In an otherwise trenchant and amusing column, Camille Paglia evinces surprise that the Democrats, liberals, progressives, call them what you will, have made such a hash of things under Obama and have become, mirabile dictu, an elite.
How has “liberty” become the inspirational code word of conservatives rather than liberals? (A prominent example is radio host Mark Levin’s book “Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto,” which was No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list for nearly three months without receiving major reviews, including in the Times.) I always thought that the Democratic Party is the freedom party — but I must be living in the nostalgic past. Remember Bob Dylan’s 1964 song “Chimes of Freedom,” made famous by the Byrds? And here’s Richie Havens electrifying the audience at Woodstock with “Freedom! Freedom!” Even Linda Ronstadt, in the 1967 song “A Different Drum,” with the Stone Ponys, provided a soaring motto for that decade: “All I’m saying is I’m not ready/ For any person, place or thing/ To try and pull the reins in on me.”
Well, sure. But where were you, Camille? We’ve been living in a world-upside-down for over a decade now, even before 9-11 (when people like me started to wake up.) I know they would probably boot you out of Salon, even though you are the only thing worth reading over there, if you moved any further to the right, but c’mon, girl. Bob Dylan is less liberal than I am. Reification has set in on the Left. Don’t you be a part of it. Not to put to fine a point on it “Le gauche n’existe pas.” It’s over. It doesn’t exist. There’s no there there. We live in a world where Keith Olbermann is a “gauchiste.” What could be more square than that? Enough.
Now about the GOP: You make some good points there, but what Republican, pray tell, is recommending “Dick Cheney for President”? I haven’t heard a single person. The dude walks around with a defibrillator on his back. Bush League comment, Camille.*
*Pun not intended.
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47 Comments
1. Michael Ledeen:In fact, the most eloquent voice for freedom nowadays (present company excepted) is Sarah Palin. And the best journalist in Washington is Byron York, at that well known MSM publication, The Examiner.
Revolutionary times, comrade Roger.
Sep 9, 2009 - 8:04 am 2. Charlie (Colorado):But where were you, Camille?
Philly?
Sep 9, 2009 - 8:31 am 3. FredJHarris:As a mouse in the corner I will squeek,
Sep 9, 2009 - 9:38 am 4. myna:“Dick Cheney for President” by heavens, alway liked that man Cheney.
Byron York best voice of reason and journalistic integrity. No lofty words and pretentious intellectual fraud like Thomas Friedman. Go to China, Tom.
Sep 9, 2009 - 9:57 am 5. Lee Merrick:And another lib icon writer, Tom Friedman now says that the Chinese elite autocracy looks pretty good to him – oy vay!
Sep 9, 2009 - 9:58 am 6. Pajamas Media » Why Are You So Surprised, Camille?:[...] Read the rest of the story here. [...]
Sep 9, 2009 - 10:51 am 7. scientific socialist number two:Camille is all about style. She is into being cool. She might change her tune if and when she takes note of the smart young Republican Turks like Cantor, Rubio and Ryan.
Sep 9, 2009 - 11:26 am 8. Steve:Liberals are not going to vote for the Republicans. Conservatives are not going to vote for the Democrats. Who do freedom-loving liberals (social justice) and conservatives (small government) vote for?
Sep 9, 2009 - 11:31 am 9. Assistant Village Idiot:Uh, Camille, the freedom we were talking about then was sex and drugs. And oh yeah, saying naughty words.
Beyond that “Easy to be hard.”
Steve, what exactly are you thinking about when you picture freedom loving liberals for social justice? Sex and drugs?
Sep 9, 2009 - 11:44 am 10. Roy Lofquist:OK, I’ll say it – Cheney for something important. Liz Cheney.
Sep 9, 2009 - 12:11 pm 11. Old Soldier:Steve: The “social justice” people I’ve met are all about free stuff, not freedom – particularly economic freedom.
I hope conservatives can take back the Republican Party when the current die-off of Rinos is over.
Sep 9, 2009 - 12:42 pm 12. Dave M.:I think, as they do now, 1960’s leftists hijacked words to try to make their beliefs more palatable. However, what they referred to as “freedom” could more aptly be called “license”. With freedom comes responsibility, the very thing 60’s culture abhorred.
“Dick Cheyney for President”: he’s not the Darth Vader caricature the establishment media made him out to be. Besides, he actually wants to win the war on terror.
8. Steve. What is the definition of “social justice”?
Sep 9, 2009 - 12:44 pm 13. bibio44:‘How has “liberty” become the inspirational code word of conservatives rather than liberals?’ – Camille Paglia
“Abstract words such as glory, honor, courage, or hallow were obscene.” – Ernest Hemingway
Add to Hemingway’s list, “liberty,” when mouthed by the likes of Limbaugh, Beck, et. al.
