Althouse nails it:

I don’t think Americans really like to see aggressive economic experiments that displace the private sector. . . . It’s a crazy concoction that no one understands.

Via:  Instapundit.

PAMELA GELLER AT ATLAS SHRUGS!

Congrats to Pam and her supporters (it was a landslide).  And thanks as well to the other diva contestants.  They are all awesome and I voted for a few of them!

I hereby close this year’s contest and wish everyone a Happy New Year!

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

UPDATE (from Dan): And once again neoneocon will join Pamela in her court as Conservative Blogress Diva Regent, also known as the Endora for that staunch Republican, Agnes Moorehead. Now that Pamela with her victory has won the coveted crown, known as the Ethel in honor of that great Republican Ethel Merman, with all rights honors and privileges pertaining thereto, neoneo will assist her in her duties, filling in whenever the Grande Diva is incapacitated or otherwise unable to fulfill the awesome responsibilities of this job.

You can vote for one diva each day, with balloting closing at noon on December 31, 2009.

And recall we here at GayPatriot define a diva as “a strong, confident woman who commands the respect of men.” A conservative blogress diva need not be conservative. All she must do command the respect (or have otherwise earned the admiration) of gay conservatives.

And please note that while there are many conservative blogress divas, including a good number not on this ballot, only one woman can become the Grande Conservative Blogress Diva.

After much discussion, Bruce and I finally settled on a list of nine distinguished divas blogresses to compete for the coveted “Ethel,” the prize which goes to the Grande Conservative Blogress Diva for 2010.  There were many qualified candidates and we debated increasing the number of nominees, but, in the end, settled on these nine distinguished web pundits:

• Cynthia Yockey
• Neoneocon
• Anchoress
• Michelle Malkin
• Ann Althouse
• Jennifer Rubin (Commentary Contentions)
• Fausta
• Pamela (Atlas Shrugs)
• Tammy Bruce

To be sure, by keep the contest at a manageable number, we could not include each and every blogress worthy of consideration.

I expect to get a poll up until sometime tonight, at which time the balloting will officially begin.

“. . .moral sanctimoniousness and a determination to do the opposite of whatever George W. Bush was doing.”

Jennifer Rubin

While only one blogress can be the Grande Conservative Blogress Diva (also known as the Ethel in honor of the Republican woman most beloved by gay men), this year, as last, we will also be choosing a Conservative Blogress Diva Regent (also known as the Endora in honor that “staunch conservative” Agnes Moorehead).

With nominations now complete, Bruce and I are reviewing the submissions and their seconds to determine which lucky blogresses get to compete for the coveted crown.

One of the great things about this competition is that it helps us learn about all the talented conservative, libertarian as well as centrist and iconoclastic liberal women who are blogging.  And even each of the various conservatives on the list offers a unique point of view, from mainstream Reagan conservatives who warmly embrace their gay and lesbian peers to social conservatives who begrudgingly tolerate us.

Some women who didn’t make the list, but whose names came to mind in the course of the competition, include National Review’s Lisa Schiffren, Dr. Melissa Clouthier*, Cathy Young, Rachel Abrams at the Weekly Standard, and Lorie Byrd.  There are a lot of smart woman out there, expressing their opinions (nearly) every day and not subscribing to left-wing feminist claptrap.  As our reader Lori G wrote, “So many conservative lovelies“.  Indeed.

As we review the submissions, obviously we will not be able to acknowledge all this incredible talent (with a nomination).   If we did that, the list would be incredible unwieldy.  But, by speaking her mind and challenging the conventional wisdom of how a smart woman should think, each of these “lovelies” is truly a diva.  But, only one can become the Grande Conservative Blogress Diva.

—–

*Her latest, Passing Obamacare Will Hurt Democrats, Not Passing Obamacare Will Hurt Democrats, is particularly insightful, the title alone spot on.

As our readers know, we here at GayPatriot define a diva as “a strong, confident woman who commands the respect of men.”   A conservative blogress diva need not be conservative  per se; all she must do command the respect (or have otherwise earned the admiration) of gay conservatives.  In the past, as I noted back in 2006, some of our nominees have been

libertarian. And others, while more centrist, distinguish themselves by their iconoclasm and the manner in which they take on the silliness of certain leftists — and conservative pretenders, i.e., those who, in the words of one of our [past and possibly future] nominees, “drive . . . liberals nuts.”

