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Is Dick Durbin America's Stupidest Senator?
The National Ledger ^ | 06-13-05 | Paul Weyrich

Posted on 06/15/2005 2:02:41 PM PDT by Osage Orange

Is Dick Durbin America's Stupidest Senator?

by Paul M. Weyrich

Jun 13, 2005

Ever since the mid-1970s when Irving Kristol said Republicans were the Stupid Party, the label stuck. Oh, sure. From time to time Republicans did remarkable work, such as helping to enact President Ronald W. Reagan’s tax cuts or President George W. Bush’s tax cuts. Both tax cuts helped to lift an economy out of a recession. But there are many more examples of stupidity, such as President George Herbert Walker Bush enacting the largest tax increase -- at that point -- in history after having said, when accepting his party’s Presidential Nomination in 1988, “Read my lips. No new taxes.”

There is no point mentioning the whole list. In truth Kristol’s label stuck because more often than not the Republicans capitulated to the Democrats when it was unnecessary to do so. That caused the party faithful in parts of the country to collectively shake their heads while wondering “how can these Republicans be so stupid.” Their headshaking follows decades of questioning why their leaders were so naïve. Finally the faithful concluded that no one who got elected himself to office could be that naïve. He had to be stupid.

We need Irving Kristol back. We need another look at the political parties and what characterizes them. What was said of the Democrats was that they were the evil party. We had the party with an evil agenda versus stupid Republicans. There was no contest. No wonder the Democrats seemed to succeed on issues regardless of who won the Presidential Election.

We need Kristol again because Democrats are behaving like the stupid party. [Republicans have not improved much, although certainly they have improved.] The Democrats, in contrast, are making some of the stupidest mistakes ever known to the political world. For example, Howard P. Dean regularly has criticized Republicans as people who don’t earn an honest living, as white Christians who exclude everyone else and as people to hate. You have, I am sure, heard the mantra. In addition, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton [D-NY] has spent months trying to show voters that she really is a moderate at heart. She recently traveled to a California fundraiser hosted for her re-election campaign and derided conservatives. She stressed that Republicans are the most power-grabbing group and that Republicans are undermining the Constitution.

On and on the Senator spoke. It seemed as if she had grabbed a Howard Dean speech by mistake.

Now we can argue whether making all these charges is stupid. That will be determined later by how much money is raised and how many candidates for election and re-election are successful. That is not the stupid part, at least not yet.

Here is an example of one of the most stupid acts I have observed in nearly half a century of following politics. It seems that Howard Dean needed some support, given all the criticism he has taken from Republicans and from fellow Democrats. To gather support, Dean visited Capitol Hill, where he had a favorable meeting with Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid [D-NV] and Senate Minority Whip Richard J. Durbin [D-IL]. It’s fine that Senator Reid told Dean he was doing a fantastic job telling the truth and that the people love it. Never mind that money and activist recruitment is doing poorly. Give Dean time, Reid suggested.

Now Senator Durbin is supposed to be politically astute, even brilliant according to some media accounts. What stupid thing did Durbin do? He attacked the media. He claimed that the charges against Howard Dean and Senator Clinton were blown out of proportion. He claimed that most media follow Fox News Channel’s script and do what they are told. This, by the way, is the same media objective which studies have cited as being left of center. Durbin also suggested that media people ought to be ashamed of themselves.

Durbin’s comments didn’t get that much attention. It was a busy news day. Let me tell you, as one from that profession, the worst thing one can accuse the media of is that they are following someone else’s script. News people are, no doubt, furious about Durbin’s remark. They won’t attack Durbin directly. They will either double the coverage the next time Dean makes a stupid statement or hardly mention Democrats when they have a victory. You might assume that such liberal media people when accused of being part of a right wing conspiracy would recoil in horror and mend their ways. On the contrary. These media folks, believe it or not, view themselves as being objective.

When the political problems of Howard Dean and Hillary Clinton get blamed on them the media doesn’t like it. A story will illustrate their mindset. A friend bought a newspaper to beef up his Washington coverage. He asked me to help him hire a reporter who could write stories which might not be covered by the wire services. I introduced my friend to such a reporter. The reporter knew that we held coalition meetings covering many timely issues. He asked me if he could attend these meetings to obtain story ideas. My ground rules were that he could attend but could not write stories based upon the meeting.

If a Senator made an interesting statement the reporter would have to approach him outside of the meeting room to get a story. He agreed to my rules. The reporter attended our coalition meetings for almost a decade, resulting in his having known about numerous matters before they developed into major stories. He told me his colleagues frequently asked how he managed to scoop the competition. It was because of these coalition meetings.

After the reporter had attended the coalition meetings irregularly for nine years I called him to ask a favor. I needed a story written about a timely topic. He was hopping mad as if I had made an untoward remark about his family lineage. He barked that he determined what stories he wrote and that he didn’t take orders from me or anyone else. He refused my request. This is how reporters think of themselves. Even though this fellow had attended what the media calls “right wing cabals” for years, he was not about to write a story because his host asked him.

