David Frum has now pontificated on the Palin resignation, so the Vichy wing of the Republican Party can stop holding its collective breath and exhale.

“On reflection” Frum has it all figured out. It’s all about the money:

“2009-2011 will be her peak years for speaking fees. If she runs for president in 2012, she’ll be obliged to cut back her paid speeches in the fall of 2011, and if she does not run, her speaking fees will dwindle away soon after.”

Notice that Frum has nothing to say about about how much money bogus, politically-motivated “ethics” complaints are costing Alaska’s taxpayers, nor does he even mention the legal debts the complaints have imposed on Gov. Palin’s family. He tries to make it seem that the Palin resignation is some sort of coldly calculated  personal enrichment scheme by the governor. Frum also ignores the fact that Sarah Palin’s book contract will provide her with sufficient income that she won’t even need the speakers’ fees which he says motivate her.

Frum also has another imagined reason for Gov. Palin’s resignation:

“Palin has visibly lost interest in the governor’s job and she’s fed up with criticism.”

Visibly? Frum doesn’t understand that it’s not that Sarah Palin has lost interest in the governor’s job, it’s that the ethics complaints are preventing her from doing it in an efficient manner. He must have missed the part where she mentioned that eighty percent of her time and that of her staff is tied up in dealing with the complaints and the numerous FOI requests her political opponents keep piling up on the state of Alaska. But its easy to see how he missed it:

He.Does.Not.Listen.

I’ve noticed this about Frum and other Vichy Republicans (VRs). They are so focused on filibustering that they do not listen. Like a government burdened with frivolous complaints and FOI requests, Frum’s mind is so burdened with keeping up his non-stop rant that it cannot process input. This VR trait is a behavior which we have all seen in liberals when they are debating an issue. There’s no give and take on their part. They try to talk louder and longer than their opponents so they can get all of their talking points in.

To illustrate the point that the VRs have more in common with liberal Democrats than with conservative Republicans, listen to the exchange between Frum and Mark Levin here and here from Mark’s show after Frum had viciously attacked Rush Limbaugh:

Frum:

“We need to have a more relevant approach to economic issues that understand that it is health care that is crushing the incomes of middle income Americans. We need a new approach to the environment that accepts the legitimacy of… (Ten seconds) We need a softer line on social issues and an emphasis on competent, intelligent and fairer issues.”

Levin:

“Basically, we have to surrender our principals. I get it.”

Notice how Levin throws Frum off his game with a few well-placed points. It’s like a cat playing with an insect.

So it’s not only positions on issues that VRs share with the Left, it is tactics also. Like liberals do, Frum uses the ad hominem rather than the philosophical argument. Like some sideshow phony mind reader, he pretends to know the motivation of those he attacks. This is another liberal trait. They always think they know the inner thoughts and motivations of those they attack. Who knew that tinfoil hats had clairvoyant properties? Like a hungry flea, he bites at his target and is as annoying as a fly that won’t stop buzzing around your head until you swat it. Conservatives should be able to see that like liberals, Frum and his VR ilk are more foe than friend.

- JP