The Campaign of Hate and Fear: Some of my fellow Democrats are unpatriotic.

The Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal ^ | December 16, 2003 | Orson Scott Card

[quidnunc]

In one of Patrick O'Brian's novels about the British navy during the Napoleonic wars, he dismisses a particularly foolish politician by saying that his political platform was "death to the Whigs." Watching the primary campaigns among this year's pathetic crop of Democratic candidates, I can't help but think that their campaigns would be vastly improved if they would only rise to the level of "Death to the Republicans."

[squidly]

Orson Scott Card is a great writer. Thanks for posting this.

[vpintheak]

This is what is called loyal opposition. The rat Presidential candidates could learn a lesson from this guy. I find it funny that the author also ADMITS that the media is biased and trying to win the election for the Rats. That honesty is quite refreshing.

[nutmeg]

bookmark bump

[Ophiucus]

I'm surprised that soemthing resembling sense came from Orson Scott Card. I quit reading his stuff because they took a Left turn and lost a lot of quality. His early books were good but the end of the Homeward Bound (I think that was the title) series started getting bad and from then on, disappointing.

[nopardons]

He writes well, he is honest, and he should REALLY change his political party. This isn't one of his alternate history novels, this is real life, and the eveil he sees in the Dem party and in the media, isn't going to change any time soon; if ever.

[squidly]

I haven't read everything he's written, but I was a huge fan of the Ender Trilogy, before it became a quadrilogy.

[Wild Irish Rogue]

" Indeed, the anti-Bush campaign threatens to undermine our war effort, give encouragement to our enemies, and cost American lives during the long year of campaigning that lies ahead of us."

Some of us have been saying this for months. I bet you could graph the increase in attacks and find the spikes came after anti American speeches by Democrats.

[Restorer]

His early books were good but the end of the Homeward Bound (I think that was the title) series started getting bad and from then on, disappointing.

Quite right.

However, science-fictionizing the Book of Mormon probably wasn't too great an idea to begin with.

[Fledermaus]

Vietnam was a quagmire only because we fought it that way. If we had closed North Vietnam's ports and carried the war to the enemy, victory could have been relatively quick. However, the risk of Chinese involvement was too great. Memories of Korea were fresh in everyone's minds, and so Vietnam was fought in such a way as to avoid "another Korea." That's why Vietnam became, well, Vietnam.

Yet more evidence that only FOOLS fight the current war based on the last one.

[Deb]

It's incredible that a Democrat would be so hip to the tricks of the media in their attempt to defeat GW. I suspect a Dennis Miller-type conversion may be in this guy's future.

[Richard-SIA]

Why not?

Expanding on and altering an existing fiction for mass market entertainment should be a viable formula today.

Hollywood is making movies from comic books and kiddy language primers, charleton Joseph Smith's fiction should be no more sacred than the Spider Man comics.

Did the book sell enough copies to make a profit?

[Restorer]

It was a bad idea because it's a lousy story to begin with, as a story. Projecting it into the future made it no more believable or compelling.

I don't consider it blasphemous or any such thing. I consider it a waste of my time. I wasted the time because of how much I've enjoyed some of his other work. Especially the Alvin Maker series.

[Texas_Jarhead]

read later BUMPMARK

[WilliamofCarmichael]

And it's what happened in Vietnam, too.

There were many things about JFK's "best and brightest" no-win policy that inspired patriots to oppose the war in Vietnam though of course those called served with distinction anyway. Patriots today oppose the President's administration for reasons they believe are best for our Country.

Then there are the others. Mainstream media, et al.

the media are trying as hard as they can to pound home the message that the Bush presidency is a failure

There they go again. The American press won the praise of the Communists for their help defeating the U.S. in Vietnam. To this day some "journalists" brag about it. Even news readers like Walter Cronkite probably still feeeeeeeel pride in what they did.

the anti-Bush campaign threatens to undermine our war effort, give encouragement to our enemies, and cost American lives

and again

It's deception in order to gain temporary political advantage, those people are indeed not patriotic. They have placed their own or their party's political gain ahead of the national struggle

and again.

I'd like to add that the traitors wanted a Communist victory in Vietnam. Today IMO they want a humiliation of the U.S. They want to use the war for their internationalist purposes.

Those too young to remember I'm telling you, it almost a repeat of those days. We were naive -- traitors should NOT have Constitutional rights to help destroy America. IMO.

[RogueIsland]

The DUers are going to hate this Dem.

[maica]

Mr Card's observations and conclusions should be studied by every American who wants our nation to remain strong in the War on Terrorism. Every paragraph is a gem. Just as he says that no war should be fought like the previous one, Republicans cannot 'fight' this election as if the Democrat opposition is the same as it used to be.

"The kind of dishonest vitriolic hate campaign that in 2000 was conducted only before black audiences is now being played on the national stage; "

Very Powerful Words!

[SW6906]

Great find. Everyone: make sure you follow the link and read the whole article. Only part of it appears here.

[Rebelbase]

Card lives in my town and has a column, Uncle Orson Reviews Everything, in this weekly, The Rhinoceros Times.

[Tolik]

I discovered RhinoTimes because of OCS, following there from his discussion forum.

I enjoy his political writing no less than his Sci-Fi.

I took to myself posting them here on FR once in a while. [please freepmail me if you want or don't want to be pinged to Orson Scott Card political articles]

BTW this article was already posted once, but it definitely deserves to be reposted especially after WSJ exposure.

His articles (found by keyword search on orsonscottcard) are here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/k-orsonscottcard/browse  I bookmarked this page to be able to access his articles discussed at FR.

His own political forum: http://www.ornery.org/index.html is moderate to left leaning with many leftists OSC fans being delightfully annoyed with his conservative political writing. OSC is not participating nor moderating that forum.  His literary, non-political website: http://www.hatrack.com

His fresh articles appear in the Rhinoceros Times, Greensboro, NC: http://www.rhinotimes.com/greensboro/  (before being posted permanently on his ornery website). He has 2 columns in the RhinoTimes: one on political/international events, and the second one: reviews on movies, books, and anything he wants (!). I found myself relying on his reviews (as well as Michael Medved's) more and more lately. Suits me well so far.