Posted on 10/06/2004 4:06:31 PM PDT by mlmr
Everybody remembers the "Clinton-haters," the people who disliked our libidinous former chief executive so much they not only spread (mostly true) stories about his amorous exploits but spun rumors about various dark conspiracies in Arkansas and elsewhere.
However, Clinton's enemies were pikers compared to today's crop of people who, while they may or may not hate President Bush, certainly seem to dislike him very, very much.
I'm not referring here to people who merely disagree with Bush on one or a number of issues. It's easy to understand partisans getting upset over an opponent's policies, and certainly U.S. history is replete with examples of using political differences as grist for harsh criticism.
But Bush has been simultaneously portrayed as Hitler; as a moronic puppet of his advisors; as an evil genius; and as Satan.
All that and more (much of it unprintable) leaves conservatives in awe of the depth of rage being targeted at such a genial, outgoing guy - who also happens to be waging a serious war on our nation's enemies, just as a president is supposed to do.
It's possible to identify three basic streams feeding into Bush-hatred. One - let's call it the "Moveon.org stream" - is described by John O'Sullivan, editor of The National Interest, in the current issue of The American Enterprise Institute's magazine: "Most of the time (Clinton hatred) was simply the frustration of the Right with an opponent who was just too quick and too clever for them. Bush hatred is something else, something really significant. It's much deeper - a personalized version of American anti-Americanism.
"There is in this country a considerable cultural self-hatred," O'Sullivan continued. "The adversary culture fears and hates American power. So anybody who comes along and defends America's values self-confidently, and even pre-emptively attacks America's enemies, is going to be regarded by this sect as an agent of the Great Satan. The same hatred was directed at Reagan."
Second, "progressivism" tends to produce a conviction about the essential goodness of its causes, almost as if there were no consciousness of natural human imperfection. Leftists really think people are perfectible, and they believe they are the ones who know how to do the perfecting.
If there is something wrong with the world, therefore, it is not because people naturally screw up. It has to be a plot.
And since Reagan's days, Americans have voted for Republicans on a regular basis. Even worse, not the tame business-executive, country-club RINO type, but real social, economic and religious conservatives.
Even after Clinton (hardly a textbook liberal himself) beat Bush 41 in 1992, the GOP took over Congress two years later, and now the right-leaning party holds the presidency, both houses of Congress (though marginally in the Senate), most of the governorships and is even making strides in state legislatures.
But if you're a progressive, conservatives are dumb and you're smart. They're evil and you're good. They're devious and you're honest. (I know, I know, but that's how they think.)
So they can only come to one conclusion - the American people have been tricked, fooled and bamboozled by these devious conservatives. The left thinks it is entitled to rule, and yet people are spurning it - making fun of it, even. How can that be? It must be a plot, a conspiracy.
In their minds, the idea that people have considered their positions and rejected them is an impossibility, because they are right and conservatives are wrong. By definition.
Thus, leftists had to spin a myth of a "stolen" election in Florida, to prove perfidy where none existed. The alternative - that they, the good guys, could have lost fair and square, by the rules - is not credible to them.
Third, we should briefly note that a commitment to serious, historical, orthodox Christianity is another offense that Bush, and many other conservatives, offer to the progressive mentality. The anger relativists hold toward the idea of eternal moral absolutes knows no bounds.
Now, I have no idea who is going to win on Nov. 2. But if Bush should be the victor, what are all his detractors going to do? Wrap their heads in duct tape so they don't explode like the telepaths in "Scanners"?
No, I suspect they'll do what they did in 2000 - create another myth about a "stolen election."
You can already see it taking shape, in recent claims that Gallup polls showing Bush ahead are biased, or that presidential advisor Karl Rove was the one who gave Dan Rather his famously faked-up memos, or that the Bush campaign created and financed the Swift boat ads.
If Bush wins, it will be because a plot involving the "biased conservative media" did in Kerry.
The fact that no such thing exists will deter them not one whit. The left proved in 2000 that mere facts can't stand in the way of a really outstanding conspiracy theory, and this year will be no different - if Bush wins.
