Charles Krauthammer: The Democrats need a tuneup

The New York Daily News ^ | August 7th 2008 | Charles Krauthammer

[2ndDivisionVet]

Let's see: housing meltdown, credit crunch, oil shock not seen since the 1970s. The economy is slowing, unemployment growing and inflation increasing. It's the sixth year of a highly unpopular war and the President's approval rating is at 30%.

The Italian Communist Party could win this election. The American Democratic Party is trying its best to lose it.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Another home run from the doctor.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Between Obamy and the ditz from San Fernasco, the ‘RATS are trying REALLY hard to lose it. It’s tough trying to “save the planet.”

[GregoryFul]

Congressional Democrats demand instead a clampdown on "speculators." The Democrats proposed this a month ago.

Shear speculation - let them put their money on it!

[xcamel]

“Tune Up”... 1960’s NYPD style?

[GregoryFul]

Pelosi says she wants to save the planet.

God works in mysterious ways.

[HwyChile]

“Democrats have the advantage on just about every domestic issue from health care to education.”

I have been hearing for years that the people trust the democrats more with the economy and think they are better for the economy. Why does the public think this? When were high taxes and big government spending good for any economy? People must be idiots or these polls are bogus.

[Tarpon]

I never see the life cycle cost of an electric car. That's because the energy to build, the energy to maintain, and the energy to dispose of, all would will blow you away. It's way to expensive and way too impractical for mass market usage.

And then there is this small issue of batteries, and how to build them with sufficient power, lifetime, and then there is the quantity of raw materials that are scarce to build them of ...

I wonder why?

Now if you want to know about coal to liquids technology, just wait a few days and you will be seeing some big announcements. Coal to liquids can deliver oil in the $30-40 a barrel of oil equivalent. China's first plant should be operational by year's end. Looks like the Crow Indians are going to start production in the USA soon.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

“Tune Up”... 1960’s NYPD style?

Yeah, who's gonna be the "mechanic"?

[xcamel]

“Democrats have frakked up just about every domestic issue from health care to education.” There, fixed it. Only intentions matter, never the results...

[lightman]

“Tune Up”... 1960’s NYPD style?

LOL

Let's "Recreate '68" with wood shampoos and sidewalk sandwiches.

[dbacks]

[Another home run from the doctor. ]

He has replaced Wm. F. Buckley as the Voice of Conservatism, IMHO!

Erudition with a slight stutter.

[EagleUSA]

People must be idiots or these polls are bogus.
::::::
Well, for starters, Charles hits another one over the fence. Second, you are right on both counts. If you were not, we would not have the DemoRat anti-Americans and their socialist insanity to deal with. They want to hurt this country any way they can, because they see that as their path to POWER AND CONTROL. And those two things are ALL THEY CARE ABOUT. The rest is total bull excrement.

[redhead]

When I first glanced at the headline, I could swear it said, “The Deomcrats Need A Turnip.” (so help me...)

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

"Barack Obama remains opposed to new offshore drilling (although he now says he would accept a highly restricted version as part of a comprehensive package). Just last week, he claimed that if only Americans would inflate their tires properly and get regular tuneups, "we could save all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling."

In a follow-up, Obama reminded Americans to always wear a clean pair of underwear in case you are in a car accident and have to spend the night in the hospital.

[HwyChile]

You made a good point about all this alternate energy nonsense. If you factor in all the costs of production, maintenance costs, replacement costs (they don’t last very long), etc., the net result is that they are bad science projects at best.

[HwyChile]

You are correct. The largest leftward lurch occurred during the Great Depression, and the democrats know the public won't go for radical change when things are good, so they are wishing for another big Great Depression so that they can say we need a New Deal because our current system is broke.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

And when you think about, part of the strategy out of the Democrat playbook is to push the lie that the Republicans only care about business and money.

Well, if so, how the hell can the Democrats claim to be the party that can build a strong economy? Is there anyone out there, except for the George Soroses and his disgusting ilk, that are making living without being somehow engaged in business?

It is just more Leftist lies. They are trying to push the lie that Socialism and other forms of central management and collectivism make a strong economy. Anyone who is not a useful idiot and has studied even the most basic economics (like Sowell’s book of that title), knows that centrally managed governments destroy economies and, as the economies disintegrate, increasingly restrict civil liberties.