1. Michael Ledeen: “In fact, the most eloquent voice for freedom nowadays (present company excepted) is Sarah Palin.”
Oh, yes, definitely add Palin to the “et al.” list (and you might as well toss in Mike, too).
Sep 9, 2009 - 1:51 pm 14. Ernest Hemiingway:#13, bibio44, if you are going to quote me, please do so in full. Otherwise people will accuse you of what is now called Dowdification, I believe. What I wrote: “Abstract words such as glory, honor, courage, or hallow were obscene beside the concrete names of villages, the numbers of roads, the names of rivers, the numbers of regiments and the dates.”
Sep 9, 2009 - 2:04 pm 15. Conservative1:Conservative1 to local PJM moonbat: “The sky is blue.”
Local PJM moonbat to Conservative1: “No. It is teal.”
Please do not feed the trolls.
P.S. CJ at LGF is a hack.
Sep 9, 2009 - 2:26 pm 16. myna:Thomas Friedman another environmentalist hypocrite rivaling his house with John Edward. Practice what you preach hypocrite.
Sep 9, 2009 - 2:28 pm 17. Donna V.:Uh, Camille, the freedom we were talking about then was sex and drugs. And oh yeah, saying naughty words.
A commenter on Mark Steyn’s site made an excellent point recently. He noted that you can deprive people of all sorts of liberties, but if they can still see a naked woman on a billboard, they’ll believe they’re “free.”
Sep 9, 2009 - 2:54 pm 18. Steve:Social justice meaning helping the oppressed (as in the civil rights movement). Maybe freedom-loving liberals and conservatives would agree that we threatened by Islamofascism and loss of economic prosperity.
Sep 9, 2009 - 3:17 pm 19. exdem13:The good part was in page 1 of her piece, where Ms. Paglia admitted to having stopped watching MSM TV news, and taken to listening to talk radio in order to follow news on the Chappaquiddicare debate. That’s how it really started for me too, Camille. All those years my conservative/libertarian friends told me that Liberalism was broken. Then 9/11 happened, and I started listening to Sean Hannity, then Rush Limbaugh… Then I realized how much those guys were saying things I agreed with, and truly believed, and how far the people who truly espoused Liberalism were from me. It didn’t take many years after that to realize that I hadn’t left the Democrats, they had left me.
I don’t think that Camille Paglia is ready to become a Republican, or a politically conservative person, just yet. However, the scales have fallen from her eyes. By 2012 she may be calling herself a Libertarian, and voting for that candidate, or maybe even for a Republican, instead of just loyally voting Democrat like she’s done before.
Sep 9, 2009 - 3:20 pm 20. Dred Scott:Olbermann will be cupbearer to Matthews’ slobber following Obama’s speech tonight.
Sep 9, 2009 - 3:27 pm 21. Dave Surls:“I always thought that the Democratic Party is the freedom party”
When did the Dems ever believe in freedom?
When they were slaveowners?
When they were drafting millions of young men into the armed forces to fight all those 20th century wars?
When they’ve made every American virtual slaves of the government with gigantic tax rates?
Don’t kid yourself. Liberals/Democrats have never believed in freedom.
Never.
Sep 9, 2009 - 3:40 pm 22. z'Captain:At least Paglia’s an honest liberal. Like Hitchens, I don’t agree with a lot of what she says, but so what? She’s a wonderful writer and has been a happy fan of talk radio for years (she loves Rush, and Rush cites her fairly regularly as one of the libs who “get it.” Best still, she’s gone nuclear on Pelosi in the last two pieces, to say nothing of being a huge fan of Palin. I may not agree with a lot of what she thinks, but I love her thinking just the same.
Sep 9, 2009 - 3:44 pm 23. Michael:Interesting that Liberty is decried by liberals when it means personal liberty and not governmental liberty.
The government’s liberty it to take from it’s working citizens and buy votes from the underclass, the underclass that liberals have worked so hard to create. Those people who liberals believe are inferior and in need of their kind and gentle guidance.
Sep 9, 2009 - 3:51 pm 24. patmanshardt.blogspot.com:Roger:
What you don’t say in your piece is that Camille (in her last 2 articles) laments the way the Democrats are moving but absolves Obama completely. As if all these things are being done in Obama’s name without his knowledge or concent.
She’ll probably be more ready to join us once the halo completely disappears from Obama’s head and she realizes that he is a fellow-traveler of the gang of socialists he’s brought into power with him.
