
 |
|
May 22, 2013
John Thorne:
They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman
May 20, 2013
Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?
Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star
The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013
Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Jan. 20, 2006
/ 20 Teves, 5766
A confused party
By
David Limbaugh
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Though Republicans undeniably face difficulties, Democrats are ill positioned to capitalize on them because of their own problems, which amount to a veritable identity crisis.
The New York Times reports that while just a year ago senators of both parties said a Supreme Court nominee "who disagreed openly with the major abortion rights precedents" would face nearly insurmountable confirmation hurdles, the Alito hearings "cast doubt on such assumptions."
Why? Because "the handful of Democrats from socially conservative states were reluctant to be perceived as voting against him on those grounds."
Yet, according to a separate Times story, the apparently tone deaf Senate Democratic leaders "urged their members Tuesday to vote against (Alito) in an effort to lay the groundwork for making a campaign issue of his decisions on the court."
So which is it? Is the Democrats' stance on abortion a net plus or minus for them? Do they have a clue anymore?
Democratic strategists James Carville and Paul Begala don't seem to think so. In a book they've co-authored, they reportedly argue that Democrats are in disarray and need to rethink their positions on various issues. According to Newsmax.com, "both authors argue the party needs to change its dogmatic thinking on abortion rights, gun control and environmental concerns."
Indeed, in the very process of trying to paint Judge Alito as "outside the mainstream," Democratic leaders showed how out of touch they are. What Carville and Begala know, but their party leaders, with the exception of Hillary, seem not to have discovered, is that the only time Democrats have won the presidency in the last three decades is when their candidate Bill Clinton masqueraded as a moderate.
On the other hand, there is some evidence that Democratic leaders have begun to realize their worldview doesn't play as well nationally. Why else would they be reluctant to give us the unvarnished version of what they believe? Why else do they spend all their time demonizing President Bush instead of articulating their own policy agenda?
Their strategy is fraught with problems. While they are trying to expand their smear of Bush to encompass the entire GOP "a culture of corruption" most of their ammunition since 2000 has been aimed at Bush personally, and neither he nor his vice president will be running again.
Plus, most of their attacks, even if inflicting some damage on Republicans, might do more to weaken their own standing with the electorate. Every time they bring up their tired mantra that Bush lied about WMD, they reveal their own dishonesty and hypocrisy and advertise their irrelevance. Every time they try to cast isolated incidents involving abuse of terrorist detainees as systematic torture authorized by the administration, they exhibit their disingenuousness and, worse, their sympathy for the devil. Every time they cast President Bush as a power-mad dictator spying on innocent American citizens, they further alienate themselves from a public appreciative that intercepted Al Qaeda phone calls have actually prevented further terrorist attacks.
But you have to give the Democratic leaders credit for ingenuity. Whereas they seemed to be mired in the aimless project of tainting the president with scandal after isolated scandal, they are now trying to attach some cohesiveness to their charges. They want to show these "scandals" are born not only of personal corruption but a flawed ideology a corrupt theory of government.
If their only weapon is scandal mongering, they give the public no reason to vote for them other than to throw the other bums out. But if in the process they can prove the scandals are the inevitable outgrowth of a dangerous ideology, they can sell themselves, by negative implication, as possessors of an alternative, superior ideology.
So when you hear them shifting gears in criticizing Judge Alito, from the subject of abortion to his "expansive views of executive authority," understand they are trying to tie together most of the formless slanders they've hurled at the president over the last five years.
The theme is that conservatives are freedom-loathing, war-hungry tyrants who can't be trusted with the presidency: They "stole" the election in 2000, denying voters their elective freedom. They "unilaterally" attacked Iraq by tricking congressional Democrats. They are "spying" on innocent Americans. They are stifling dissent in the "plantations" of Congress. President Bush is a stubborn, close-minded autocrat, unwilling to admit his "mistakes." He is surrounding himself with judges who will enable his "executive excesses" and slap down any congressional checks on his power.
Democrats deserve an A for effort, but their strategy isn't likely to succeed. In addition to the flagrant untruthfulness of their allegations, they still aren't presenting an alternative policy agenda. They don't dare come all the way out of the closet with it, or they'll suffer even worse at the polls.
.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
David Limbaugh, a columnist and attorney practicing in Cape
Girardeau, Mo., is the author of, most recently, "Persecution: How Liberals Are Waging War Against Christianity". (Click HERE to purchase. Sales help fund JWR.) Comment by clicking here.
Archives
© 2005, Creators Syndicate
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Christine Flowers
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
A. Barton Hinkle
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ch. Krauthammer
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Greg Schwem
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Lenore Skenazy
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Ben Stein
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
ZeitGeist
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Lisa Benson
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
John Branch
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
Matt Davies
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Jack Ohman
Michael Ramirez
Rob Rogers
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Danna Summers
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Dan Wasserman

Tech Q&A
Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|