Pick the conservative

Here are some quotes I've picked up over recent years. See if you can identify the quote with the author. Better yet, pick the quote that belongs to the "true conservative". For answers, click on "Read More" or look below the line.

1. A man of principle, [John McCain is] not afraid to take tough positions, and he doesn't shy away from a fight. He's not worried about what's popular or partisan or personally advantageous.
2. Although I've disagreed with David [Frum] more in the last two years than in the previous, well, eternity, he's an intelligent and important voice on the right.
3. [Should we] help more kids go to college — or … make it easier for people who didn't go to college to make a living?
4. David Frum has long been an MVP of American conservatism — and Canadian conservatism (if those words can go together)! — and, more important, he has been a sterling human being.
5. For 25 years and with utter futility (starting with "The Oil-Bust Panic," the New Republic, February 1983), I have been advocating the cure: a U.S. energy tax as a way to curtail consumption and keep the money at home.
6. I was president of the Federalist Society chapter at my law school, worked on the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal and wrote speeches for President Bush—not the “Read My Lips” Bush, the “Axis of Evil” Bush.
7. American conservatism… is increasingly becoming a pagan-influenced ideology, providing long-sought justification for evildoing and providing us the steadfastness and determination to do what we know is wrong and the boldness to call evil good.
8. The bigotry aimed at the South never ceases to amaze me. Indeed, it is astounding to me how the left tells us we need to understand the nuance of, say, the Jihadi mind in all of its shades of gray, but when it comes to the voting habits of law-abiding white North Carolinians all you need to know is that if a white hand pulls a lever for a Republican politician, that hand must be attached to a racist, and that racism guided the hand to vote for a Republican.
9. Defending Helms from the charge of racism for most of his career is impossible — … Was he always a racist? I don't know. But my guess is, yeah. He was certainly insensitive, and I don't just mean politically incorrect. Calling all black people "fred" strikes me as more than one bridge too far. … Now, as for other Helm's positions and comments, I think it is very hard indeed to defend the man.
10. The problem... is that most members of Congress don't pay attention to what's going on.

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1. Sarah Palin, March 2010 (not 2008)
2. John J. Miller, writer for National Review, which I assert to be the the canonical conservative news magazine
3. Ramesh Ponnuru, editor of National Review
4. Jay Nordlinger, editor of National Review
5. Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post columnist and Fox News commentator
6. David Frum, not pointing out that, in fact, he authored the phrase "Axis of Evil"
7. Joe Carter, writer for the First Thoughts weblog, which has not, to my knowledge, ever been confused for a moderate, let alone left-wing outfit
8. Jonah Goldberg, editor of National Review (bet you guessed that one)
9. Jonah Goldberg (bet you didn't guess that one; he wrote it at about the same time as the previous quote)
10. John McCain

So, I have a hard time believing that conservatives all have the same opinions, and walk in lock-step to whatever dictates from the microphone.

Which is not to say that I'm one of them. I'll try to write something explaining that someday, but it isn't a priority. Now, the tournament of novels, that's a priority.