This year, our readers have already submitted the names of blogress divas new to the contest, including, we believe, only the second lesbian ever nominated, Cynthia Yockey, aka a Conservative Lesbian.   Will she perhaps replace that other dyke diva Tammy Bruce by capturing this year’s Endora and reigning a Conservative Blogress Diva Regent or will she join Sondra K and Pamela Geller as only the third woman to become the Grande Conservative Blogress Diva?

Other names drawn to my attention this year include Cassandra of Villainous Company, Nic Deb, Megan McArdle, Phyllis Chesler and Karin Quade (of anti-anti-Americanism.com).

Also in contention are reigning divas Pamela Geller, Tammy Bruce and neoneocon as well as Amy Alkon, The Anchoress, Ann Althouse, Little Miss Attila, Dymphna of Gates of Vienna, immediate past Grande Conservative Blogress Diva Sondra K of Knowledge is Power, Mary Katharine Ham of The Weekly Standard, Rachel Lucas, Michelle Malkin, Camille Paglia, Virginia Postrel of The Dynamist, Jennifer Rubin of Commentary’s Contentions, Sister Toldjah, Debbie Schlussel, and Fausta Wertz.

Please submit your nominations (or seconds) in the comments section below or via e-mail.   Bruce and I will review the submissions (and the seconds) and choose this year’s roster, posting a poll as soon as this coming Friday with balloting continuing for at least a week.

So, if you want your favorite diva to appear on the ballot, make sure to second her nomination below.

Well, the end of the year is soon upon us and Grande Conservative Blogress Diva Pamela Geller must either prepare to surrender her crown — or fight to keep it.  As you know, we here at GayPatriot consider a conservative blogress diva any blogress who commands the support of gay conservative men.

And this past year, I have discovered many blogresses meriting the honor of being a blogress diva that I will wait and see the names our readers submit before submitting my list (as we have in years past).

I will, however, kick off the context by placing in nomination the name of an Obama supporter who has long commanded my respect:  Camille Paglia.  As we receive submissions and seconds, Bruce and I will determine which divas compete for the crown.  We expect to honor not only a Grande Conservative Blogress Diva, her prize hereinafter to be known as the “Ethel” in honor of that Republican most beloved by gay men–Ethel Merman.

She will be helped by at least one Conservative Blogress Regent, a title now held by Tammy Bruce and neoneocon and known as the Endora (or Agnes) in honor of the Lavender Lady herself, that “staunch” conservative, Agnes Moorhead.  This year, we may also be establishing the Lucy Award in honor of another star of the small screen and famous friend of Ron, that lifelong Republican Lucille Ball.

We will accept nominations until midnight Wednesday, December 16.  Shortly thereafter, we will alert the nominees and announce the beginning of the cat fight balloting.

Given her strong and frequent defenses of Sarah Palin, Camille Paglia certainly merits consideration for the coveted title of Grande Conservative Blogress Diva (soon to be renamed as the Ethel).  She is tart-tongued and witty, speaking her mind.  She never minces her words.  While claiming to be of the left, does not allow herself to be pigeon-holed.  In truth, she subscribes to no political ideology, acidly taking potshots at even her ostensible allies.

She’ll not only take them on if she doesn’t agree with them, but also if she doesn’t like the way they’re playing the game.  She doesn’t let partisan labels or political worldview prevent her from calling things as she sees them.  She may love Barack Obama, but she’ll lambaste her beloved Democrat when she believes he’s governing badly–or surrounding him with tone-deaf advisers.  And she doesn’t soft-pedal such criticism, even of an ally.  Even it if means being labeled “C**tzilla.”

I have long been a fan of this gifted scholar and social critic, having met her in 1994 at a reading/book-signing organized by the D.C.. bookstore Chapters. Her book Sexual Personae has been an invaluable resource for my dissertation on the goddess Athena.  My readers–and almost never the liberal ones–regularly alert me to her columns.  In short, this Obama supporter has gained the respect of gay conservatives, thus, in my mind, at least, qualifying her for the coveted contest.