If not, well, I'll have plenty of topics for columns.
M.D. Harmon is an editorial page writer and editor. He can be contacted at 791-6482 or at:
mharmon@pressherald.com
You tell me. We're already getting stories of Democrat vote fraud in progress and the election is a month away.
Why can't you people win elections fair and square? Could it be that people don't want to live in the slavery that you socialists want to force on everybody in this country?
"Not that Bush needs to, but I wonder if he knew, if he really knew 100% that an elected Kerry would cause some terrible catastrophe to occur, then would some fudging of the votes be justified?
How bad would the danger have to be to justify falsifying an election?"
This is exactly what the liberals think, and why they think nothing of voter fraud. In their minds the ends always justifies the means. It is scary when you think about it. Consider what they would, and do, do once in power.
You shouldn't think like them. It isn't healthy.
ump for thursday.
I think that this thread can follow up what has been in the news for the past few days, shots fired into Republican campagin offices and a brawl in a campagin office. We are closer to civil war than we have been in forty years or even more, for the leftists had a small following then, but they have nursed and grown a large following now.
Hiya noob. Tell the drooling rats back at the DUmpster that your mission here was a complete and utter failure.
Hmm... looks like a forgery to me. Helvetica proportional spacing.
"How bad would the danger have to be to justify falsifying an election?"
Toll Alert. Only dems would even think that falsifying an election would be justified. They believe their cause is so just it merits tossing out fairness and morality to achieve it. Geez, they already do it with deadman votes, and resticting military votes.
Idiot.
They apparently don't do much thinking anyway. After all these are the morons who spout lies about a secret plan to draft their children while one of their own pushes the legislation to do so.
Point in fact was that Hitler came to power because of the insanity created in Germany by the looney left run amuck. I guess we don't want to confuse them with facts though, do we.
And it is fanned into an inferno by the deluded anti-American "mainstream newsmedia".
The American people have been subjected to the most powerful and relentless barrage of propaganda in history. It will intensify during the next three weeks.The center must hold.
The American Heartland MUST hold steadfast.
The fate of the United States, the future of the American Dream, and the fate of the world depend upon it.
You see that is the very point... Kerry stands for nothing.. he is for and against everything.. he is the worst kind of liar... Straight to your face he would tell you the moon was square and continue to try and convince you of the same...
I see and hear many Black folks who for so long have voted Democrat, but are deciding to vote Bush because they can nolonger vote for the things that they have been taught is wrong before God, like abortion, gay marriage, and stem cell.
I hear pundits say its because Kerry isn't courting them and telling them what he will give them, but I hear it completely different and see it as a spiritual movement across the land that knows no ethnic or racial boundries. Like I said...just my opinion and 2 centavos.
IMHO, someone that cares about this country would never even consider that.
Except for Libs and Rats if they thought they could get away with it.
LVM
We are closer to civil war than we have been in forty years or even more
Of course the left needs to know which side has the guns (it ain't them)
Read The New York OBSERVER this week (you can get it on the Drudge website, click left column). Writers Philip Weiss and Robert Sam Anson are already celebrating a Kerry victory based on his "surge" from the debate; read what they expect and it will make you sick.
That has to be one of the weirdest speculations I have come across here.
Isn't going to happen. President Bush is not a CHEAT, which is what I believe you are implying.
You see that is the very point... Kerry stands for nothing.. he is for and against everything.. he is the worst kind of liar... Straight to your face he would tell you the moon was square and continue to try and convince you of the same...
He is an immoral man. We live in immoral times.
I had the same experience recently on the Staten Island Ferry. A young kid and I were discussing his anti-Bush button and he told he about his seething hatred for Bush. I said to him, "Tell me if I am right or not. You hate him because he is a Christian." "Yes, that is right," he said. He said that Bush "wears his religion on his sleeve" ; I told him he stole that one from Ron Reagan.
The fact also remains that they are afraid they won't be able to abort babies freely if the Supremes get a real conservative in there under Bush Term II.
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