Posted on 10/29/2001 11:52:10 PM PST by JohnHuang2
Unenlightened self interest
© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com
I am in Washington, D.C., for the 26th running of the Marine Corps Marathon. It's been 15 years since I ran this race and, when media demands following the attacks of Sept. 11 disrupted my training, I thought about skipping it. The Marines, however, refused to cancel the race even though the security issues went through the roof. If they can put it on, I decided I could finish it.
Coming to Washington from the West Coast brings you to a different world. The anthrax attacks are just disturbing headlines in California, but here it is very much a real problem on the minds of almost every Washingtonian I have chatted with. The Pentagon, having recently taken a direct hit, is now ringed with camouflaged biohazard monitoring stations. The Supreme Court was added to the target list on Friday, and more surprises are believed to be in the mail. There is no panic. Just seriousness.
Which is why I find the conduct of Senate Democrats so surprising. The country is undergoing its most significant challenge in decades, and the leadership of the opposition has returned to an almost maddening partisanship less than two months after thousands of Americans died in a surprise assault. They have chosen the opposite of seriousness. They have chosen self-interest.
Tom Daschle has buried the energy bill that would allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge because he knows the votes from both sides of the aisle are there to pass it.
Patrick Leahy has imposed a near boycott on Bush judicial nominees even though we are in the middle of the largest manhunt in history and a full federal bench is a pressing necessity. Bill Clinton had 28 judges confirmed in his first year in office a 57 percent confirmation rate even though he did not start nominating judges until August of 1993. George Bush has had only 12 of his 60 nominees voted on a tiny 20 percent even though he began sending up his judicial picks in May. Leahy is unapologetic. The Democrats are running things, and they are committed to running out the clock.
And now we have Joe Biden droning on about "high-tech bullying" and the need to go mano a mano with the Taliban. When I played the entire Biden answer on my radio program last Thursday, an outraged and teary caller from Colorado explained how her father had died at the Chosin Reservoir going mano a mano with the Chinese when she was 1-year old, and perhaps the Biden Doctrine that conflict is unacceptable unless a lot of American soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines die is not the view of the American voters. Biden complains he is the victim of a political drive-by. Biden is a victim of his need to pose as a player. He deserves every bit of the withering criticism that has come his way.
It is too bad we do not have a three-strikes-and-you're-out policy for the Senate Democrats. Such a policy would oblige Jim Jeffords to look at the real and lasting damage his dance with self-absorption has cost the country, and perhaps it would even move Georgia Senator Zell Miller to act on what must be his increasing discomfort with the fecklessness of his national party.
Tests of leadership capability come along rarely. We are in the midst of one now, and its subject matter is nothing less than protection of the lives of millions of Americans living in target areas. The recent reports of bin Laden's potential nuclear capability underscore the threat at the same time that they underscore the need for candor, honor and purpose among the political leadership. The Senate Democrats have failed on all counts, and no amount of prattle about "bipartisanship" from their allies like Michael Kinsley and Al Hunt will cover their collapse under pressure. They know nothing except hyper-partisanship, and they have returned to it in record time.
This partisanship is a tragedy for the party of FDR and JFK, but it is simply dangerous for the country. The only answers are attention and political revulsion. The elections of 2002 are a year away, but disgust should be funneled into contributions to the coffers of those who would restore responsible people to power in the Senate. I listed some of the individual candidates in last week's column, and the general effort is guided by and can be studied and supported at the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
There is still time in this session for Daschle and the Democrat Party he leads to turn around and come back to the political conduct required by these times. That does not mean agreement with the president. It does mean votes on the key bills, the judicial nominees, and a public rebuke of Biden.
In a city consumed with seriousness, it is a shame that the only place that quality is in short supply is the United States Senate.
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Same as I thought before he turned his coat...he's been a liberal RINO for 40 years!
Puff Daschle comes up for re-election in '02 and South Dakota is not nearly as Socialist as this Slimeball they've got fer Senator!! Daschle must be targeted--NATIONALLY--for removal from Office!!
"Patrick Leahy has imposed a near boycott on Bush judicial nominees even though we are in the middle of the largest manhunt in history and a full federal bench is a pressing necessity."
Leahy is from Socialist Vermont--screw you, scumbag Lefty Vermonters, especially you, Jim Jeffords!!--so our best bet is to simply remove him from his seat of Power at the Head of the Judiciary Committee...Zell Miller, please call yer office!! Paging Zell Miller!!
"And now we have Joe Biden droning on about "high-tech bullying" and the need to go mano a mano with the Taliban. When I played the entire Biden answer on my radio program last Thursday, an outraged and teary caller from Colorado explained how her father had died at the Chosin Reservoir going mano a mano with the Chinese when she was 1-year old, and perhaps the Biden Doctrine that conflict is unacceptable unless a lot of American soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines die is not the view of the American voters. Biden complains he is the victim of a political drive-by. Biden is a victim of his need to pose as a player. He deserves every bit of the withering criticism that has come his way."
Joe Biden...the Plagiarist Lowlife from Delaware, how to rid the World of YOU?! Any suggestions, FReepers...this guy needs to be Removed From Power ASAP!!
"It is too bad we do not have a three-strikes-and-you're-out policy for the Senate Democrats. Such a policy would oblige Jim Jeffords to look at the real and lasting damage his dance with self-absorption has cost the country, and perhaps it would even move Georgia Senator Zell Miller to act on what must be his increasing discomfort with the fecklessness of his national party."
Georgian FReepers, it is HIGH TIME we began applying Major Pressure on Miller to atone for Jeffords' treachery!! Let ZigZag Zell know that his Re-Election Bid begins TODAY, in our Time of Need!! Either Miller's with US...or else Miller's Against US!! His willingness to allow the DemocRAT Leadership to Hijack National Security will be remembered when Miller comes back asking for Georgians' Votes!! Zell Miller...it's Decision Time for YOU!!
"The Democrats are running things, and they are committed to running out the clock."
Exactly...the Senate DemoncRATS have become the Focus of Evil in America, and EVIL MUST BE DESTROYED!!
FReegards...MUD
Puff Daschle's Vile Smile should never be mistaken as sincere...we will deal with him and his kind in November '02!! The Mid-Term Election's Start NOW!!!
FReegards...MUD
FReegards...MUD
Ms. YaYa, aren't you from Georgia? If so, what'll it take to get Miller to change his vote fer Senate Majority Leader? With the DemoncRATS behaving so abhorrently, it would seem that some well-targeted pressure would be timely just about now.
And it sounds like a job fer dedicated FReepers to initiate!!
FReegards...MUD
I won't make the same mistake again. Daschle, Leahy and Biden are not team players. -- The American team, that is!
i'm not a jesuschrister, so i skip that part.
Bingo...MUD
Maybe under ordinary circumstances I might buy into Senator Millers arguments for remaining a Dem, but these are not ordinary circumstances anymore. For once I'd like to see a politician in a national office put National interests ahead of their own.
You're exactly right, very much so.
If I remember correctly clinton pulled some of his slick tricks to go around the normal rules applying to things of this nature.
Daschle is the wimp and puppet of ms. clinton the same he was the minute she stepped on the Senate floor. He took a momentary timeout from being her puppet right after 11 Sep, but looks like he has returned to open mouth, ms. clinton talks mode. If you watch the Senate votes, you will see a vast majority of RAT Senators especially the moron women RATS stopping by to see ms. clinton who is always around the table in front before voting.
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