Sep 9, 2009 - 4:21 pm 25. Hejsan:I fail to get Camille’s point regarding Republican “scandals” involving sexual improprieties. WHO CARES? Democrats are EQUALLY (likely more) scandalous. I feel for families and victims of dishonest, disgusting betrayal, but it doesn’t take money out of my pocket, doesn’t restrict my freedom in anything, doesn’t affect my life (except for the overall degrading of society and standards). On the other hand, the obvious problems with Democrats and liberals especially, is their brutal, DISHONEST way of controlling and destroying people’s lives. I don’t want more money taken from me or my children, I don’t want my health choices made for me or for my children, I don’t want votes for candidates not representing me bought for by ACORN, I don’t want freedom of ideas suppressed by Obamaphiles, I don’t want more jobs destroyed, I don’t want more unions and lawyers behinds saved, I DON’T WANT SOCIALISM!!! Who cares about Eliot Spitzer or Mark Sandford???? Let their stupid problems be theirs- why does Camille fuss about THAT??????
Sep 9, 2009 - 4:37 pm 26. Mahon:The two sides in today’s debate are 1) those who really believe in freedom and democracy, who by all rights should be described as “liberal democrats” but in today’s America are known as conservatives, and 2) those who really believe in big government and rule by the opinion elite (”vanguard of the proletariat?”), who have been called socialists, communists, fascists or Progressives but in today’s America are somehow known as “liberal Democrats.” Obama is with the latter, heart and soul.
Sep 9, 2009 - 4:43 pm 27. bibio44:14. Ernest Hemiingway: “#13, bibio44, if you are going to quote me, please do so in full.”
I did, Ernie, I did! I included the whole damn book, but I got “moderated.” I also included the entire interview Katie Couric did with Sarah Palin, “the most eloquent voice for freedom nowadays” (Michael Ledeen excepted), but they axed that too!
Sep 9, 2009 - 4:48 pm 28. Barry Dauphin:Hmmm… biggest news of the day. The president addresses Congress and asks for prime time coverage once again or Steve Jobs returns to host the Apple event?
Sep 9, 2009 - 4:57 pm 29. Warren Bonesteel:The underlying assumption by both major political parties (and not a few third parties) is that government – at every level – has the right to be involved in the private lives of American citizens. Somehow, I just can’t find that …er… ideal, listed in the US Constitution or in any state constitution. Is there a decoder ring that I didn’t get? How many box tops from what kind of cereal do I need in order to get one?
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:03 pm 30. Mike O'Malley:Yes Camille, you may have long imagined that the Democratic Party is the “freedom party”. But did not the particulars of those Democratic Party calls for “freedom”often serve a Gramscian project? And for a generation or more have not Progressives almost to the man and to the woman, been committed Post-Modernists? And who Camille is the founding father of Post-Modernism, Camille? Is he not Martin Heidegger? Was not Martin Heidegger a Nazi academic theorist? Did not Heidegger offered a conveniently timed ontological legitimization of racial selection in the early 1940s? Was not Heidegger’s ‘Being and Time’ linked directly to Nazi racist thinking? Is not the modern Republican Party informed to no small degree by the thinking of anti-fascist F. A. Hayek? Perhaps Camille you shouldn’t be so surprised …
Sep 9, 2009 - 6:28 pm 31. Banjo:Paglia is okay a lot of the time. She seems to sense the hacks and weirdos in the Obama administration are driving the train while the aloof president still delivers campaign speeches rather than governing. BTW did anyone else notice how tense Michelle looked during the speech? I think she believes things are beginning to turn out badly .
Sep 9, 2009 - 8:24 pm 32. Golfer:Camile is SHOCKED, SHOCKED to find that there is gambling going on at Rick’s Place. HA HA . Another 60’s burn out professor.
Sep 9, 2009 - 8:25 pm 33. John Moore:Camile still deeply believes in Obama, the idea. She has a man-crush (or whatever) on him.
She often writes about how the dems are screwing things up, but cannot bring herself to realize that their “leader” is a big part of it.
She’s still too much the romantic to see reality clearly, but on the occasions she does see through the veil, she writes it very well.
Sep 9, 2009 - 9:14 pm 34. Calvin Ball:Leaving economics aside, the “liberal” speaks favorably about freedom only when it has something to do with sex. They’re not even for legalizing drugs any more. Screw yourself silly, but don’t even think of earning a living. Bad.
Sep 9, 2009 - 9:15 pm 35. ddc:Love Camille. She thinks outside her party box.
