Posted on 08/02/2004 3:43:56 AM PDT by Clive
It is astonishing to watch the Democratic Party's convention. Mainly because of their attempts to look like Republicans.
Patriotism and war glory drips from every speech.
Anyone wearing a military uniform is spotlighted. Kerry himself, who spent less than a year in Vietnam -- by reporting any slight flesh wound to his superiors for the dual purpose of getting medals and meeting the "three-wounds, you get to go home" rule -- even gave the crowd a military salute.
This from the man, who when he returned home from Vietnam, denounced the U.S. military as war criminals.
Even Bill Clinton, the first draft-dodger president, talked about Kerry's war record. The only thing Kerry didn't do was declare war on some country right from the podium.
Just as astonishing was that the Democratic delegates, and their friends in the liberal media, cheered every minute of it.
No party has a monopoly on patriotism -- though the Democrats' slavish respect for the UN does raise fair questions about where their sovereign loyalties lie. Democrats usually denounce patriotism as too arrogant, or too right-wing, or not nuanced enough.
Kerry once claimed he had the support of foreign leaders -- likely, he meant France. Only a Democrat would brag that he was the favourite of a foreign power.
But the fact is -- according to every poll since 9/11 -- the American public, while concerned about the war on terror and the situation in Iraq, wants to win that war, and that the war remains their most pressing issue.
That is a challenge for the Dems, who have been anti-military since Vietnam. There is not one major military system that John Kerry didn't oppose while in the Senate, from missiles to bombers to infantry fighting vehicles -- the very tools that America now relies on today.
According to a New York Times poll, 93% of delegates to the Democratic convention oppose the war.
But the American people don't, and despite the hysterics of the Democrats' Michael Moore/Howard Dean wing, the kind of anti-Bush, anti-war, anti-military hatred that Democrat activists feel won't work on election day -- it will result in a George McGovern-style blowout at the polls.
Michael Moore is a sharpie -- a millionaire Manhattanite who pretends he's a blue-collar schlep. But he doesn't convince many blue-collar voters, who know that, whatever his flaws, George W. Bush is taking the war seriously; his Dem opponents still believe it's September 10th. A Moore-style convention and election would thrill the media, but would re-elect Bush with a Reaganesque landslide.
Thus, the strange contradiction of the Democratic convention. Peaceniks applauding war talk. Kerry, who voted against funding for the troops in Iraq, now claims he'll increase the troop count there. And the party that would have surrendered to the Soviets now wants America to take it seriously on foreign affairs.
The Democrats don't deserve that trust. It is easy for free-riders like Canada and Europe to despise America, while benefiting from America's security shield, first against the Soviets, and now against Islamic terror.
The worst comeuppance that Canada faces for our insults and pacifism is a border closed to beef and softwood lumber -- damaging, but not an existential threat. America, the only superpower, but more accurately the only grown-up country these days, cannot afford that luxury. Canadians and liberals around the world can afford to despise America's strength, because we secretly know America will always protect us.
Real Americans don't have that childish luxury. That's why the Democrats are pretending they care about security.
It's also why American voters will choose Bush.
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Excellent analysis. And this from our friends in conservative Western Canada. Cheers!
Bttt.
Kerry "served" for 4 iffy months, over 30 years ago, for all the wrong reasons, committed crimes while there, and begged to get out. Plus he shot innocent rocks. Where's PARA (People Against Rock Abuse) when you need 'em?
What a hero. Utterly sickening.
Which boils down to approximately 120 days (+ or - 30 days) in a combat zone.
The Bush camp would do well to produce a black and white camparison of Kerry's America with reality - to take his voting record in the senate and and present what the state of our union would be if all his votes had won. Should be a rather damning picture.
LOL! What a great piece!
Superb. Encouraging to see such moral intelligence in the Canadian press.
How about this headline: Democrats nominate self-confessed war criminal as Presidential candidate.
I hope he is right when he says Americans will vote Bush. Do you know how disastrous it would be if Kerry wins?
Very astute analysis. You should post this on its own.
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