The only ones who believe this lie are what Stalin referred to as “useful idiots.”

[jazusamo]

Another excellent piece by Krauthammer.

I haven’t seen one Dem interviewed on the subject that didn’t start out by saying we can’t drill our way out of this. I hope they keep saying that right up to the election and a lot of them will “not drill” themselves out of a seat.

[HwyChile]

“The only ones who believe this lie are what Stalin referred to as “useful idiots.””

I just cannot get over how many useful idiots are out there. Of course, those same people watch every sports game out there and know everything there is about sports, but they don’t want to take the time to learn about the real world. I have nothing against sports by the way, but it also amazes me how much of time and effort people allocate to watching it at the expense of everything that really matters in life. It is, after all, just entertainment.

[Clemenza]

“Tune Up”... 1960’s NYPD style?

As long as they don't adopt the following interrogation tactic supposedly used by the NYPD back in the 1970s (per William Friedkin) Flash forward to 0:32:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AfEHboPvApc&feature=related

[rbg81]

Pelosi says she wants to save the planet.

So....Pelosi is Captain Planet? Her alter ego no doubt. Someone should photoshop a superhero with her head superimposed.

[rbg81]

democrats know the public won’t go for radical change when things are good,

---

I dunno. Incremental change has worked pretty well for ‘em so far. In another 50 year, we’ll all be gay, tree-worshiping socialists or Muslims. And, no, I’m not kidding.

[billhilly]

“Between Obamy and the ditz from San Fernasco, the ‘RATS are trying REALLY hard to lose it. It’s tough trying to “save the planet.”

If you are the One, it is achievable. Let’s see how that plays out.

[InterceptPoint]

Shear speculation - let them put their money on it!

I wonder if it has occurred to the Dems that it is the speculators, some of whom have lost $billions, who are currently driving the price DOWN.

[ChildOfThe60s]

Which is why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, surveying the political rubble resulting from her insistence on not even permitting drilling to come to a floor vote, has quietly told her members that they can save their skins and vote for drilling when the preelection Congress convenes next month.

IMO, if the DIMs get the WH and congress, their votes now are meaningless. There are thousands of ways they can quietly delay drilling forever even after voting to open it up.

We have plenty of laws to keep illegal aliens out and get rid of those here. Notice how well our government has enforced those laws?

Point being, these people will promise anything with no intention of honoring said promises.

[brushcop]

Tarpon, you make some very interesting points, I’m talking about your last paragraph, interesting, intriguing. And I agree with your profile page—outstanding. One question gains much insight—2nd Amendment.

[HwyChile]

You are correct about the slow change. That has been a great policy for them as well. But their wet dream is another New Deal.

[billhilly]

“I just cannot get over how many useful idiots are out there. Of course, those same people watch every sports game out there and know everything there is about sports, but they don’t want to take the time to learn about the real world. I have nothing against sports by the way, but it also amazes me how much of time and effort people allocate to watching it at the expense of everything that really matters in life. It is, after all, just entertainment.”

Believe me, the parents of this generation have a hard time swallowing what they have spawned. We gave them everything and they had to earn nothing. So, we signed their, and their nation’s death certificates.

[SAJ]

Don't forget the Baggies....

;^)

[HwyChile]

“Believe me, the parents of this generation have a hard time swallowing what they have spawned. We gave them everything and they had to earn nothing. So, we signed their, and their nation’s death certificates.”

So true.

[windsorknot]

The Dems need a tuneup and an enema.

[Moonman62]

He has replaced Wm. F. Buckley as the Voice of Conservatism, IMHO! Erudition with a slight stutter.

I believe Krauthammer is a Democrat. That's the way it goes these days.

[dbacks]

Krauthamer a dem?? Not even close. Are you sure you aren’t thinking of Mort Kondrake?

[Reaganesque]

Tune up? Naaah! They need an enema.

[RJL]

They say that we cannot drill our way out of the oil crisis. Of course not. But it is equally obvious that we cannot solar or wind or biomass our way out. Does this mean that because any one measure cannot solve a problem, it needs to be rejected?

Why is Charles adopting the Democrat talking points?

We've been drilling our way to plentiful oil for a hundred years. It's only our idiot politicians that are preventing us from cheap plentiful supplies today.