Sep 9, 2009 - 10:01 pm 36. Mike2:Good points Mr. Simon. We have “been living in a world-upside-down for over a decade now”, probably longer, in fact maybe since August 1, 1914. However, even though I disagree with Camille on many things she is a good writer and is not shy about pointing out the foibles and hypocrisies of the left.
Sep 10, 2009 - 4:08 am 37. Edward A.:No need to worry about the Republicans. Each week produces another nail in their coffin. For a party espousing traditional family values and religious beliefs, we see this week’s Republican, California Assemblyman Mike Duvall exiting elected office. His sexual exploits are gleefully voiced to another Republican while the microphone is alive. His wife and two sons are forgotten as he relives sexual encounters with various women. The Republican party currently known as the party of “no” will soon become the party of “hypocrites.”
Sep 10, 2009 - 8:53 am 38. Sapwolf:Camille is still lost, but she is articulate and an interesting read.
I feel almost pity though as I watch her journey.
Question: Can the urban woman who has been brought up through the leftist feminist ‘machine’ ever be happy…for even 5 minutes?
Sep 10, 2009 - 8:57 am 39. wancow:You know what, Paglia’s critisms of the Republican Party are valid.
the GOP has become the party of George Will, Colon Powell and Insane McCain. They all are so “Understanding” and “Tollerant” of their brethren doing whatever the hell they want, including toe tapping and Bragging about Spankings…
Sep 10, 2009 - 11:51 am 40. nancy Albert:The “Cheney for President” idea was presented in “The Best of the Web” newsletter put out by James Taranto of the WSJ. It was based on the poll numbers which were rising dramatically for Cheney and falling for The One.
I like Camille Paglia because she is the only liberal who realizes that Sarah Palin is a true feminist. You should have seen the thousands of vicious comments generated by her articles on Palin.
Sep 10, 2009 - 2:00 pm 41. Terrye:The only thing the Democrats care about anymore is power. They want to create masses of dependent people who will vote for them out of need, not principle.
Sep 10, 2009 - 3:32 pm 42. Dred Scott:Republicans will come Roarin’ Bank in 2010! Dems scandals are just breaking. Hat tip to Beck…
Sep 10, 2009 - 7:06 pm 43. Victor Erimita:Roger, I don’t think Camille has moved to the right. She’s just another liberal who has refused to notice that the Democratic Party no longer holds liberal values and has moved to the radical, bomb-throwing left. Camille is supposed to be so trenchant and mercilessly clear-eyed, but she is just another ingenue when it comes to her party. Gee, why is my party acting like this? It’s almost as if they have been taken over by Marxists. Yes, Camille, wake up, for God’s sake. The GOP has all kinds of problems, but it is the place where liberal values are respected today.
I agree that Sarah Palin is the most eloquent and effective voice for freedom today. And for all of you who want to dismiss her as a lightweight, name one other failed Vice Presidential candidate in living memory who still commanded the attention of the media and the opposition 10 months after losing the election. Estes Kevauver, maybe? Bill Miller? Thomas Eagleton? Henry Cabot Lodge? And who was her running mate again? Have we heard much about him lately? She speaks honestly and fearlessly. And she doesn’t talk down to us, like Obama and the elites in the Democratic Party, or the elite punditry of both parties. That’s why they detest her. And why they fear her. For a lightweight, she has more credibility than Obama or any Democrat, with more people, and more relevance than McCain or any other Republican. And she has done it by quitting her job and making a couple posts on Facebook, not with some high-financed publicity campaign. Why would that be do you suppose?
Sep 10, 2009 - 8:43 pm 44. Patrick Henry:She tells the unspoken truths everyone knows about Obama, the media and the project of the Democratic Party to the remaining American institutions.
Both the Democrats and Republicans are corrupt and selling this country out. The Republicans have sold out and betrayed the principals of conservatism and freedom. Our government needs cleansed of these pretenders. Sarah Palin is the embodiment of the principals this country was founded on. Her honor and simple love for our country is an affront to their loss of character and soul, and this is why they hate her.
Sep 11, 2009 - 2:03 pm 45. tehag:“How has “liberty” become the inspirational code word of conservatives rather than liberals?”
Huh? It’s been that way for over a hundred years, even prior to the Menschevik-Bolshevik split.
Sep 13, 2009 - 2:58 am 46. pastorius:As a former Leftie myself, great post Roger.
I love Camille Paglia. I consider her to be right up there next to Harold Bloom.
Sep 16, 2009 - 12:53 pm 47. Jack Wilson:I don’t recommend Dick Cheney for president, but I would like to see his daugher Liz in the running next time around. I would nominate him and George W Bush, for the Nobel Peace Prize, though, for leading the offensive against Islamic terrorism.
Oct 19, 2009 - 8:26 am