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.
LOL...
Yeah, it worked for me too..!!
What...chronic ignorance?
Yeah...."Mostly Fraud" is a lock for top 20...
However:
...but I don't know if Tommie the Commie would be on the top 10 dumbest senators list...
Man! That is a frightening thought!
Thanks, we feel sorry for ourselves at times too.
durbin should resign.
And then there's this....
http://exposingtheleft.blogspot.com/2005/06/durbin-discloses-he-took-four-free.html
#13
Dick "Turban"?
Yes, that would be more appropriate.
Of course, the box of rocks has the advantage of being SHUT UP once in awhile.
unfortunatley, we have many more than one idiot Senator/Congress(person)
He certainly is in the top 50 stupid ones but it is a neck and neck race in a pack of 35 for first.
Back before Jeffords announced he will not run, Limbaugh said CNN or Roll Call said that Jeffords showed up at the
wrong chamber one day.
We've sent some doozies, haven't we?
..to be fair..only in recent memory..after all, You had RINO Gov. Ryan in charge. :D
Only if he is made to pay for it-- which looks decidely unlikely. If he loses his seat and is forced to slither out, I'll be so damn happy and he'll be a bona fide dunce.
Don't blame me. I voted for Glenn Poshard!
I said he was in charge...not that you voted for him. :D
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