7 Responses to “LIVE AT FIVEEIGHT – 12.16.11”

1. Cartoon of the day « Don Surber
   December 16th, 2011 @ 8:39 am

   […] Robert Stacy McCain: Late At Eight. […]

2. Old Rebel
   December 16th, 2011 @ 9:29 am

   Hitchens never “abandoned the Left for conservatism”; he remained a self-described Trotskyite. The Neocon Wars he supported were conceived and implemented as grand Trotskyite projects to promote big government and globalism.

   If we continue to spread the misconception that support for war, any war, defines conservatism, we could end up abandoning genuine conservatism for a bizarre ideology that promotes open borders, an all-powerful central government, and the surrender of our traditional rights as “conservative.”

   Oh, wait a minute …

3. Anonymous
   December 16th, 2011 @ 10:06 am

   I agree that Hitchens never “abandoned the Left for conservatism.” Nor did he claim to have done so.

   I’m pretty sure, however, that he abandoned Trotskyism proper (although not a continuing admiration of Trotsky) for a more center-left position. He said that he was “no longer a socialist, but still a Marxist” (because he considered a materialist conception of history valid).

   He was certainly not a “neoconservative,” like so many Trotskyists (Jean Kirkpatrick, Paul Wolfowitz, et. al) became.

   His basis for supporting the War on Terror was not Trotskyist/neoconservative “permanent revolution”  theory of “spreading democracy,” but on “the essential question of defending civilization against its terrorist enemies and their totalitarian protectors.”

   Unlike most neoconservatives — and most self-identified American conservatives — he was not only not especially supportive of Israel, but described himself specifically as an “anti-Zionist.”

   He endorsed Obama in 2008, calling McCain “senile” and Palin a “pathological liar” and a “national disgrace.”

   He was about as far from a social conservative as it was possible to get — not just non-religious but anti-religion, and a personal libertine who dedicated an entire book to slagging Mother Teresa.

   I think it would be a mistake to let any particular ideological bloc claim him in death, as he didn’t allow that to happen in life.

   He was three things: An American (by choice — he moved here and asked to become a citizen, and explained why in moving terms in Hitch-22); a hell of a writer; and an original in every sense of the word.

4. Joe
   December 16th, 2011 @ 10:31 am

   Christopher Hitchens was not a conservative.  He was a very good writer and a great mind and I will miss him. 

   I disagreed with him on many points.  That said, he would be in my top ten of people for throwing back a few drinks with and spending an evening talking. 

   What I liked about Hithchens is he liked to take on bullies.  Of course he may have set his sights a little high with God, but Hitchens loved a challenge. 

   RIP Christopher. 

5. Christopher Hitchens, RIP | Conservative Heritage Times
   December 16th, 2011 @ 10:47 am

   […] that legacy is celebrated by supposedly antagonistic camps in the political blogosphere. Over at The Other McCain, Hitchens is recognized as an “atheist [who] abandoned the Left for conservatism.” […]

6. Anonymous
   December 16th, 2011 @ 11:02 am

   Joe,

   I agree. I envy Stacy the experience of a drinking night out with Hitchens.

   I too disagreed with Hitchens on a lot of things, but he was one of the finest writers, and in particular one of the most effective polemicists, of the late 20th/early 21st century.

   Speaking of which, I probably don’t mention often enough that that’s the basis of my admiration for Stacy as well. Even when I find his ideas silly or repugnant, he delivers them skillfully; and has in common with Hitchens a certain gregarious bon vivantism that’s hard not to love.

7. Because I’m Libertarian Like That : The Other McCain
   December 16th, 2011 @ 1:48 pm

   […] on campus during the lockdown, which caused him to be three hours late with this morning’s “Live at Five” headline roundup. He sent an e-mail to apologize, explaining that a “suicidal a–hole” was the […]

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