Happy Hour Vid: Frum, Goldberg Debate Merits of Limbaugh, Beck

A closer look at conservative dissent

David Frum is the former Bush speechwriter who found himself summarily dumped by a sizable portion of the American right shortly after he declared health care reform the Republicans' Waterloo. Jonah Goldberg is a longtime pillar of that revered conservative institution, National Review. On Monday, the two men tangled on Bloggingheads, debating the place of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.

Frum is not happy about Glenn Beck alleging that "the administration is overrun by actual, literal Maoists." Given Beck's tremendous following, Frum says, "I'll concede to you: I worry about this all the time." Goldberg returns that if Frum is so worried about Beck comparing the Obama administration to Maoists, he probably shouldn't have compared National Review to China himself while weighing in on the civil war started by National Review writer Jim Manzi and the matter of the right's supposed close-mindedness. Frum winds up apologizing for that remark.

Have a look at this excerpt of two forceful conservative minds addressing some of the hot topics of modern conservatism: