Posted on 12/02/2001 1:45:38 AM PST by JohnHuang2
Edited on 05/26/2004 5:02:38 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
WASHINGTON - Rep. Nita Lowey sparked GOP outrage yesterday by attacking President Bush and branding his economic plan "unpatriotic" in the middle of a war.
Lowey (D-Westchester) also broke the Democratic Party's unofficial moratorium on attack ads, ordering them to hit GOP congressmen in three districts over what Lowey is labeling "Bush's recession."
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
These ads are the clearest signal yet that Democrats are worried. Very worried. The fear gripping Democrats these days is impossible to overstate. You know a politician is in trouble when he stoops to running negative ads against his opponent. Slash-and-burn ads have never been a sign of strength and confidence, but of desperation and fear.
And nothing sends chills up and down Democrat spines quite like those presidential approval ratings, hovering in most polls at or near a stunning 90%. That's high enough to cause a nose bleed. And the numbers have been too high, too long, to boot. Democrat strategists fear Bush's runaway popularity, fueled largely by his steller performance in the 9-11 aftermath, and lately his roaring success in Afghanistan, may reflect, not a temporary spike, but a permanent change in the political landscape, one which doesn't bode well for Democrat prospects neither in '02 nor '04.
Thus far, nothing has worked for the Democrats. Their cynical campaign to squeeze political mileage out of the Anthrax scare went nowhere. In fact, anecdotal evidence suggests the maneuver only backfired. Seizing tragedy to score political points has a way of doing that.
"Quagmire! Quagmire!" for weeks was the rallying cry from Democrat-controlled medialand. The weeks and weeks of heavy bombing appeared 'fruitless'. The Taliban, entrenched and "defiant", was digging in deeper, growing 'stronger' by the hour, to hear their toadies in the press tell it. The daily reports of errant bombings became hugh propaganda extravaganzas for the Taliban, even though most of the claims were later shown to be false. Democrats drooled at the prospects of turning what they thought was another Vietnam into political disaster for Bush in the polls. National security, traditionally a GOP strongsuit, would become the Republicans' achilles heel, they thought.
The Democrats were in Taliban heaven.
A week is an eternity in politics, so goes the old refrain. The same goes for war. The sudden collapse of the Taliban, commencing with the fall of Mazar-i-Sharif to the Northern Alliance in early November, left the pinheads reeling in shock and befuddlement. "No! No! This just can't be happening!", they wailed.
Why anyone would wager against Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell and Rice, the powerpack dream team, is beyond me. Mullah Omar and his cronies never had a prayer, pardon the pun.
With victory in Afghanistan all but assured, it was back to the drawing boards for demoralized Democrats.
"Ah-ha! Wait a minute!", they thought. "What about these military tribunals?!" Democrats were sure they had finally -- at long last -- stumbled upon an opening, a golden window of vulnerability for Bush.
Lost in the brouhaha: The delicious irony of big government liberals parading themselves as paragons of less intrusive government, as vanguard of civil liberties, sanctimoniously wrapping themselves in the constitution -- the same constitution they shred with judicial activism.
Once again, politicians underestimated the public, however. Joe 6-pack wasn't fooled in the least; he knew that beneath the chichi, the grandiose prattle Leahy and co. were spewing, lurked a cynical plot -- a nefarious scheme to line the pockets of Leahy's greedy trial lawyers. Finding loopholes for Osama Bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terrorists to avert trial by military tribunal was imperative -- vital national secrets be dammed.
The press was in on the scam, of course. The scribes were painstakingly miticulous to shield the Democrats from any fallout. How so? By neglecting any mentioning of the fact that political resistance to the use of military tribunals derived primarily (drum roll, please) from Democrats. Opposition has not bipartisan, media lies notwithstanding.
But you would never know this if all you had to go on were the big three network broadcasts or the "mainstream" wire (dis)services.
With polls showing overwhelming public support for military tribunals, it doesn't take Nostradamus to figure out what the Democrats' next move is likely to be: To wit, ever-so-gingerly back away from the brink.
It's called self-preservation. All politicians adhere to its basic tenets, tenaciously.
Oh, you'll see plenty of blazing fireworks when Ashcroft goes before Leahy's Kangaroo committee this week, but razzle-dazzle is all it will be -- fanfare for the klieg lights, not a serious effort to overturn a presidential decision.
After the hearings, the media and the Democrats will avoid this loser issue like the plague. Take that to the bank.
