Dionne Comes Close to the Answer

Captain's Quarter's Blog ^ | 1/24/2006 | Captain Ed Morrissey

[saveliberty]

January 24, 2006

Dionne Comes Close To The Answer

The Washington Post's E. J. Dionne comes close to unlocking the mystery of Democratic incompetence in dealing with Republican electoral strategy. Dionne notes that Karl Rove, the GOP's master of electoral politics since 2000, has always shown a rather remarkable openness and honesty about how the Republicans plan to handle the electoral battle, and the Democrats have never come up with an answer:

Perhaps it's an aspect of compassionate conservatism. Or maybe it's just a taunt and a dare. Well in advance of Election Day, Karl Rove, President Bush's top political adviser, has a habit of laying out his party's main themes, talking points and strategies.

True Rove junkies (admirers and adversaries alike) always figure he's holding back on something and wonder what formula the mad scientist is cooking up in his political lab. But there is a beguiling openness about Rove's divisive and ideological approach to elections. You wonder why Democrats have never been able to take full advantage of their early look at the Rove game plan.

That's especially puzzling because, since Sept. 11, 2001, the plan has focused on one variation or another of the same theme: Republicans are tough on our enemies, Democrats are not. If you don't want to get blown up, vote Republican.

 

Dionne then takes us through a thumbnail history of Democratic failures for electoral themes, a hilarious ride through complaints about an economy that turned out to be one of the strongest in history, education, and a "patients' bill of rights", a deranged priority set during wartime. Dionne gets it right when he says the big failure comes from an aversion to directly engaging the Republicans on the war.

However, the missing ingredient is that Democrats have a bigger problem than lacking a coherent theme; they've lacked a coherent program, especially on national security. Nowhere does that come across more than in the divergent approaches to Iran and Iraq. For three years, Democrats have screamed that the Bush administration has taken a "unilateral" approach to Iraq and trashed our relationship with European allies -- despite trying for five months to get them to enforce 12 years worth of useless UN resolutions. Suddenly with Iran, the Democratic front-runner claims that allowing Europe a significant role in negotiations amounts to "outsourcing" America's responsibilities, and they scream that George Bush hasn't been unilateral enough.

For that matter, the NSA program gives voters another stiff neck from the Pong Game Of Politics that Democrats have employed. Sice 9/11, Democrats have sought to blame the Bush administration for being asleep at the switch before 9/11 and dragging their feet afterwards in protecting the country from further attack. However, when the New York Times revealed this program that the administration put into place -- and about which they kept key Democrats fully briefed continuously since -- all of a sudden they start screaming about personal privacy, when most Americans worry about stopping the next al-Qaeda attack. The most vocal start threatening impeachment when many people start feeling relieved that the attack-free period following 9/11 doesn't appear to have been a mere fluke after all.

Dionne has a good start on the problem, but misses the cause. Until the Democrats start coming up with a coherent plan for national security, they will remain locked out of power no matter how many "themes" they dream up.

Posted by Captain Ed at January 24, 2006 06:05 AM

[OldFriend]

Soros and company demands the incessant bashing and trashing of the President, the economy, the war on terror, etc.

Any deviation from that insane process brings threats of diminished funding for the dems.

So, the lemmings keep on keeping on the road to destruction.

[G.Mason]

Dionne has a "good start" on absolutly nothing.

When Dionne states ...

"Does having a "post-9/11 worldview" mean allowing Bush to do absolutely anything he wants, any time he wants, without having to answer to the courts, Congress or the public? Most Americans -- including a lot of libertarian-leaning Republicans -- reject such an anti-constitutional view of presidential power. If Democrats aren't willing to take on this issue, what's the point of being an opposition party?"

... he is deluding himself.

Though many Democrats may enjoy Dionne's false assumptions, folks in the real world will, and are laughing.

[saveliberty]

:-) That's my take. I love letting an overpaid pompous @$$ making himself look stupid in public.

[saveliberty]

:-)

[dinasour]

the plan has focused on one variation or another of the same theme: Republicans are tough on our enemies, Democrats are not. If you don't want to get blown up, vote Republican.

And this works, too. For the simple reason that it is true.

No, I don't question their patriotism. I question which side they're on, period.

[syriacus]

Everyday life is much simpler for Republicans, who pretty much tell the same story to everyone.

[saveliberty]

:-) No one did question their patriotism except they themselves.

[saveliberty]

:-)

[reformedliberal]

It is called "being defensive".

Since the donks want more than anything else to control every aspect of our lives and since they have been remarkably unsuccessful in doing so and remarkably unpopular with each attempt to do so, all they have left is to accuse the administration of successfully accomplishing their own desires.

I guess it is also called "projection".

[saveliberty]

:-) Or if we concede that he's narcissistic, it's clinically referred to as transferrence.

[randita]

Kerry summed up the democrat plan perfectly:

I voted for it before I voted against it.

[reformedliberal]

Not to pick nits (G), but isn't transference only applicable between patient and clinical psychologist?

On a more serious note, while I agree that narcissism is rampant on the other side, I fear the term has been getting so much usage that it has lost its meaning. I think a case could be made for our entire Western culture having become one of narcissists.

Colloquially, I totally agree he is nuts!

[saveliberty]

LOL

[saveliberty]

:-) I agree that narcissism is being bandied about freely. That said, it really applies to the left particularly as they are incapable of being truly aware of their surroundings and silence dissent.

Case in point, the denial about the 2000 election.

Or how they call Bush an idiot and yet he outsmarts them every time.

Last observation is how humor impaired they are. The President laughs at himself and makes himself more approachable. And demonstrates his compassion IMHO.

The left can't laugh at themselves. Kerry can't. Hillary can't. Schumer can't. Pelosi can't. Who on the left can?

[Phantom Lord]

"Does having a "post-9/11 worldview" mean allowing Bush to do absolutely anything he wants, any time he wants, without having to answer to the courts, Congress or the public?

President Bush has been accountable to the people, as have members of the Republican party. And every election since 2000, the GOP has gained seats and in 2004 President Bush was re-elected.

Bush put himself before the people and they endorsed his Presidency with a 2nd term.

[reformedliberal]

Absolutely agree!

The left is deranged:"I hate you, why don't you love me!"

[saveliberty]

LOL!

[Dilbert56]

...they call Bush an idiot and yet he outsmarts them every time.

That's the rub. Democrats regularly insult any Republican's intelligence. Then they lose election after election.

When asked why, the Dims say the people voted against their own interests. They assure us most people agree with them on the issues but fell victim to political posturing or tricks. So, according to them the people actually believe GWB & Co. were destroying the economy, making us less safe at home, causing us to be hated worldwide, were taking away our liberties, and sent troops to die for a lie. The people voted to end up penniless, out-of-work, killed by terrorists, powerless in the world and tyrannized by our own government. Yeah, that's what 62 million people voted for. It ain't just a river in Egypt.

The biggest irony is that a PowerPoint presentation outlining the Republican's 2004 election strategy fell into Democrat hands. They knew exactly what the Republicans were going to do and still couldn't counter it. You know you're hopeless when you've got the other team's playbook and still can't win.

[G.Mason]

I agree. President Bush has been up front and honest with the people.

The fact that Dionne even states that the Dims need to attack on an assumption that President Bush has done ... "absolutely anything he wants, any time he wants, without having to answer to the courts, Congress or the public" ... is, on the face of it, a bold face lie, and further evidence of E. J. Dionne's and the Democrat Party's divorce with reality.

I wish them (the Democrat Party) a speedy trip to Hell, and may they take their fellow RINO's with them.