Posted on 11/06/2002 7:53:57 AM PST by A2J
Did Wellstone's Death Foretell Defeat Of Liberalism?
Yes, Gov. Gray Davis won reelection in California, Frank Lautenberg took (as in “stole”) a senate seat in New Jersey, and the Democrats claimed several governorships, but without a doubt the Republicans easily carried the day in historic proportions last night. Conservatism, albeit “Bush Style,” swept through America from coast to coast in a way not seen since Ronald Reagan became the standard by which all conservatives are judged. And while there remains a few smoldering bastions of liberalism left, one defining event may have served as a foretelling of last night’s rout by the Republicans: the death of Paul Wellstone.
While I am usually not one who believes that a certain event can forecast what will happen and this may sound like something on a grocery store tabloid, but there is something eerily strange about Wellstone’s untimely death on October 25, 2002, and the resounding defeat of liberal candidates and initiatives. Wellstone, described as one of the last liberal stalwarts, fought himself back into contention and seemed poised to hold his seat in Minnesota against Republican Norm Coleman. Then came October 25th and the subsequent political rally disguised as a “memorial” where all of the leaders of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party were shown on a large screen and across the nation stoking the fervor of “We will win!” Bill Clinton, Tom Daschle, and the aged senior statesman of liberalism, and now former senatorial candidate, Walter Mondale grinned like Cheshire cats, confident that they would hold the seat in Minnesota and the U.S. Senate in Washington, D.C.
Preliminary reports show that pilot error was responsible for the plane crash that took the lives of Sen. Wellstone and others. “Pilot error” can also be blamed for the Democrats’ embarrassing defeat last night. Bill Clinton, presumably still a popular figure, stumped in vain for Democratic candidates as well as controlled the Democratic Party since leaving office, having handpicked Terry MacAuliffe to lead the DNC. MacAuliffe’s own extremist attacks on President Bush and his very public snub of an African-American gubernatorial candidate in New York may well have served to usher his way out of the door of power. And let’s not forget about Sen. Tom Daschle, now former Senate Majority Leader, whose sandbagging of President Bush’s legislative initiatives and judicial appointees apparently irritated voters of both parties to the point where a fellow Democratic senator from his home state of South Dakota barely escaped defeat.
It seemed as if everywhere the Democratic icons of liberalism turned they were face to face with a populace that rejected their arrogant abuse of power. Liberalism clearly crashed and burned on November 5, 2002. Now it’s time for conservatives to govern with wisdom and a mandate, not falling into the trap of guarding their power, which led to the loss of the Senate and losses in the House. They need to use it to advance conservative causes, such as tax cuts limiting the expansion of the federal government. They need to study history, which shows that every time the Republicans embraced liberal causes, such as granting legal status to millions of illegal immigrants, they lose and should lose.
The only question that remains to be answered will be whether the Republican Party will have the guts to govern from the right and avoid walking down the deadly path of the left.
"Vanity: Please help prevent the vanity explosion" by Jim Robinson
People shrug off a little crookedness in politics; it's only to be expected. But the Dems went over the line and got punished for it. Not only did their nastiness bring out Republican voters in droves, it must have kept the more idealistic Dems at home, or maybe even persuaded a few to switch their votes.
Clinton was a master of sleight-of-hand, but 9/11 emboldened the left in their unquestioning arrogance and pulled the cloak away from the brazenly anti-American core of Democrat policy.
Republicans have a monumental opportunity in the next 1-2 years -- an opportunity to shape a generation. The only remaining thread of Democrat survival is the notion that imminent destruction accompanies Republican control. If the security and economic situations (the only ones that really matter) demonstrably improve over that period, what do they have left?
The great questions of the day over the continuation of the American economic miracle, and the proper use of American military power could be reaffirmed for the early 21st century.
The Dems may be faced with either repudiating the whacko left or ending as a viable national party. Either way, we win, and the socialists lose.
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