..is neither.

Like Bolshevism compassionate conservatism is an idea that should (to quote Winston Churchill) have been “strangled in its cradle”. The country would be much better off if it had been. Mind you, to call compassionate conservatism an ‘idea’ is flattery. Yes, here and there it may encompass a few good policies, but for the most part compassionate conservatism is little more than pork wrapped up in schmalz.