ERIC DONDERO: "I gotta say smething off-topic. This website has gotten so much worse in the last few months, and few weeks. It has digressed into a cheerleader site for Leftists, and Anti-Americanism.
The Editor ought to consider changing its name to the Humble Leftist-Lover. There's very little left here that could be considered libertarian." (link)
Blogger Eric Dondero loves to label me a "leftist" because I have misgivings about open-ended commitments to nation building in other countries, you know: just like award-winning conservative columnist George Will, Pat Buchanan, Robert Novak, Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, even George W. Bush during his presidential candidacy in 2000 before he lost his freaking mind, former RNC Chairman Michael Steele, Tea Party favorite Rand Paul, President Ronald Reagan-- who put U.S. troops in harm's way extremely sparingly, America's fine men and women in uniform who donated more to the most ostensibly anti-war candidates, Barack Obama and Ron Paul than any other candidate in 2008, and oh yeah-- many of America's Founding Fathers and great military leaders.
Eric Dondero stands against all these great voices of American conservatism in his unyielding support for the progressive, Wilsonian doctrine of spreading democracy overseas at the expense of American blood and treasure, a view that only took hold among those so-called "conservative" journalists and pundits who were in fact Trotskyites that migrated to the conservative movement from the left. Dondero's perplexing, confused, and decidedly leftist view of the world is no more apparent than in the endorsements of political figures littered throughout his blog, LibertarianRepublican.net.
Take for instance, Dondero's support for liberal Senator John McCain, a man who joined the Democrats in voting for TARP, worked with Democratic Senator Russ Feingold to pass a campaign finance law which violates the Constitution, and was a media darling up until his nomination in 2008 for collaborating and voting so often with Democrats to increase the size, role, and influence of government.
In addition to laughably publishing an endorsement of the squishy, leftist John McCain for libertarians on his website, Dondero excitedly announced in February of 2009 that "The Mack is Back!" and gushed over McCain for criticizing Obama while-- again laughably-- actually asserting that "he's got the credibility to back it up."
Then there's Eric Dondero's inexplicable flirtation with the Mitt Romney candidacy. Remember that Mitt Romney's signature accomplishment as governor of Massachusetts was to pass "RomneyCare," a vast expansion of the welfare state that served as the model for ObamaCare. Romney is unmistakably a leftist, big government, Northeastern Republican along the lines of Olympia Snowe, not a true Jeffersonian conservative.
What has Dondero said about Mitt RINO on his blog? This April, he called it "very good news" for Republicans that Mitt Romney beat Obama in a New Hampshire poll and added, "for those of us Republicans concerned about making inroads into the Northeast, this is a very powerful argument for Romney's candidacy." Two days earlier, while acknowledging that Romney isn't a libertarian, but insanely suggesting that he's "almost a libertarian," Dondero wrote in a follow up comment that Romney "might be a Republican worthy of libertarian support." On what planet, Eric?
As far as liberal, northern politicians who masquerade as Republicans go, there's no better poster child than Rep. Paul Ryan (RINO-WI). Somehow he's known for being a fiscal conservative despite voting for the 2003 prescription drug benefit expansion to Medicare (one of the entitlement state's largest expansions since LBJ was president), the 2008 TARP bailout, the 2008 economic stimulus package, the $15B auto bailout, another $200B stimulus package in the summer of 2009, the expensive and unconstitutional nationalization of public education via No Child Left Behind, and most of the rest of Bush's deficit busting, big government agenda for eight years. What does Eric Dondero have to say about this welfare statist?
This April, Dondero's website crowned Paul Ryan "The Ultimate Libertarian Hero!" Seriously. Did you just read the paragraph above? Dondero wrote a few days later that "Ryan's budget plan has 'libertarian' elements." Yikes. That first article on Paul Ryan also said: "Ryan's budget plan is not a completely libertarian design to dismantle our statist system, but it's far more courageous and fair than anything offered by others."
Has anyone at Dondero's blog read anything about RAND PAUL'S budget or are they being deliberately ignorant in saying that no one has offered anything more courageous nor fair than Ryan's plan? To set the record straight about Paul Ryan's budget: "Ryan's plan would result in annual deficits of between 3.5 and 4.5 percent of GDP between now and somewhere after 2040, with a balanced budget coming only around 2063. This would add at least $62 trillion to the national debt over the period." Dondero's "libertarian elements" my foot.
