Frum fails purity test

I saw on twitter that the guys who weren't fired are denying any pressure to avoid the media, but David Frum thinks he was fired for his recent blog post.

EXCLUSIVE: David Frum told us last night that he believes his axing from his $100,000-a-year “resident scholar” gig at the conservative American Enterprise Institute was related to DONOR PRESSURE following his viral blog post arguing Republicans had suffered a devastating, generational “Waterloo” in their loss to President Obama on health reform.

Matt thinks it's clear that it's because Frum failed to stay on the rigorously enforced messaging system of the conservative right and it's pretty weird because Frum was simply offering a tactical analysis of why the GOPers failed to kill the reform bill.

Having read about Frum's interview, I'd have to agree. In case you missed it, here's a snip.

"Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us and now we're discovering we work for Fox," Frum told ABC's Terry Moran. "And this balance here has been completely reversed. The thing that sustains a strong Fox network is the thing that undermines a strong Republican party."

Frum laid the blame for the anger of anti-health reform protesters not with the GOP, but with talk radio and Fox News, which he said was the "real leadership" in setting the terms of the political debate on health care.

"The anger trapped the [Republican] leadership," Frum said, and "the leadership discovered they have no room to maneuver as a result of the anger."

Guess Frum forgot that telling the truth is simply not allowed in the conservative tent. Or maybe he just cracked under the strain of having to defend the indefensible since 2003.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]