[okie01]

We've been drilling our way to plentiful oil for a hundred years. It's only our idiot politicians that are preventing us from cheap plentiful supplies today.

For the record, we've been "on the verge of running out of oil" twice in the past.

First time was in the twenties, when all the once free-flowing wells started to lose pressure. That fear was overcome by the invention of the pumpjack (or mulehead pump).

Second time was in the fifties, when production declined from all the domestic oilfields. The industry developed injection technology to re-pressurize the fields and keep them in production.

On both occasions, the media caterwauled that the Age of Oil was over and the internal combustion engine was doomed, a thing of the past.

We've been through all this before...

[RJL]

For the record, we've been "on the verge of running out of oil" twice in the past.

Those sound like real concerns that had to be overcome by Yankee ingenuity.

The Luddites and now environmentalists, but I repeat myself, have been continuously claiming the imminent end of oil almost since the day oil was discovered.

[billhilly]

Lord almighty, I do love it when someone who has lived the past comes back to explain it. My grandpa was born in 1873 and died 92 yeas later. His last car was a model T Ford with a hand crank. He and I and our families have been blessed to have lived in this country until now. I shutter to think of the future.

[billhilly]

OOPS. I shudder.

[okie01]

He and I and our families have been blessed to have lived in this country until now.

Gee, the Messiah says you're clearly mistaken and don't really recognize all of the country's flaws...

"America, uh, is -- is no longer, uh, what it -- it could be, what it once was. And I say to myself, I don't want that future for my children."

Barack and Michelle may hate America more than you and I love it.

[okie01]

The Luddites and now environmentalists...have been continuously claiming the imminent end of oil almost since the day oil was discovered.

Actually, I would've expected the New York Times to support Drake's discovery well in Titusville, PA.

After all, it can be said that Col. Edwin Drake did, in fact, "Save The Whales".

[TigersEye]

The Italian Communist Party could win this election.

Charles does have a special touch with words.

[Hardastarboard]

The Democrats need the kind of “tune up” that the LAPD gave Rodney King.

[JLS]

I do not view this one as much a homerun as some of his columns. He begins with “beltway” assumptions on the popularity of the President, government health care and fighting the War on Terror.

His point is of course obvious to anyone who does not live in DC and believe his “beltway” assumptions. Sadly too many conservative commentators fall into “beltway” ways of thinking. Remember just a few weeks ago all these pundits were telling us it was the GOP that needed rebranding, now possibly it is the Dims.

He does at the end throw out a interesting tidbit that Pelosi is going to allow a vote prior to the election. I will be very curious to see if this end up coming to pass.

[eggman]

Americans want to lift the moratorium preventing drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf, thus unlocking vast energy resources shut down for the past 27 years.

In the 1970's we were drilling almost twice as much oil as we are drilling now US Crude Oil Production Yet our consumption has increased 30% US Energy Profile

Our economy continues to grow only by our ability to get the energy we need from other countries. We can't conserve our way out of this no matter how well inflated our tires are and how tuned up our cars are. We need more energy and the quickest, least risky, and least expensive way of getting it is to drill where we know there is oil NOW!

As Krauthammer said, it won't cost the taxpayers anything and it will return millions in tax revenues.

We have spent 30 years looking for a replacement for crude oil and we have a few very poor, expensive substitutes. Yet we have oil in ground that the government has put off limits. If there was a simple solution it would have already made someone very rich. It's time we got the obstructionist Democrats out of the way.

[driftless2]

"trust the Democrats"

The Dems are basically responsible for the oil crisis, the high food cost crisis, and the credit crisis. They refuse to allow drilling for more oil, they instigated the bio-fuels/ethanol disaster which drove food prices up, and they forced banks to create the ARM loans which has brought many banks to their knees. Yet they shriek that deregulation doesn't work. Actually they don't work, and what they do is killing the country.

[ripley]

one day, hopefully, the legitimacy of the democrats will “wither on the vine” and their adolescent, psychotic, insane attitudes will be seen for the childish criminality that they are.

[SumProVita]

“The problem for the Democrats is that the argument for “do everything” is not rocket science. It is common sense.”

...which explains why the Democrats don’t GET it. The “Hammer” is a favorite of mine. ;-)

[Tarpon]

Here is the story about the Crow Indians new $7B coal to liquids project. 50,000 barrels a day of fuel. All contained on the reservation ...