Let me see-- who else? I could do this all day. Ah yes, Donald Trump. Take Eric Dondero's unabashed glorying in the faux-campaign of the undeniably leftist Donald Trump. All you have to do is follow Trump's money, and you'll learn quite quickly what a leftist he is. Thousands and thousands of dollars to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and some of the left's most radical Democrats like Charlie Rangel, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Anthony Weiner, and Harry Reid.
Is Donald Trump a leftist? Uhh... yeah. He is. Tens of thousands of dollars worth of leftist, not to mention endorsements of leftist Democrats. So surely, Eric Dondero would denounce the Donald for all his leftist-loving, right? Riight? Wrong.
Over the course of Trump's fake, media-whoring bid, Dondero's blog turned into one long love letter to the leftist Donald Trump. He published one post by Trump's 2000 Presidential Exploratory Committee Chairman, Roger Stone, entitled "A SURE REPUBLICAN WIN: TRUMP - WEST TICKET 2012." If you want a revealing look into the mind of Eric Dondero, visit that article and scroll through the 82-comment long discussion thread underneath it. Despite all indications that Trump is a big government leftist, Dondero fiercely supported him... because he was "sparkly." No joke:
What is it about libertarian policy wankers? Anything sparkling, exciting, inspiring, they fiercely oppose.
Yuk! Please NO BORING-ASS GOP TICKETS FOR 2012. Didn't we learn anything from McCain's loss?
Then:
Here's a challenge to all you Trump doubters out there.
Hate Trump? Fine. Come up with another candidate that is just as much a celebrity, flashy, exciting and colorful.
(Why doesn't Dondero just support Obama?) And:
Sorry folks. If Obama taught us Republicans anything in '08, it's boring, dull, old and grey doesn't win us votes anymore with the American electorate.
EXCITE, EXCITE, EXCITE!!!! That should be the Number One qualification for a GOP candidate in 12.
Not even making it up. And:
Question for all you Libertarian Trump doubters.
Why was it all fine for Libertarians to heart Trump back in the 1990s, when he was being talked about as a possible LP presidential candidate, but now that he's a Republican, oh no, "Trump sucks," and "he's no libertarian, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!"
Hypocrites!
And the madness just goes on and on for 82 comments. Dondero doesn't care about conservative principles or credentials. It doesn't matter if the candidate will grow government. If they sparkle and excite, then he likes them. Without changing any of his other policy positions, all Obama would have to do is say he opposes radical "Islamo-Fascism" and stands with Israel and Eric Dondero would vote for Obama in 2012.
Want to know what made me lol? This post Dondero published in April gushing that Donald Trump "gets a nice Super-Sized endorsement from Top GOP Strategist." One problem: the "endorsement" came from Dick Morris, once a top Democratic strategist and longtime friend and adviser to Bill Clinton. Dondero just has a real knack for sniffing out so-called conservatives with the most odious and liberal possible pedigrees and then treating them like perfect exemplars of conservatism.
If I didn't think Eric Dondero is simply a wishy-washy, easily-led, very-excitable amateur blogger, I'd wonder if he wasn't deliberately trying to help the left hijack the conservative brand and the Republican Party with his record of pandering to leftists and selling them off as conservative to his unsuspecting readers.
The Money Quote:
But here's the money quote. Here's Dondero admitting in his own words that liberty is not his primary value in a comment thread on my website. The thing that drives Eric Dondero's political worldview, the one most important thing in his political agenda: is war with Muslims-- and liberty can take a back seat to that as far as he's concerned:
We are eager to win at virtually any cost. We have a foreign - born illegal alien radical Islamist in the White House.
ANYBODY!!! And I mean Anybody, including Hillary, Joe Biden, even Dennis friggin' Kucinich would be better than Barack Hussein Obama.
This guy is out to destroy this country. He is a former member of the Nation of Islam, aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Really, is it too much to ask to have an American be President of the United States of AMERICA!
Say what you want about Trump, and his failings. But the guy is 100% Pro-America.
Actually his record is 100% pro radical Democrats like Charlie Rangel, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Anthony Weiner, and Harry Reid, but whatever-- you say potato...
ACTION ITEM:
Now fellow libertarian bloggers who are just as fed up as I am with being called leftists for supporting the truly libertarian, traditionally conservative position on U.S. foreign policy: please link to this post and include the text of Eric Dondero's name in your link in order to improve its search engine ranking. When people search for "eric dondero," I want this post to be one of the first things they read. I want to set the record straight once and for all so that everyone can see who the real leftist is.
It's clearly Eric Dondero.
Wes Messamore,
Editor in Chief, THL
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