Posted on 07/21/2004 11:02:25 PM PDT by kattracks
In the '80s, a friend of mine knew a Russian dissident who was always heatedly denouncing the Soviet Union and assuring everyone that he had been completely immune to Soviet propaganda. Then one day, after returning from the Wright Brothers museum in North Carolina, he smugly informed my friend that Americans have their own propaganda: "You think the Wright brothers invented flight – ha ha – everyone knows that was the Mozhaisky brothers!"This is what Republicans are like today. They swear up and down not to trust the liberal media, but as soon as that very media demonize some Republican, half our party is ready to dump him. Currently the Republican liberals would most like to see gone is Dick Cheney. There's a basketful of Republicans I'd be very pleased to see removed from office. Dick Cheney ain't one of them.
Another candidate liberals told us was a disaster for the party was Ronald Wilson Reagan. In 1976, Newsweek's Hal Bruno said Republican "party loyalists" feared that Reagan would produce "a Goldwater-style debacle from which there is no comeback." Though the "Republican right wing" was gleeful at the prospect of a real conservative like Reagan purifying the party, Bruno wrote, "it could be a purification indistinguishable from suicide."
In polls of the Democratic and Republican National Committees taken by U.S. News and World Report in early 1980, Democrats overwhelmingly claimed to believe George Herbert Walker Bush was a more formidable candidate than Reagan. "We HOPE they'll run Reagan," liberals said.
Taking their cue on "electability" from the Democrats – always a great idea! – a majority of Republican committeemen also thought future one-termer Bush was more "electable." (If only Al D'Amato had been around, he could have recommended dropping Reagan and replacing him with Colin Powell or John McCain.)
Pay attention to what happened next: Reagan went on to win two landslide elections for president, transform the nation's politics, and dismantle the Democrats' favorite country, the USSR. He not only never lost a general election, Reagan also never won by less than a landslide margin. Reagan's triumph was then promptly jettisoned by Mr. "Electable," who broke his "read my lips" pledge and unceremoniously ended the Republicans' 12-year control of the White House.
Other Republicans we've been told were a disaster for the party are Newt Gingrich – who produced the jaws-of-life to tear Congress from the Democrats – and Ken Starr – who was responsible for the impeachment and utter humiliation of Bill Clinton.
Like Thomas Sowell's definition of a "racist" ("a conservative winning an argument with a liberal"), the definition of an "unpopular Republican" is "a Republican the Democrats would like to be rid of." Whenever liberals are being hysterical about a Republican, it's because that Republican is not good for the Democrats.
I promise you, if McCain, Powell or even Rudy Giuliani were put on the ticket, the liberal lovefest would come to a screeching halt. We'd finally get a little investigative reporting on liberals' favorite Republicans – and who knows what's in those closets. (Let's just hope McCain and Giuliani don't have any messy divorces in their past!) Heaven help us if any of them have ever worked for a successful corporation.
Liberal love lasts just long enough to get the job done. The most famous instance of a Republican taking advice from Democrats occurred when former President Bush broke his pledge and raised taxes. The instant Bush capitulated, a staffer at the DNC hit a stopwatch and, for one hour, liberals showered Bush with affection. Maureen Dowd, then-reporter for The New York Times, compared Bush to Eisenhower and gushed he had dropped "the slash-and-burn approach" and was "trying to take a moderate, bipartisan approach."
But as Friedrich Schiller wrote, "Once the Moor has done his duty, the Moor can go." Having tricked the dolt into raising taxes, liberals soon turned on Bush with a vengeance. No longer a bipartisan Eisenhoweresque statesman, Bush became merely an impediment to the Democrats getting a real tax-raiser like Bill Clinton in the White House. Soon Dowd was describing Bush as one of the "elite males in possession of large fortunes" who lacked "empathy with middle-class and poor Americans hurt by a recession."
Liberals even taunted Bush for being so unprincipled as to raise taxes. Dowd said of Bush: "Will he learn the power of fixed principles in leadership, or will he continue to engage in waffling and expedient stances on issues like abortion, civil rights and taxes?"
Never, in the history of the Democratic Party, have they taken advice from us. I thought the Democrats should run Dennis Kucinich for president. I even promised them that a lot of Republicans would vote for a Kucinich-Sharpton ticket! But I didn't see any Democrats taking my advice. Of course, Democrats have never had to face the sound chamber of an all-conservative media. (They will in my gulag.)