But it'll be too little, too late. The Democrats, having stuck their necks out this far for Osama, have *already* damaged themselves -- considerably. Showing a soft spot for al-Qaeda terrorists was not only stupid, it was morally bankrupt. To argue that *fairness* to foreign combatants who aided and abetted September 11 is more important than justice is callousness bordering on suicide.
From under the fuming debris the blood of thousands of innocents cry out for justice. Too bad, say the Leahy Democrats. Osama Bin Laden's "constitutional" "rights" trumps you, trumps me, trumps even our nation's security.
We already knew Democrats were soft on crime. We now know they're also soft on terrorism -- every bit as much. Even terrorism right here in the good ol' U.S.A.
The Democrat campaign to blame the sagging economy on Bush, in one sense, is more of the same. The unstated message behind the ads: Hey, America, Osama Bin Laden had nothing to do with this recession nor the drop in consumer sentiment. Yup, the bearded one is blameless. You want to know the real culprit? George W. Bush. That's right -- we only did it to ourselves. (Yeah! Yeah! That's the ticket!) Never mind 9-11. Forget the hijackings. So what that thousands were buried alive on live TV? The financial capital of the world was blown to smoldering rubble....but, so what?
'Get over it', say Democrats.
But the Democrats are toying with disaster.
These ads will sow the seeds of a backlash, big time. Take that to the bank, too.
My two cents..
"JohnHuang2"
Another Jeffords Republican, who, I'm sure, will be very useful to the leftists as a NYC's "Trojan Horse."
You hit it dead on! Americans see the idiocy of Leahy's argument, but the "media" keeps pounding away at us. Paraphrasing Jane Hall on a talk show last night, "It doesn't matter that two out three Americans approve of military tribunals for non-US citizens, it is the duty of reporters to point out the civil liberties issues of a terrorist murderer." Translation--The enlightened will educate the masses.
Gee, never heard this during the Bozo(clinton)years where polls were used to justify his every law breaking act.
Exactly, my friend. The Dems' stance on this issue reeks of sheer hypocrisy and duplicity on a grand scale.
Excellent points. I couldn't agree more.
JH2,excellent writing and observation as always.
I think you should write a book about the politics in this time. As with your "two cents", it would be a very insightful read.
I always enjoy reading your analysis of the current political situation. Clearly written, to the point and right on the money.
Is there a JohnHuang2 editorial ping list? I wouldn't mind being included if it exists.
BUMP!
I have to think that there are several front where the DNC is suddenly becomming very nervous and extremely vunerable.
"GREEN GROUPS" - As the investigation into terrorist groups shifts into high gear, many of these "home grown" terror groups such as "ELF" and other "Animal over Man" rights groups will be put under the microscopes for both subversive and terrorist activities they have sponsered and conducted over the years. Unlike OBL, these groups have blantently flaunted such action and are highly likely be the subjected to both investigation and ultimately arrest and incarceration. I think its a big problem for the Democrats, because these groups are chiefly responsible for undermining prosperity and landowner's constitutional rights for the DNC, driving irrelevant issues into the limelight while stalling relevant and useful legislation. The lack of the distraction these groups provide will hurt the Democrats overall national agenda.
"JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS" - As several bright Freepers have pointed out, the Democrats have been stalling Bush judicial nominies set to replace or fill vacant appointments. The Democrats are also the ones who are the only vocal opposition to military tribunals, opting to try terrorist via the already overloaded judicial system that they themselves are directly repsonsible for crippling. That along with the fact that they are beholden to the trial lawyers "syndicate" makes it obvious that their objectives have absolutely nothing to do with helping the USA but more along the lines of completely disabling it as a functioning nation. People are becomming more and more aware of this situation as they turn away from traditional news sources and become "educated" as to what is going on behind the process and who is gumming things up.
BILLARY II: THE SECOND COMING! - Oh boy, she "just can't wait to be king!" and everyone knows it! This "thing" that the press labels a woman can't even bring herself to say the pledge of allegiance without plumes of smoke beginning to emit themselves from her putrid corpulence. Yet she is the "apple" of the Democrats collective eye in 2004. I can't think of anyone who better represents the cumultive interests of the Democrats platform than this sorry s@#$bag of a traitor.
Thanks, amigo
You'll find my essays here.
You could gather up a collection of two cents worths and publish them.
Dittos on inclusion on the ping list.
I'll add both of your names to my ping list.
Great line!!!
JohnHuang2, thanks once again for an inciteful article just telling it like it is.
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