Corrupting Jew David Frum dropped by NeoCon think-tank

[CrackSmokeRepublican]

David Frum dropped by U.S. conservative think-tank

Kenyon Wallace, National Post  Published: Thursday, March 25, 2010


Conservative commentator and National Post columnist David Frum has lost his job at the American Enterprise Institute, a right-wing public policy think tank, four days after he called the Republican Party's opposition to U.S. health-care reform the "most crushing legislative defeat since the 1960s."

Mr. Frum, who has been a resident fellow at the AEI since 2003, announced the "termination" of his position on his blog on Thursday, saying the decision was made over lunch with AEI President Arthur Brooks.

"I appreciate the consideration that delays my emptying of my office until after my return from travel next week. Premises will be vacated no later than April 9," Mr. Frum wrote in his resignation letter to Mr. Brooks. "I have had many fruitful years at the American Enterprise Institute, and I do regret this abrupt and unexpected conclusion of our relationship."

Mr. Frum declined interview requests last night, but told the Washington Post that his criticism of the Republican strategy, which he published on his website Sunday night and which ran in the National Post on Tuesday, did not appear to be a factor in the termination of his position.

"They invited me to remain associated with AEI on a non-salaried basis," Mr. Frum said. It was an offer he declined.

"While it has always been and will always be AEI's practice to not discuss personnel matters, David Frum is a truly original thinker and we are proud to have been associated with him for the last seven years. His decision to leave in no way diminishes our respect for him," Mr. Brooks told The Wall Street Journal in a statement through a spokeswoman.

In his Sunday posting on his website, FrumForum, the former speechwriter for President George W. Bush said part of the blame for the passing of the U.S. health-care reform bill "attaches to conservatives and Republicans ourselves."

"At the beginning of this process, we made a strategic decision: Unlike, say, Democrats in 2001 when president George W. Bush proposed his first tax cut, we would make no deal with the administration. No negotiations, no compromise, nothing. We were going for all the marbles. This would be Obama's Waterloo," Mr. Frum wrote. "This time, when we went for all the marbles, we ended with none. ... It's Waterloo all right: ours."

A contrarian conservative, Mr. Frum has been raising the ire of hardcore Republicans for some time. In his 2008 book, Comeback: Conservatism That Can Win Again, he criticized the party for losing sight of the issues he says matter most to Americans. He was also a vocal critic of John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as vice presidential candidate, but ultimately supported her during the last election.

He has also criticized the country's right-wing media organizations, whose popular celebrity hosts, such as Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, he says are ruining the party brand. Last year he called Rush Limbaugh a "walking stereotype of self-indulgence - exactly the image that Barack Obama most wants to affix to our philosophy and our party."

On Tuesday, in an interview with ABC, Mr. Frum said that Republicans were under the impression that TV network FOX worked for them, but now "we're discovering we work for FOX."

"This balance here has been completely reversed. The thing that sustains a strong Fox network is the thing that undermines a strong Republican party," he said.

Bruce Bartlett, a columnist for Forbes.com, said Mr. Frum, a friend, recently told him that AEI's health-care experts were ordered not to speak to the media because there were many parts to President Obama's plan that they agreed with.

"It wouldn't surprise me at all if some big donor to AEI saw David's comments about this being a Waterloo for the Republicans, and called up saying 'Forget about getting another penny from me' unless you get rid of this guy," said Mr. Bartlett, who was also fired by a right-wing think tank, the National Centre for Policy Analysis, for writing a book criticizing George W. Bush's policies in 2005.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2726743