Recall that we have defined a diva as a strong, confident woman who commands the respect of men.  And of the Grande Conservative Blogress diva, I have written:

She need not be conservative herself . . . , but must by the the power of her prose, the eloquence of her expression and the intelligence of her ideas have earned the enmity of the angry left and so endeared herself to gay men like us who admire strong women who speak their minds, even at the expense of encomia from those in the entertainment industry and the MSM.

Being called C**tzilla suggests earning enmity from the angry left.

So, my friends, I put this question to you, in December, when we again began the process of selecting the most (cat) fought-over title in the blogosphere, should we consider Camille Paglia for Grande Conservative Blogress Diva?

For a slightly more nuanced view of Paglia, please make sure to read Endora-winning blogress (AKA Conservative Blogress Diva Regent) neeneocon’s take on the Obama-supporting diva.

*And Bush-critic.

Although having no remorse for supporting Barack Obama, Camille Paglia still manages to confess her “dismay bordering on horror at the amateurism of the White House apparatus for domestic policy“:

There is plenty of blame to go around. Obama’s aggressive endorsement of a healthcare plan that does not even exist yet, except in five competing, fluctuating drafts, makes Washington seem like Cloud Cuckoo Land. The president is promoting the most colossal, brazen bait-and-switch operation since the Bush administration snookered the country into invading Iraq with apocalyptic visions of mushroom clouds over American cities.

. . . .

I just don’t get it. Why the insane rush to pass a bill, any bill, in three weeks? And why such an abject failure by the Obama administration to present the issues to the public in a rational, detailed, informational way? The U.S. is gigantic; many of our states are bigger than whole European nations. The bureaucracy required to institute and manage a nationalized health system here would be Byzantine beyond belief and would vampirically absorb whatever savings Obama thinks could be made. And the transition period would be a nightmare of red tape and mammoth screw-ups, which we can ill afford with a faltering economy.

. . . .

Blaming obstructionist Republicans is nonsensical because Democrats control all three branches of government. It isn’t conservative rumors or lies that are stopping healthcare legislation; it’s the justifiable alarm of an electorate that has been cut out of the loop and is watching its representatives construct a tangled labyrinth for others but not for themselves.

Emphasis added.

In her post where she also skewers House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Paglia offers little love for the GOP.  As with anything by Paglia just read the whole thing.

She gets at the essence of the opposition.  With the Administration handling this in a ham-handed, haphazard manner, people fear they are being left out of an overhaul of a sector of society with which they are, by and large, satisfied.  Not just that, this reform is coming from a man, who as presidential candidate promised a new era of transparency, but is relying on back room deals and lobbyist support to craft the health care reform bill.

Paglia is right (and wise) to note that no final bill exists.  If Obama wishes to be true to the platform on which he ran, he will request that Congress recess once the final bill has been drafted and posted on the internet.  He would ask each Representative and Senator to hold townhall meetings advertised at least two weeks in advance to all their constituents.  In short, they wouldn’t vote on final passage until they’ve discussed the bill with the people they were elected to serve.

Yes, this will take a bit of time, but it is a major industry overhaul with far-reaching consequences.

His drag career went bust.

Maybe that’s why the unhappy Congressman is so mean-spirited.  He just doesn’t look good in a dress.

(H/t Attila the Honey (potential blogress diva?) via the People’s Cube.)

FROM THE COMMENTS:  Jana writes, “Too bad he beclowns himself in a far more humiliating manner every day.”

[Revised to correct numerous typos and improve the flow.]

I have long been fascinated by the contempt certain left-wing bloggers hold for Ann Althouse.  As I noted in a previous post, she’s “kind of like the South Park of blogging. . ., directing her snark at pretty much anything she finds amusing” regardless of politician affiliation.  She’s basically an equal opportunity riffer.

You wouldn’t think she’d earn the ire of any particular partisans.

Indeed, given the enthusiasm of left-of-center bloggers had for Barack Obama in last fall’s campaign, you’d think they’d love Althouse.  Having backed Bush in 2004, she came out for Obama last year, voting for him in the Wisconsin primary, one of the most decisive contests of the Democratic campaign.  Her support for their man helped give him added credibility, an example of his appeal to moderate Bush voters.

