Small Wonder Democrats Have Become A Laughingstock
The agreement reached between President Bush and House leaders on a resolution authorizing the use of force to topple Saddam Hussein ratchets the pressure on Tom Daschle, top Senate Democrat and leading liberal hardliner.
The South Dakota Democrat, whose fiery rhetoric on the floor of the Senate recently drew national attention and sparked a backlash, has blocked White House efforts to reach early agreement in the Senate. His verbal rampage, in which he accused the President falsely of politicizing the war, marred party efforts to blur Republican-Democrat divisions on national security as November approaches. Democrats are worried that polls show Republicans enjoy commanding advantage on national security as election season shifts into high gear. In a blow to Democrat strategy, those same polls show Iraq emerging as the dominate issue for voters.
The deal, announced at the Rose Garden yesterday, effectively puts the kabosh on efforts by Senate foes of military action to quash growing momentum in Congress behind the White House position, which calls on the Iraqi dictator to disarm or face removal from power by military force.
By hopping aboard the much weaker Biden-Lugar "alternative" resolution, which grants the U.N. near veto authority over U.S. action and is hotly opposed by the White House, Senate liberals sought to undercut the stronger House version and embarrass the President at a critical juncture as the U.S. seeks to rally support abroad for military action against Iraq.
With the compromise struck yesterday, that strategy was defeated, leaving Daschle to fret in his office.
Now, a little on the politics fallout.
With election debate trending against them, and voter attention increasingly focused on security issues, Democrat desperation grows by the hour.
Enter Sen. Robert Torricelli's abrupt decision to bail, a move which has turned into a major fiasco for the Democrat Party nationally. While desperate times require desperate measures -- the Torch trailed his GOP challenger badly in most polls -- the move fuels voter perception of a party mired in chaos while shining the national spotlight back where Democrats are dangerously vulnerable: The Sleaze Factor. The disarray, moreover, pulls the rug out from under the party's Congressional candidates and reinforces the general view of the party as not ready for prime time.
The State High Court ruling yesterday, rubber-stamping the party's orgy of musical chairs, amounts to nothing more than a pyhrric 'victory'. It's a case of Democrats winning the battle but losing the wider war.
But what can be said of a party which refuses to denounce treasonous scum like McDermott and Bonior, who argue the real threat isn't in Baghdad but in the White House?
Here's what Democrats would probably tell you privately: 'But ... but ... but, Torricelli had no choice but to bail. Having Torricelli's name on the ballot is like having Mullah Omar on the ballot. I mean, the guy's as radioactive as baby milk factories in Baghdad; about as popular with voters as Pat Robertson at an atheist rally, Ken Lay at an Enron stockholders' meeting, or the 'Pledge of Allegiance' at one of our party conventions.'
'Heck, we're only trying to give voters in New Jersey a choice', they will say. Ah, yeah, sure -- and
BarbraBarbara Striesand is a great speller and Saddam Hussein can be trusted and Bill Clinton did not have sex with 'that woman' and Martha Stewart did not have insider trading with that man and Maxine Waters is a rocket scientist and the Baath Party is a human rights organization and O.J. was "framed" by the LAPD.Democrats argue they need not be bound by laws, rules or deadlines. After all, they're Democrats, i.e., they're special. Yes, laws should apply equally to all -- no quarrel there, they say. It's only fair. But to be even fairer, laws should apply more equally to some than to others.
Oh, I see.
Ah, are Democrats above the law, then? 'Not at all', they'll tell you. 'It's just that the law lies a tad below us', they 'splain.'
Word-parsing. Rule-bending. Law-breaking. Seedy back-room dealing. Buffoonery. Treason. Political musical chairs. Disarray. Sleaze.
Small wonder Democrats have become a laughingstock.
Anyway, that's...
My two cents...
"JohnHuang"