Comments on: Moderation and Courage: Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. http://www.frumforum.com/moderation-and-courage-henry-cabot-lodge-jr Building a conservatism that can win again Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:50:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: The Grand Old Party (GOP) House Leadership: Is Mojo Back? « http://www.frumforum.com/moderation-and-courage-henry-cabot-lodge-jr/comment-page-1#comment-59953 The Grand Old Party (GOP) House Leadership: Is Mojo Back? « Fri, 14 Aug 2009 02:58:16 +0000 http://www.newmajority.com/?p=8530#comment-59953 [...] New Majority:  Moderation and Courage: Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. [...] [...] New Majority:  Moderation and Courage: Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. [...]

]]> By: jonesny http://www.frumforum.com/moderation-and-courage-henry-cabot-lodge-jr/comment-page-1#comment-58605 jonesny Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:40:52 +0000 http://www.newmajority.com/?p=8530#comment-58605 I really like your articles, Geoffrey. I really like your articles, Geoffrey.

]]> By: DFL http://www.frumforum.com/moderation-and-courage-henry-cabot-lodge-jr/comment-page-1#comment-57012 DFL Fri, 24 Jul 2009 14:59:35 +0000 http://www.newmajority.com/?p=8530#comment-57012 Henry Cabot Lodge and the form of patrician liberal Republicanism he represented collapsed because it offered little that was different from the modern Democratic liberalism after the Democrats shed themselves of the ethnic machines and the segregationists. As pointed out in Thomas Whalen's book examining the vital 1952 Massachusetts Senate race ,"Kennedy Versus Lodge", Kennedy and Lodge differed very little on the issues. But the polished Irish patrician Kennedy cut into Lodge's advantages amongst Brahmins in places like Beacon Hill and Back Bay and edged Lodge in the most consequential Senate race since the 1858 Douglas-Lincoln race. Massachusetts Yankees had run Massachusetts for three centuries after the Mayflower but demographics allowed the Irish Democrats to gradually take over the state after 1920. Al Smith won Massachusetts in the 1928 Presidential race, the Democrats took the state legislature for the first time ever in 1948, and then Kennedy defeated Lodge in 1952. After that, it was almost as if the Yankees dropped out of elective politics in the state. They lost that feeling that they had a right to rule. Although Mr. Kabaservice seems to hold out hope that a liberal Republicanism can be reborn in Massachusetts and the rest of New England, it appears that the progeny of the Lodges and Saltonstalls have converted into Democrats rather than wait for an expulsion of conservatives from the Republican Party. Liberal and moderate Republicanism in New England is likely to be confined to the rural and small town portions of that section of America. As Richard Brookhiser wrote in National Review more than 25 years ago, the Massachusetts Yankees are a "tiny and despised minority" destined never to rule the state they founded. Why was the 1952 Massachusetts Senate race the most important of the 20th Century? If Lodge had won, he, and not Richard Nixon, would have been the favorite for the 1960 Republican Presidential nomination. Had Lodge become president in 1961, the Republican Party would have taken a much different course and Ronald Reagan would have remained a B-actor with a light workload, relegated to Sominex commercials and an occasional role on Bonanza or Gunsmoke. Had Kennedy lost to Lodge, not only would he have almost certainly never had been elected president, Kennedy may have left politics altogether to work for his father and carouse as was his nature. Bobby Kennedy and Ted Kennedy likely would never have afflicted America with their political careers. Henry Cabot Lodge and the form of patrician liberal Republicanism he represented collapsed because it offered little that was different from the modern Democratic liberalism after the Democrats shed themselves of the ethnic machines and the segregationists. As pointed out in Thomas Whalen’s book examining the vital 1952 Massachusetts Senate race ,”Kennedy Versus Lodge”, Kennedy and Lodge differed very little on the issues. But the polished Irish patrician Kennedy cut into Lodge’s advantages amongst Brahmins in places like Beacon Hill and Back Bay and edged Lodge in the most consequential Senate race since the 1858 Douglas-Lincoln race. Massachusetts Yankees had run Massachusetts for three centuries after the Mayflower but demographics allowed the Irish Democrats to gradually take over the state after 1920. Al Smith won Massachusetts in the 1928 Presidential race, the Democrats took the state legislature for the first time ever in 1948, and then Kennedy defeated Lodge in 1952. After that, it was almost as if the Yankees dropped out of elective politics in the state. They lost that feeling that they had a right to rule. Although Mr. Kabaservice seems to hold out hope that a liberal Republicanism can be reborn in Massachusetts and the rest of New England, it appears that the progeny of the Lodges and Saltonstalls have converted into Democrats rather than wait for an expulsion of conservatives from the Republican Party. Liberal and moderate Republicanism in New England is likely to be confined to the rural and small town portions of that section of America. As Richard Brookhiser wrote in National Review more than 25 years ago, the Massachusetts Yankees are a “tiny and despised minority” destined never to rule the state they founded.

Why was the 1952 Massachusetts Senate race the most important of the 20th Century? If Lodge had won, he, and not Richard Nixon, would have been the favorite for the 1960 Republican Presidential nomination. Had Lodge become president in 1961, the Republican Party would have taken a much different course and Ronald Reagan would have remained a B-actor with a light workload, relegated to Sominex commercials and an occasional role on Bonanza or Gunsmoke. Had Kennedy lost to Lodge, not only would he have almost certainly never had been elected president, Kennedy may have left politics altogether to work for his father and carouse as was his nature. Bobby Kennedy and Ted Kennedy likely would never have afflicted America with their political careers.

]]> By: Cforchange http://www.frumforum.com/moderation-and-courage-henry-cabot-lodge-jr/comment-page-1#comment-57007 Cforchange Fri, 24 Jul 2009 14:19:14 +0000 http://www.newmajority.com/?p=8530#comment-57007 “practical progressive” - isn't that exactly what the country is looking for? Majority of American's want healtcare overhaul but their concerned about it's practicality. They want renewed infastructure, they want the industrial base reinvigorated, they want the judicial system revamped, they want government sized down but effective. It will take a practical negoitiator to accomplish this, someone like the late Senator John Heinz someone who can bring everyone(or a majority) together. “practical progressive” – isn’t that exactly what the country is looking for? Majority of American’s want healtcare overhaul but their concerned about it’s practicality. They want renewed infastructure, they want the industrial base reinvigorated, they want the judicial system revamped, they want government sized down but effective. It will take a practical negoitiator to accomplish this, someone like the late Senator John Heinz someone who can bring everyone(or a majority) together.

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