Posted on 01/01/2005 3:33:33 PM PST by CHARLITE
The new year is a fresh beginning in many ways. We set aside past disappointments and start with a clean slate.
Some folks have more disappointments to set aside than others. Many Democrats, just to cite an example off the top of my head, require some major work. When a presidential candidate wins only 600 of the approximately 3,100 counties in the country, his party needs some serious reinvention.
2005 will be the year in which various leaders of the self-styled party of the people will undergo such extreme makeovers that they’ll end up looking like Joan Rivers. If they don’t already.
Senate Democrats got an early start by choosing Nevada’s Harry Reid as their leader. Since he doesn’t, as most Democrats do, have a 100 percent pro-abortion voting record, Reid is considered moderate. The New York Times has even characterized him as "a conservative."
The fact that Harry is generally a reliable liberal vote is ignored. He wants it that way. These days, he uses retrained rhetoric about the need for everybody to work together and get along. The Rodney King imitation must be tough for a man who once said: "President Bush is a liar. He betrayed Nevada and he betrayed the country."
This coming year, Reid will probably start talking about how much he misses having Jesse Helms in the Senate.
Another makeover that has started and will no doubt accelerate during the new year is that of Hillary Clinton. Yes, that Hillary Clinton.
The senator is nothing if not shrewd. Time and again, she’s demonstrated a remarkable, if not admirable, ability to survive. She’s doing it again as she schemes for the presidency in a red state America.
Senator Clinton has assumed hawk status on the subject of illegal immigrants. She wants to tighten entry and exit procedures and criticizes employers for hiring illegals. This is a canny move on her part. It helps take the edge off her liberal image.
Hillary is also demonstrating a newfound interest in privacy rights. This is particularly ironic when you recall that citizens’ FBI files were considered light reading in the Clinton White House. My bet is she figures most Americans won’t recall those days.
She also would prefer that they not remember the distinctly anti-military ambiance of her husband’s administration. Now she’s visiting veterans’ retirement homes. She glowingly praises the sacrifices made by our Armed Forces.
Hillary is dangerous because she is willing to say and do anything to satisfy her ambitions. As she flirts with a more mainstream persona, her believers know that whatever she says is strictly for political expedience. This gives the senator plenty of room for whatever reconstructive work she needs.
Another potential Democratic candidate for president is Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. He’s obviously decided that Democrats must co-opt their opponents’ lock on family values.
Only weeks ago Rod was urging the election of Barack Obama to the U.S. Senate. As previously noted in this space, in the state senate Mr. Obama had voted against requiring schools to put pornography filters on school computers. Moreover, he voted "present" on legislation preventing porn shops and strip clubs from operating within 1,000 feet of schools or churches.
Not exactly a family values sort of candidate was Barack. Still, he was Rod’s sort of candidate and the guv helped elect him.
But now Rod is eager to make a name for himself as a "new Democrat." So he’s targeted violent or sexually explicit video games from being sold to anyone younger than 18. "This is all about protecting our children until they are old enough to protect themselves," says the governor. Are those the same children who don’t need protection from pornography or strip clubs at their schools?
Joining him in his newest crusade — and photo ops, of course — are his wife Patti and two young daughters. Patti is the daughter of a Chicago Democratic machine ward boss and has her very own Web site, maintained, naturally, at taxpayer expense. No use pushing this new Democrat theme too far.
Blagojevich, it was disclosed recently by a local TV station’s investigative team, uses an armed state trooper to carry his hairbrush. Perhaps that makes sense. If you’ve ever seen Rod’s carefully coiffed ‘do, you’d realize that keeping those boyish bangs just so is literally a matter of life or death to him.
Donna Brazile, Gore’s presidential campaign manager, has concisely outlined the Democrat dilemma: "Republicans stand for smaller government, less taxes, a strong national defense and family values, but people don't know what our core values are."
Sure they do. Your party’s core values are the opposite of smaller government, less taxes, a strong national defense and family values.
And that’s why, dear friends, extreme makeovers will be all the rage among Democrats in 2005. Happy New Year to you all.
This appears in the December 30, 2004 Oak Lawn (IL) Reporter. Mike Bates is the author of Right Angles and Other Obstinate Truths, which is available at Barnesandnoble.com, Booksamillion.com, Amazon.com or iUniverse.com and can be ordered through most bookstores.
Comment:mikebates@prodigy.net
"Hillary is dangerous because she is willing to say and do anything to satisfy her ambitions."
Exactly!
Did you have high tea there?
Every time I go. Wouldn't miss it for anything....best high tea available this side of jolly old England herself!
That woman is smart and she is cunning. Not to be underestimated. However, I do not believe she can win a popular election for POTUS. The Republican base would show up in new record numbers.
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