Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

No Left Turns

The Hollow Dems

This National Review editorial is not fully satisfying on Bush’s speech last night. There are better opinions at this NRO Symposium. It was a perfectly good speech. Generally well delivered, even eloquent at times, and certainly hard enough, in my opinion. I watched the Dems more than I have before. I’m trying to figure out what they are up to. So to me the most revealing and interesting moment came when W. made a reference to the fact that his initiative on Social Security didn’t get off the ground last year and the Dems got up applauding and laughing. That was wonderfully revealing! What are they thinking about? That clip of Hillary standing up and grinning will be replayed during her campaign for the presidency a hundred times. It will reveal how unserious and imprudent she is because Social Security reform will be a major issue for the next decade or two, and Bush is taking it seriously. I thought that moment wrapped all the vices of the Dems in one revealing augenblick: Here we are, kind of like the leech-brain experts at best, like the last men, blinking. They are hollow to the core when it comes to the big and pressing issues, but willing to support federal benefits for soldiers who have served with honor, but shy away from talking about what they ought to be doing to serve. Oh, these are hollow politicians, these Dems. Very revealing, very discouraging, but also a great opportunity for some Democrat who is smart and decent and ambitious to have a great effect on a once great political party. I wonder if it can happen in my lifetime. It certainly isn’t going to happen by 2008.

Discussions - 6 Comments

Peter, it is almost disheartening. It’s like they’re mortal enemies to the administration, Hamas or Al Queda or somesuch. Instead of trying to advance an agenda, they seem to settle on just vying against ANYTHING that this administration does...and then blame the failure on the administration. What is disheartening is how many Americans agree with this tatic.

Look, the democrats are not going to abandon social security the way it is. They are going to point out that Clinton kept the budget reigned in, so that when 2008-12 rolled around the deficit we would face from social security would have been bearable. With many people counting on social security in the years ahead and the huge deficits that were run up in the Bush years, democrats are going to do the predictable: blame Bush. Of course something will have to be done, but I predict that we will simply see an increase in the budget deficit (this is so much easier than higher taxes), hopefully with mitigatable short and long term effects.

It is already clear what Hillary is going to say in her election campaign, she is going to have to campaign for higher taxes, probably by attacking the rich, while asking for reduction in spending on military engagements overseas. I also expect that she is going to play a more humanitarian based foreign policy, a la Bono and Gates. A sort of they resent us because they are poor suffering and we brain drain them leaving them at the mercy of charlatans, drug dealers, and religious terrorists, all of which to a large extent is true. I also expect the democrats to come out big on global warming, alternative fuels and biotech, while talking up the threats we face from epidemic diseases, which given the increasing number of old folks we will have should sell to an extent. Basically the democrats are going to allign themselves with the proposals and tone of Time Magazine. I still can’t see how it isn’t perfectly clear to you guys what the democratic agenda will be...

Rush Limbaugh made an excellent observation that I heard a few weeks ago. I hope he’s been making it for a long time, and I hope he’ll continue to make it: The Democrats won’t fight our enemies. But gosh, they’ll sure fight Bush and the Republicans, no letup, no holds barred.

"But gosh, they’ll sure fight Bush and the Republicans, no letup, no holds barred."

This is just absurd. What planet are you living on, Frisk?

Also, aren’t you the guy (or one of the many guys) who’s always insisting that the Dems condemn and distance themselves from what you consider to be hardcore leftists like Michael Moore in order for them to be taken seriously? Yet here you are citing your apparently moderate mentor Rush Limbaugh, and when it comes to Ann Coulter, well she’s got the right, serious "attitude," but she’s just not "expressing" it quite right. Good grief.

Limbaugh and Coulter don’t begin to compare to Michael Moore. In addition, they are patriots. Moore hates America
and sympathizes openly with the beheaders.

Oh well, if you say so!

Leave a Comment

* denotes a required field
 

No TrackBacks
TrackBack URL: https://nlt.ashbrook.org/movabletype/mt-tb.cgi/7867


Warning: include(/srv/users/prod-php-nltashbrook/apps/prod-php-nltashbrook/public/sd/nlt-blog/_includes/promo-main.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /srv/users/prod-php-nltashbrook/apps/prod-php-nltashbrook/public/2006/02/the-hollow-dems.php on line 548

Warning: include(): Failed opening '/srv/users/prod-php-nltashbrook/apps/prod-php-nltashbrook/public/sd/nlt-blog/_includes/promo-main.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/opt/sp/php7.2/lib/php') in /srv/users/prod-php-nltashbrook/apps/prod-php-nltashbrook/public/2006/02/the-hollow-dems.php on line 548