Conservatives You Like

wills does not seem (modern american politically) conservative at all in the nyrb

i like larison, probably because i've only seen him call bullshit rather than say what he really wants

Hollywood Republican dudes fall under two categories 1) Action Stars or Tough Guys (i.e. The cast of "The Expendables") 2) former child stars or actors who grew up in Hollywood, with family in the business, who are, for whatever reason, reacting against growing up in an atmosphere of limousine liberalism.

Kurt Russell is both. Robert Downey Jr. is the latter but as he's made more action movies his heart has probably hardened against the poor and downtrodden ("Iron Man")

according to RDJ it's his prison stint that made him a Republican

“I have a really interesting political point of view, and it’s not always something I say too loud at dinner tables here, but you can’t go from a $2,000-a-night suite at La Mirage to a penitentiary and really understand it and come out a liberal. You can’t. I wouldn’t wish that experience on anyone else, but it was very, very, very educational for me and has informed my proclivities and politics ever since.”

which is a really interesting quote - I can't tell if he's referring to being in prison, or the transition from playboy-to-convict itself that "enlightened" him...? what is there to "understand" about that particular journey that renders conservatism inevitable?

It's easy, Shakes. Prison made him loathe anal sex.

lol

I wonder how he feels about people who were radicalized by being in prison

daniel larison's pretty smart except when he's not:

The defeat of the Confederacy, though the Confederate political experiment does not exhaust the richness of Southern culture and identity, was a defining moment when the United States took its steps towards the abyss of the monstrous centralised state, rootless society and decadent culture that we have today. In sum, the Confederacy represented much of the Old America that was swept away, and with it went everything meaningful about the constitutional republican system, and the degeneration of that system in the next hundred years was the logical and ultimately unstoppable result of Lincoln’s victory. All of this is in recognition that we are beholden to our ancestors for who we are, and we honour and remember their struggles and accomplishments not only because they can be established as reasonable, good and true but because they are the struggles and accomplishments of our people, who have made this land ours and sanctified it with their blood in defense against the wanton aggression of a barbarous tyranny.

i haven't seen expendables, but would like to see one with kelsey grammar, dwight schultz, norm mcdonald, and adam sandler.

billy madison or punch drunk love sandler only though.

did larison really say 'honour' and 'centralised'

smdh

btw that is also some fucked up shit

Larison and Edmund Wilson aren't so far apart.

American "liberals you like" would be about as tough for me.

I just reviewed a box o' Robert Downey Sr films, and w/ those budgets he wasn't exactly a "limousine" archetype for Jr to rebel against.

TS: The Expendables v.s. this 1994 Kelsey Grammar-hosted episode of SNL (Sandler, Spade, Norm, Lovitz, Jay Mohr)

xpost -- Morbs, even bigger axe to grind if it was his friend's parents who were "socially liberal, financially conservative"

good lord

http://larison.org/2005/03/01/the-hegemonists-thomas-woods-and-the-league-of-the-south

American "liberals you like" would be about as tough for me.

at least you're willing to have beers with us

I didn't know you had a column! Talking about pols mostly, not sure I read any actual libs anymore... Krugman, I guess.

i don't know whether Matt Taibbi qualifies as a liberal, or he only appears that way b/c he hates Goldman Sachs.

surely downey jr is partly rebelling against the countercultural radicalism of his dad?

i'd say matt taibbi is to the left of a liberal, where he should be.

I like listening to Michael Savage, he has a pleasant voice and at least makes time for real creeps like pedophiles and anti-Semites.

whoa that larison post is grim. i knew he was an old right kind of guy but damn.

http://i45.tinypic.com/s5ycnd.jpg

http://i45.tinypic.com/2re3xwg.jpg

http://i47.tinypic.com/2elxbt0.jpg

Whiney?

you like that site?

or do you "like" it

I just discovered the Caiden Cowger program

rootless society

??? The whole history of non-natives in N. America is largely rootless.