We don't have to adopt all the Democrats' traits – incessant lying, utter shamelessness, criminal behavior and lots of crying – but Republicans need to tattoo this truism on their arms: It's never a good idea to take advice from your enemies.
Ann Coulter is host of AnnCoulter.org, a Townhall.com member group.
©2004 Universal Press Syndicate
LOL! And yes, they are bodacious!!
Reagan was a great President, but in the early days, the American public felt much the same about him as they do about Bush if the polls are to be believed. Reagan's poll numbers were terrible at times. The American public liked him personally, but were not happy with his policies. Things were really tough in the early 80's (interest rates, jobs, taxes etc.) Thankfully, things had improved by the 1984 election, and Mondale was a weak candidate because he was associated with the failed Carter presidency. Therefore Reagan was re-elected and went on to defeat communism.
Remember, Reagan only had the House for two years-lost the House in the mid-term elections. Bush did better- if you think about it. I think the American public bonded with Reagan when he was shot. How could you not adore a President who is humorous while lying on a gurney shot in the chest? I remember his quip about hoping the doctors were Republicans. I was a liberal Democrat then, but still...Bush bonded with most Americans during his handling of the 9-11 crisis in a similar manner(not liberal haters of course, but then they never like any Republican president).
The lamestream media hated Reagan (still do if you ask me). People only began to understand Reagan's genius after he had left office. I remember how shocked I was when the Berlin wall came down. I never believed it was possible.
The point is this; hindsight is twenty-twenty. Reagan was appreciated after he left office far more than during his term. We came to realize what a truly great president Reagan was when his policies came to fruition. The economic boom of the 90's was a direct result of the Reagan tax cuts, and the demise of the Soviet Union was a direct result of Reagan's tough stance on national defense.
I believe George Bush is a great President; he will win a second term. Years, from now (just like Reagan), we will realize President Bush's genius. The war on terror will be won. The tax cuts (including tax cuts during the second term) will give us a booming economy for some time. The damage Clinton inflicted on the American military and national security (caused 9-11) will have been repaired. The GOP will be the majority party. Bush has worked tirelessly for this. It is happening right now! Can you name another President who added seats during a mid-term election? Some might say (and have), President Bush is too worried about politics. Somehow, it is unseemly during a war. I believe President Bush realizes the greatest danger America faces at this moment..is that the Democrats get back into office and practice the deadly politics of appeasement. I only hope the average conservative does; this is not the year to practice one issue type politics...we need to be broken glass Republicans!
I love President Reagan. He was one of the greatest Presidents ever...However, give President Bush a chance. He might surprise you. I believe years from now some freeper will be say something like, "not a bad slap, but I wish folks would stop using Bush as an example; he was exceptional.." LOL fellow freepers.
For those who missed it, Kucinich has dropped out of the Presidential race and will pledge his support for Kerry in a press conference with Kerry later today.
Ping... we talked about how dems targeted one person, destroyed them, and moved to the next a few days ago. You might enjoy this.
My 14 year old son loves Ann Coulter...for her brains of course.
THANKS..for the pic. :))
I love Ann and have a great respect for what she says. I have had an email relationship with her since we met at the FR March for Justice in DC back in '98.
Well, you're right, she's right, and I'm right too!
Reminds me of an old joke:
Back in the 19th century in a Polish ghetto, Pincus and Goldberg are having a furious argument. The townspeople finally tell them to go to the rabbi in order to resolve this issue.
So, that's what they do. First, Pincus tells his side of the story and the rabbi nods and tells him that he's right.
Then Goldberg tells HIS side, and the rabbi nods and tells him he's right.
The rabbi's wife was in the room and watched all of this unfold. She says to the rabbi incredulously: "Pincus and Goldberg told the opposite stories and you told them that they were both right. How can this be?"
The rabbi looked at her and said: "You're right!"
I would rather win this election than be right. Yes, Cheney is a great guy, but--for whatever reason--if polls assure us that we lose with him on the ticket and win with Giuliani (you know the rest).
Beautiful Mind
Thanks guys!
bttt
Ann bump.
Damn, this chick can write. And she's right on.
Yes, it is an interesting phenomenon to observe.
Sandy Berger = Alger Hiss
Okay, I think Ann can officially be nervous.
Why don't you just buy an Afghan?
It seems to me that's what you really desire! lol
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