Not just that, she’s had kind things to say for a number of conservatives, even offered occasional praise for Sarah Palin.  They could use her to show how broad-minded people, having seen the strengths on both sides, prefer Obama.

But, maybe they just couldn’t stand her because sometimes she refrained from riffing Republicans and denounced Democrats instead. Her occasional praise of Republicans really got under their skins.  Her support for Obama was not absolute.   She did not see him as a messiah, but merely the better of the two candidates (in each of two contests, for the Democratic nomination and later the White House.)  And she’s aware of the President’s imperfections, criticizing him from time to time.

I think that’s part of the reason those bloggers can’t stand her; she’s only a lukewarm supporter of Obama and not a rabid critic of his opponents.

I believe, however, the real reason the mere mention of her name whips those bloggers into paroxysms of anger and invective is that right-of-center bloggers love her even though we often disagree with her.

(more…)

There was a time when Andrew Sullivan could make a serious argument for state recognition of same-sex marriages. Now when he talks about the subject, he can’t seem to see beyond the “legal rights” issue, as if without state sanction, his marriage wouldn’t mean anything.

And now, he sees a straight blogress’s upcoming marriage as an object of ridicule. Yesterday, he linked a left-wing blog mocking Ann Althouse’s impending nuptials to someone who comments to her blog. In so doing, he showed his confusion about what marriage is, something he once understood pretty well. After that diva called him on his “disrespectful” post, he fired back, ignoring her criticism and focusing on his own views, “I’m all in favor of the right of straight bloggers to marry their straight commenters. It’s a civil right.“

Is that all it is, Andrew, a civil right? Interesting that that’s how he would choose to address the controversy, reducing it to a right.

Althouse never one to mince words (hence her diva status) called Andrew on missing the point:

This isn’t about legal rights. This is about how individuals treat each other, and I want to know why you disrespected me. Explain why you linked to Pandagon’s scurrilous OMFG, which, as you know, means “Oh, my fucking God.” Is that the way you mean to speak to me? Is that the way you talk about God?

In Andrew’s eagerness to link a left-wing blogger to attack a more moderate one (who happened to have endorsed the same presidential candidate he did), he shows once again that he has long since left the conservative fold, even as he calls himself conservative.

What conservative would link a left-wing blogger to mock the impending nuptials of a centrist blogress?

So says Glenn in linking Ann Althouse’s must-read post.

The Massachusetts Democrat claims that Justice Scalia “makes it very clear that he’s angry, frankly, about the existence of gay people:”

If you read his opinion [in Lawrence v. Texas], he thinks it’s a good idea for two consenting adults who happen to be gay to be locked up because he is so disapproving of gay people.

Well that sage blogress, who actually read Lawrence informs the mean-spirited Decmorat that “you are either lying about having read it, lying about what Scalia wrote, or an embarrassingly incompetent reader.”  Actually quoting the actual words of Scalia’s actual dissent, Althouse finds the Associate Justice objecting to the majority opinion overturning Texas’s sodomy law as rooted in “plain old deference to the democratic process and a resistance to creative interpretation of constitutional text.”   His opinion is thus consistent with his constitutional jurisprudence.

Read the whole thing.  Maybe it’s Althouse’s direct manner which so offends those on the left.  And they, like Barney, are so easily offended.

If a Republican were as outspoken and mean-spirited as the Massachusetts Congressman and so regularly engaged in name-calling, he would be the target of regular media attacks.  Tom DeLay got in more trouble with the media for saying things far less offensive about his adversaries than Ol’ Barney has done.

Does this unhappy Congressman hide behind his sexuality, as if the marginalization he’s suffered somehow justifies his meanness?

Of the bloggers (and blogresses) I try to read on a regular basis, Ann Althouse is probably the one with whom I disagree the most on matters political.  She voted for Obama, leans left on a number of issues, regularly criticizes conservatives; she repeatedly ridiculed John McCain.  And yet it’s those on the left who are most eager to vilify her, the latest being blogger Ezra Klein.

