The End of Radical Conservatism

NYT's Week in Review editor Sam Tanenhaus says today's conservatism, a form of radicalism, is dying. One can only hope. Tanenhaus, who has a new book "The Death of Conservatism" doesn't say real conservatism is dying, just today's radical, racist, extremist conservatism.

We're actually living in a conservative era, Tanenhaus said. As proof, he says gay people want to get married. He says the lunatic fringe (he calls them activists) is giving conservatism a bad name. For example, John McCain was a champion of classic conservatism, but he didn't get to choose a vice president, the rightwing activists chose Sarah Palin for him, which caused McCain to run to the right of where he stands, Tanenhaus said.

Tanenhaus considers David Brooks and David Frum great conservative thinkers. He contends that Ted Kennedy, the last of the New Deal liberals, helped elect Ronald Reagan.

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