The 90-Minute Hate (Was That a Democratic Debate or a Republican Campaign Ad?)

Wall Street Journal ^ | 10/28/03 | DOROTHY RABINOWITZ

[NYC Republican]

Sunday's confrontation at "Detroit's historic Fox Theatre," as Fox News commentators kept calling it, may have been historic for reasons other than the setting. Not since the Democratic Convention of 1984, which saw parades of the wild-eyed take to the streets of San Francisco for all the nation to see, have Americans had the opportunity to view so telling a display of the frenzy driving Democratic candidates. Walter Mondale lost for other reasons, of course, but San Francisco gave America a view of the Democrats, their values and their base constituency that it did not soon forget.

[NYC Republican]

Bwahahahaha.

[ClearCase_guy]

With his deer-in-the-headlights look--regularly evident whenever he was asked a specific question--it was clear that the general had bet his chances on winging it, and was now coming face to face with results.

Yeah, but he's a Rhodes Scholar, and we all know that they are brilliant, brilliant people. He deserves to be US President just on that basis.

Not that it matters: I met a guy yesterday who casually mentioned that Jimmy Carter was clearly the smartest President in the history of the US. Pause. "Well, until Bill Clinton, anyway."

Now, THAT's a kool-aid drinker. Gotta use hyperbole for Jimmy -- but then there is the requirement to top it when discussing Clinton. Nothing less will do.

[KC_Conspirator]

Now, THAT's a kool-aid drinker.

LOL! That IS a kool-aid drinker! I noticed that the dems are following a pattern with Bush as they did with Reagan. First they were dumb and when that did'nt work they were evil and at last they were liars.

[EllaMinnow]

Rabinowitz PING.

[cwb]

Yeah...and when Clark was questioned about his character and integrity...as General Shelton had done earlier at a lecture, he had the nerve to claim McCarthyism was at work. Yet, when he makes similar claims against the administration, he defends his position as the highest form of patriotism. Which is it General?

[clintonh8r]

bumpalicious

[cyncooper]

Thanks!

Good read.

[Constitutional Patriot]

"If the Republican National Committee has any sense, it will be busy making recordings of events like these debates, and cutting them into snippets for airing during the presidential campaign. It will make quite a show."

One would have to suspend disbelief...

The last time the RNC had a chance to use a candidates words and actions against him, Clinton became President (twice...)

There is a ton of ammo that the RNC can clobber the DNC with, but I'm not going to hold my breath. Maybe it has something to do with a bunch of missing FBI files?

[Fracas]

Dorothy Ping!

[Tailgunner Joe]

The truth is that McCarthy questioned government employees about their activities as Soviet spies. McCarthy was the one who was questioned about his character and integrity.

[Erasmus]

Democrat debates

==

Gong Show.

[Liz]

To hear the candidates tell it, the United States is a nation in its last hours as a viable democracy. When, at the debate's end, a member of Congress from Detroit told an interviewer the country was "in a shambles" (America, she meant, not Iraq) she only reflected the tone of the candidates' recitals.

Dims have a Mighty Mouse complex......they're hoping for a US collapse so that they can come in to "save the day" like in the cartoon.

[rogue yam]

Here's a great comment related to this essay that was posted on NRO today:

RABINOWITZ IN WSJ [Steve Hayward]
Dorothy Rabinowitz has a splendid meditation on the Online Wall Street Journal today about how the Democrats debate resemble the weirdness of the "San Francisco Democrats" of 1984.

Which reminds me of a story. I attended the 1984 Dem convention in SF as a reporter, and as I watched the--shall we say "colorful"--gay parade go down Market Street the day the convention opened, I ran across an old YAF activist who quipped: "In 1972, we paid people to do this to McGovern. Now they're doing it for us."
Posted at 08:20 AM

[Spruce]

Mary help!

[StriperSniper]

It is hard to recall any time in memory when we heard as extreme a level of assaultive oratory as the one directed Sunday at the administration, and the president in particular, from candidates for the nation's highest office.

Geeze Dorothy, have you already forgotten the previous Dim debate? ;-)

[lainde]

Late nite ping!