the boy..."

I always pictured a GOP think tank to be a large glass tank, hooked up to a bunch of victorian-era machinery, with a bunch of brains swimming around in it who communicate with their caretakers via psychic brainwaves.

I find a major problem with the boy because nowhere did he mention why conservatism is right in any way. All he is doing is trying to rally the people. Secondly, Republicans have just as much respect for life as Democrats. They are against *** marriage so how can they be pro-life? The fact that he even mentioned the term pro-life really makes me wonder. That term is so terrible and really is just a stupid way for the GOP to criticize the liberals.


BTW, put me on at a Republican rally and I guarantee that I could do a better job than that kid. Then again, I am 16. The only thing a commend him on is speaking for three minutes without screwing up. He was generally bull****ting half the time like you do when you write a long paper and you need a few more hundred words. I mean, "Conservatism is an ideology based on protecting the people's rights," should say that enough.

The Republican party is going down hill if conservative parents are really brainwashing their children this much.

Yeah, honestly I haven't read his book but if it's anything like his speech I bet it's just a long summary of what Reagan and the Bush family had been saying for the past few decades. This kid is rehashing an "ideology" that wants to interfere with the doctor-patience relationship and govern marriage. I have no idea how he has the undropped balls to say he wants a "limited government" and still argue for that sort of thinking.

Oh and he is a Southern Baptist...

A homeschooled Southern Baptist!

This is why I hate politics on Music Banter... I always end up defending the Republicans even though I don't want to :(

Why would you bother defending Republicans if you don't want to?

Yeah, I wasn't impressed by his speaking or words, though it's great he's interested in politics.

Because the general populous of Music Banter is pretty left winged and I myself am fairly central in my views. In a lot of the arguments everyone just gangs up on the right and it becomes a bit extreme.

I used to beat the **** out of little ****s like him back in grade school. **** him and his tape recorder for a brain.

so I finally managed to watch his speech and I have to agree with Ethan mostly. If you'd read anything a step outside the obvious (i.e. whats on the news) then this would be not the analysis. This would be the thesis.

To give the kid a break, he's 13 and he had a two minute speech but I'll garuntee his book is a no-**** synopsis of conservative rhetorical speech.

For the record, the ideas they are preaching are that governemnt should be limited. Thats conservatism. Whats practiced is republicanism, which is not anti-government, but anti-democratic execution meaning that rather than using govenment to create social programs, they use it to regulate morality because people left to their own devices (according to them) can't be as moral as they should. This gets you practices like....

Banning Stem Cell Research
Prohibition
Prevention of Condoms in schools.

You'll not thats a stark difference between the conservative that would find this level of intervention horrifying.

And thats really the problem. Its not intention or "principles", its practice. And in practice no "conservative" actually is. By all accounts, the democrats execute a more limited government than the republicans do at this point in time.

As for the Obama thing, there is a reaction to him because he is good. Its an easier thing to detract, but I chalk that up to playing to his base. All in all its because he's 13, not because he's intelligent that we're talking about him. The republicans are a gimmick party, and this is another Palin, "suspend the campaign", put *** marriage referendums on the ballot in '04.


I don't know that this is fair. He's a good speaker, and he'll get better with age.

He got more to the point than Rush Limbaugh did. I was watching his speech earlier and his definition led him to say that "conservatives...like people." I honestly hope that Limbaugh doesn't overextend his hand in the Republican party; he's a polarizing figure and his larger involvement in the party could only hope to act divisively.

If the Republican party hopes to actually be a contender for the next elections they need to start composing legitimate campaigns and stop these horrendous publicity stunts. This kid might have known what he was talking about for the two minutes he spoke but it only takes a fifteen minute Wikipedia lesson to reach the same conclusion as him.

Check out the covre of Newsweek.

Leading on morality does not get you those practices. That is a very general statement. Ruling on an irrational morality is what gets you those practices.

Also, there is no way one can prove that democracy will make it any better. Democracy is the rule-by-gang type of thing. That can't possibly be any better than ruling on an irrational morality...

"irrational morality" is far more broad and subjective than "morality." You're perscribing quite a bit more opinion to it than I have.

We have different agendas.

Not really, maybe he was nervous, but I could do better.

Rush Limbaugh has been involved in the party and overextended his hand since the 1990s. He was largely responsible for the "Republican Revolution" of 1994 and Reagan, upon his retirement, dubbed Limbaugh the number one voice for conservatism in America. Even Michael Steele, the head of the Republican National Convention, had to apologize for criticizing him. Which was ironic considering he was responding to Rahm Emanuel who basically said everyone in the Republican party was Limbaugh's bitch.

Anyway the next four, possibly eight, years will be good for Limbaugh just like the nineties were. I'm convinced he votes Democratic, he was never so successful as when he had Bill Clinton to attack and the beginning of his relationship with Obama is proving to be just the same.

Yeah I think this kid has what it takes to be the next Limbaugh, but being an 8th grader, he's probably a lot smarter.

If you believe morality is wrong then you aren't living life. That means that you believe pursuing a goal is wrong. I am not even being picky. The misuse of terms like this is annoying. A morality is a code that is set to lead one to a goal. That is what a morality is. I really hope you aren't against that...

To me, it looks like you mean morality in a sense where people say things are right and wrong such as sexual immorality, and etc. Those would be "irrational moralities" because the basis for their morality has not been reasoned out.

My two cents on this matter, I guess, is that most politicians remind me of children so for a child to act like a politician is not very surprising (yet disturbing). I had an opinion about politics when I was 13 but fortunately for me I was a lot more interested in chasing girls and riding a skateboard.