On Saturday, I wanted to make sure to check her blog largely because she’s visiting my home town and posting pictures from the city Winston Churchill dubbed “the most beautiful city inland in the Union”.  She offered a photo of my favorite flavor of ice cream from the best ice cream place on the planet.  As well as images of the most delicious chili concoctions ever created by the mind of man.

She posed for a picture at the very statue where my grandmother gave me my very fist lesson on mythology in my favorite urban park in the nation.

Amidst all these happy images, she also alluded to her run-in with Ezra Klein, a blogger quite unhappy that this blogress diva doesn’t censor her comments and lets some pretty hateful ones stand.  As she explains:

Well, Ezra, I do not delete comments based on viewpoint. I believe in the marketplace of ideas, and to the extent that there are some anti-Semitic comments here, there are many more comments that strike back. Is it not better to have scurrilous ideas out in the sunlight where they can die?

Now you know what we call her a diva.  She doesn’t mince words and is unafraid of criticism and nut jobs.  (Memo to self: remember Ann’s words next time you find a hateful comment in the spam filter; expose it to sunlight so it can more readily be killed.)

(more…)

My two favorite Obama-supporting blogress divas have entered into a kind of blogging cat fight.

No sooner did Camille Paglia praise the president for looking good on Inauguration Day (his “relaxed, natural authority with military officers”) while faulting him for dropping the ball on crafting the “stimulus,” than Ann Althouse took her fellow blogress to task for her “purple piffle:”

Yet read for a few paragraphs and you’ll get hit in the face with the insipidity of: “But aside from the stimulus muddle, Obama has been off to a good start.”

. . . .

The President was able to look decent standing next to military personnel. This is the “good start”? She should blush deep red with embarrassment to have defined the standard of presidential achievement down so low.

Read the whole thing (both of ‘em).

(Tipping my hat to Glenn as he alerted me both to Ann’s post and to Camille’s before I had the chance to check their blogs on my own.)

Bush is Gone, but Bush-Hatred Lingers.

Endora-award winning blogess Tammy Bruce doesn’t mince words when taking to task those Democrats who want to prosecute the former president for war crimes.

Talking about those still obsessed with the former president even though he’s gone, Tammy says, “these are individuals who are obsessed and paranoid about the [former] president. . . “

This seems to be the week when smart women don’t mince their words.

(H/t Gateway Pundit).

We are please to announce that Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs, with a total of 3,408 votes (combining the scores of both polls), is the new Grande Conservative Blogress Diva.

We are busy tabulating the totals to determine this year’s runnerup, the first ever Conservative Blogress Regent.

In honor of Claire Boothe Luce, an outspoken and witty conservative woman, we are dubbing this trophy, the Boothie.

Right now, we are reviewing the photo finish for runner-up with current results having Tammy Bruce edging out neoneocon by just six votes for Conservative Blogress Diva Regent, more commonly known as the Endora in honor of “staunch Republican,” Agnes Moorehead.

UPDATE:  After consultation with our electoral advisors and given the shift from one poll to another, in a contest this close, we have decided to award the Conservative Blogress Diva Regent title to both blogresses.  As one advisor said, “this isn’t a presidential election here!”  While we can have only one president and one Grande Conservative Blogress Diva at a time, perhaps we can have two regents.

Maybe one could be the Endora and the other the Agnes? Here’s the trophy which Tammy and neoneocon will share:

In just a few minutes, we’ll be announcing the Grande Conservative Blogress Diva 2009.  This year, I commissioned my friend Albert Berces, a good guy and good friend even if his politics are slightly to the left of my own, to design a logo for us.

Al, a very talented graphic artist, runs his business, Berces Design, out of San Diego.   And here’s what he designed for the soon-to-be crowned Grande Conservative Blogress Diva:

As we finalize the designs for the logo honoring our Grande Conservative Blogress Diva, you still have one last chance to vote to designate the grande conservative dame of the blogosphere.

Remember, we define a diva as a strong woman who commands the respect of men.  And in this case, she need not be conservative herself, but by her outspoken wit and wisdom and failure to kowtow to the politically correct, have earned the affection of conservatives.

We will post the logo tomorrow as we announce the winner.