“Barry Goldwater” on The Daily Caller

1.) John Shadegg: House GOP is ‘on probation’ — After 16 years in the House, Rep. John Shadegg is retiring to Arizona. The Daily Caller’s Jon Ward caught up with the son of Barry Goldwater altar ego Stephen Shadegg on his way out the door. Ward asked him, for instance, what makes the Tea Party different from previous conservative waves, such as Newt Gingrich’s 1994 production, in which Shadegg had a walk-on part as a newly elected congressman. “When the Gingrich revolution happened, the Gingrich revolution collapsed,” Shadegg told Ward. “It had betrayed its supporters.” By “it” Shadegg means Republican detractors and other “old bulls” like Tom DeLay, who claimed in 2005 that the government could not cut its spending any further. Now the party is getting a second chance, Shadegg said. “What happens to this class? Does this class get turned by Washington? Does the class change or does this class actually change Washington? I personally think that’s the $64,000 question.” Or, you know, the $1.7 trillion question. (more)

Though the John Birch Society is making a comeback through the Tea Party movement, at least some conservatives question whether the group really belongs apart of the movement. (more)

Jackie Gingrich Cushman is the editor of the new book, “The Essential American: A Patriot’s Resource.” (more)

In American politics, nothing is permanent. On election night this year, that should be the thought running through the minds of the liberal pundits who believed they were dancing on the Republican Party’s grave two years earlier. In those halcyon days, James Carville wrote of a 40-year Democratic majority. The New York Times Book Review’s Sam Tanenhaus declared “the death of conservatism.” And Time magazine ran a cover with the GOP’s logo under the heading “Endangered Species” (note the editorial decision not to use a question mark). (more)

Sometimes the Courts get it right, and when they rule against a government policy that is just wrong, the President should let that ruling stand. That is precisely the case with this week’s rejection of the military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy. (more)

The latest offering from conservative humorist P.J. O’Rourke, Don’t Vote — It Just Encourages the Bastards, is a real page turner. You may find yourself staying up way past your bedtime because you just can’t put it down. (more)

A new book by two former top aides to President George W. Bush is out Tuesday, called, “City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era.” In the 176-page book, Michael Gerson and Pete Wehner make a case for how Christians should think about and participate in politics in the modern age, arguing that the days of the Moral Majority are gone and a new Christian politics is taking shape. (more)

For the greater part of the early conservative movement, all conservatives, whether they were libertarians, individualists, or the later social, paleo and fiscal conservatives, had one overarching issue, one common threat that united them despite their differences: the threat of communism.  That threat served as a focal point, an issue that everyone in the movement could agree on.  This was the common cause responsible for the intellectualism of William F. Buckley, Jr. and the founding of the National Review, the founding of conservative youth groups like Young Americans for Freedom and the Goldwater and Reagan Revolutions of 1964 and 1980. (more)

I have been a vocal critic of Virginia’s attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, since he’s been in office. Part of that, admittedly, is that I have felt that he is putting forth a poor image of Italian Americans on the national stage. Particularly with regard to the immigration debate, in some respects the Commonwealth’s equivalent to my home state’s “mosque” controversy, I have openly wondered whether he may have forgotten where his — and my — not-so-distant ancestors came from not so long ago. In addition, I think some of his “escapades” are just a waste of taxpayer money. That said, he has finally found a cause that I can support and, in fact, that I feel that he has not gone far enough with: investigating Craigslist. (more)

In a lengthy, but well worth reading, July piece in New York magazine on John McCain’s current political predicament, one Republican strategist who has worked with the senator in the past had this to say about his former client: (more)

The revelation that former GOP chairman Ken Mehlman is gay was as shocking to the Republican inner circle as was the news that Lincoln had been shot. Sorry, tell us something we haven’t known for years. (more)

Since assuming office, President Obama has garnered his fair share of high-profile critics. But few have been as omnipresent and implacable as John Bolton. From his near constant appearances on Fox News and HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” to his steady stream of op-eds in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Daily News, the 61-year-old former Ambassador to the United Nations and Under Secretary of State for Arms Control under President George W. Bush has been relentless in his critiques of President Obama’s agenda, especially in the realm of foreign policy. (more)

A host of Arizona lawmakers joined a conservative watchdog group Thursday in filing a 78-page lawsuit challenging the federal health care overhaul, becoming the latest party to enter the growing fight against the law at the local level. (more)

Perception is often reality in politics.  Just ask George H.W. Bush.  Twenty-three years ago this October, when he was beginning his campaign to succeed Ronald Reagan as President, Newsweek ran a cover story on him bearing this headline: “Fighting the Wimp Factor.” (more)

Venerable historian Garry Wills recently posted a piece revealing his role at an off-the-record meeting President Obama convened with nine professional historians over a year ago.  Though a frequent critic of President Obama’s policies, I reacted to Wills’ piece with a kind of tingling cognitive dissonance: sympathy for the President and, frankly, disdain for the profession I admire enormously. (more)

If the Republican nomination in 2012 shapes up as a two-way race between former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and 2008 presidential candidate Mitt Romney, expect fireworks to fly. (more)

LAS VEGAS—They came from Arizona and Australia, Boston and the Bahamas, South Carolina and South Africa to raise high the elixir of liberty in this, the most laissez-faire city in America. (more)

The movement to legalize gay marriage has gained significant momentum in recent years. Seven states have legalized same-sex marriage since 2004, and the percentage of Americans who answer “yes” when asked if they support gay marriage has risen dramatically since pollsters first began regularly asking the question fourteen years ago. Conservatives, however, remain staunchly opposed to the practice, which many fear will undermine conservative values and principles. According to a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted last year, 80 percent of self-described conservatives oppose legalizing gay marriage — compared to only 23 percent of self-described liberals and only 46 percent of self-described moderates. (more)

William F. Buckley Jr.: The Maker of a Movement (more)

YUCCA VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — Bill Warner is hardly a naive man. He ran his own engineering firm for three decades, and sold the assets just before the economy tanked. He built his dream home on a majestic hill abutting a national park, back when the housing market was steady. While some neighbors have since been foreclosed upon, Warner is resurfacing his flagstone deck. (more)