When Senator Durbin tells reporters they are not independent and they are following the lead of another news operation he has tossed a grenade at the gaggle of reporters covering his press conference. The grenade will bounce back to him and his colleagues. Durbin’s press conference is even more stupid than the one the late Republican Senator William Lloyd Scott of Virginia held to deny Washington media allegations that he was the stupidest Senator at that time, thereby proving he was the stupidest Senator.

If the Democrats continue as they have been it will be evident that they are now on a par with Republicans as the stupid party. Can it be that both major parties in America are stupid? When you consider our immigration policy, an awful lot of Americans would agree with that idea.

Paul M. Weyrich is the Chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 109th; durbin; stupiddoes; stupidis; weyrich
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1 posted on 06/15/2005 2:02:42 PM PDT by Osage Orange
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To: Osage Orange

There are too many of them for any one to have that distinction. But he does rank up there.


2 posted on 06/15/2005 2:03:32 PM PDT by eyespysomething ( A penny saved is a government oversight)
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To: Osage Orange

No. Barabra Boxer is.


3 posted on 06/15/2005 2:04:33 PM PDT by itsamelman (“Announcing your plans is a good way to hear God laugh.” -- Al Swearengen)
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To: Osage Orange

Jeffords could give him some competition.


4 posted on 06/15/2005 2:04:38 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative (Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Andrew Heyward's got to go!)
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To: eyespysomething

You meant "down there", right?


5 posted on 06/15/2005 2:05:19 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative (Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Andrew Heyward's got to go!)
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To: eyespysomething
Yeah, I agree.....

He's in the top twenty for sure, though.

6 posted on 06/15/2005 2:05:20 PM PDT by Osage Orange (Hillary Clinton makes me sick as a dog passing peach pits.....)
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To: itsamelman

You got that right.


7 posted on 06/15/2005 2:05:44 PM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: Osage Orange

He's got a LOT of competition.


8 posted on 06/15/2005 2:07:39 PM PDT by cripplecreek (I zot trolls for fun and profit.)
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To: Osage Orange
I unfortunately live in Illinois. Durbin strikes me as very creepy and reminds me of the overly friendly Uncle that might like to take the kids into the "special room".
9 posted on 06/15/2005 2:07:53 PM PDT by Lockbar (March toward the sound of the guns.)
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To: Osage Orange

That's like a landscaper asking "which brand of dirt is the dirtiest?"


10 posted on 06/15/2005 2:08:37 PM PDT by Darkwolf377 (Suffer fools gladly? I don't suffer them at all.)
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To: All

Is Durbin the stupidest? Today, yes. But there's always tomorrow.


11 posted on 06/15/2005 2:08:51 PM PDT by negril
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To: Osage Orange

Not at all. Liberals wil all think Durbin was attacking any colleague they hate. Weyrich should know that liberalism a fundamentalist religion, and nothing can shake their faith.


12 posted on 06/15/2005 2:08:59 PM PDT by dangus
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To: Osage Orange


"Who needs Viagra when you can just slap one of these on your head?"
13 posted on 06/15/2005 2:09:27 PM PDT by reagan_fanatic (The theory of evolution is the great cosmogenic myth of the twentieth century - Michael Denton)
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To: martin_fierro

Separated at Birth?


.

14 posted on 06/15/2005 2:11:49 PM PDT by itsamelman (“Announcing your plans is a good way to hear God laugh.” -- Al Swearengen)
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To: Osage Orange

Have to agree with those who say he's got plenty of competition. WOW! Does IL deserve better??? You'd think they'd would realize that...


15 posted on 06/15/2005 2:11:55 PM PDT by Molly Pitcher (We are Americans...the sons and daughters of liberty...*.from FReeper the Real fifi*)
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To: Molly Pitcher

Joseph Biden, IMO, is the dumbest.


16 posted on 06/15/2005 2:12:51 PM PDT by NYC Republican
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To: Osage Orange

Patty Murray will fight him for the "dumbest" title (and win), but Durbin is - as of last night - the "Senator Most Likely to Get American Troops Needlessly Killed Because of Political Grandstanding." I expect to see Ted Kennedy trying to retake that crown shortly.


17 posted on 06/15/2005 2:14:00 PM PDT by niteowl77 (I see seven senators badly in need of emergency RINOplasty.)
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To: Osage Orange
Durbin is one of the worst habitual trolls and has been zotted so many times that he is down to his C list of preferred screennames.

Or maybe not, but he apparently speaks for that group.

18 posted on 06/15/2005 2:14:09 PM PDT by RightWhale (Some may think I am a methodist)
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To: Osage Orange
Ever since the mid-1970s when Irving Kristol said Republicans were the Stupid Party

You mean Pat Buchanan didn't make that up?

19 posted on 06/15/2005 2:14:14 PM PDT by linkinpunk
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To: Osage Orange
I dunno. Did he get a D in Freshman Geology also?
20 posted on 06/15/2005 2:14:37 PM PDT by Ukiapah Heep (Shoes for Industry!)
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