Damn Dirty Democrats

The Weekly Standard ^ | 11/04/2002 | Jonathan V. Last

[Pokey78]

Once the party of hope and idealism, the Democrats are now the party of dirty tricks.

A DEFINING MOMENT isn't about reality, it's about unconscious public perception. For example: Dan Quayle will forever be remembered for his "misspelling" of the word potato, not because it was an important event, but because the public already suspected he might be a dummy. John Ashcroft will forever be a religious nut because the curtain over the boob symbolized what people suspected--that he was a little too devout for centrist America. Never mind that Quayle is both bright and capable or that Ashcroft isn't a Wahhabi nutcase (or that he never asked for the curtain). Those caricatures are now cut into stone.

And so it may be for the Democratic party today. For two generations Democrats have coasted on the caricatures established by FDR and JFK. The Democrat from Central Casting was a slightly corrupt, slightly dopey do-gooder with stars in his eyes and gold in his heart. But a new Democratic caricature emerged this fall: One of the power-obsessed politician who will do anything to win.

Just consider the face of the Democratic party over the last few months:

-In South Dakota this fall, Democrats have pushed heavy voter-registration drives with Indians. So heavy, in fact, that lots of dead Native Americans signed up. State and federal authorities are investigating.

-In a September memo from the Detroit mayor's office, it was revealed that Detroit has 600,000 registered voters, only about 450,000 of which are legitimate. And you can bet those phantom voters haven't been trending Republican.

-In New Jersey, Democrats stood behind embattled senator Robert Torricelli, despite the fact that he was under federal investigation. Until he fell behind GOP challenger Doug Forrester in the polls. On the last day of September, Dems pushed Torricelli aside and brought in replacement candidate Frank Lautenberg, even though the law clearly stated that it was too late for a substitution. Democrats broke the law because, they insisted, New Jersey's citizens were entitled to a choice between major-party candidates. (In a related story, Democrats declined to field a candidate against Republican Virginia senator John Warner since Warner looked so formidable in early polling.)

-At a September debate in Maryland between the candidates for lieutenant governor, supporters of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Kennedy Townsend passed out Oreo cookies to mock black Republican hopeful Michael Steele. At another debate that month, between Townsend and Republican Bob Ehrlich, Democrats also passed out Oreos--and then led the crowd in raucous booing of Ehrlich's wife and elderly parents. Afterwards, Democrats keyed the cars of several Ehrlich supporters.

-During October in Montana, Democratic senator Max Baucus ran an ad not-so-subtly insinuating that his opponent, Mike Taylor, was gay--closing the attack spot by saying darkly, "Mike Taylor. Not the way we do business in Montana."

-In an October debate in South Carolina, Democrat Senate candidate Alex Sanders attacked Lindsay Graham for having Rudy Giuliani stump for him. About Giuliani, Sanders said, "His wife kicked him out and he moved in with two gay men and a Shih Tzu. Is that South Carolina values? I don't think so."

-A few days ago in Hawaii, GOP gubernatorial candidate Linda Lingle, who's running neck-and-neck with her Democratic opponent, became the target of a whispering campaign claiming that she, too, is homosexual.

-In Iowa, Tom Harkin spent autumn in Tape-gate. As the Washington Post explained, "Harkin's campaign provided a digital recorder to a former Harkin aide to take to a Sept. 3 strategy session of the Ganske campaign, to which the former aide had been invited. The campaign then leaked a copy of the recording to an Iowa reporter. Harkin's campaign staff first denied any involvement, then admitted to it. Harkin dumped his campaign manager and fired a young, low-level aide, whom the campaign said was solely responsible for getting the former Harkin aide, Brian Conley, to record the session."

-And then, of course, there was the Wellstone affair last week (see the above now-famous photo). At the memorial service Democrats whipped the crowd into a partisan fervor, chanted "We Will Win," and generally had a rollicking good time while the 20,000 attendees booed Wellstone's Republican colleagues who had come to pay their respects.

The Democrats haven't just become Nixon, they've become the exaggerated liberal nightmare version of Nixon: Today Democrats are what they believe Nixon was.

The change didn't happen overnight. For a couple years now--since 1992ish, to be more exact--Democrats have been showing signs of a desperate, win-at-any-cost mentality. It started with Clinton's women and then his fund-raising and impeachment. It carried over to Gore's challenge to the 2000 election and Tom Daschle's unprecedented obstruction of George W. Bush's judicial nominees.

(As a side note, last Friday on Blanquita Cullum and Janet Donovan's radio show, "The Beltway Broads," I asked Orrin Hatch if there was any weight to the charge that Republicans had been just as bad with Clinton's nominees. The straight-laced Mormon said those arguments are "pure B.S." Also, he interestingly noted that "we may get one or two [Supreme Court] nominees before the end of the year.")

None of this has been lost on the public. And the angry chants and rabid cheering from the Wellstone "memorial" may have provided the Democrats with a new defining moment. Once the party of JFK and FDR, the Democrats are now the party of dirty tricks.

[Landru]

"I'm gonna tell MissuzMUD what you said, Landru, and yer gonna be sorry...MUD"

Wait a minute; aren't I already in hot water with one of the M-Matriarchs as it is??

Your Mom would be tough convincing she bore a son which reflected poorly on her status. Granted.

While dealing with your beautiful wife maybe not so hard to do.
After all, unlike your Mom?

...Mrs Mud has to live with ya, huh.

[SkyPilot]

I enjoyed a quote I read earlier.

QUESTION: Why are the Senate races more competetive than the House races?

ANSWER: Democrats have not yet been able to gerrymander a State.

[Mudboy Slim]

"...dealing with your beautiful wife maybe not so hard to do."

Watch it, bub...I don't like the tone yer usin'!!

"...unlike your Mom?...Mrs Mud has to live with ya, huh."

Well, that may indeed be so; however, if MissuzMUD kicks Mudboy out in the street--AGAIN!!--MamaMUD may have a boarder, and that ain't cool fer nobody no-how...LOL!! They've all got an angle the way I figger it...MUD

[Mudboy Slim]

"Mrs Mud has to live with ya..."

See, my FRiend, US GlassHalfFull-types prefer to say, "MissuzMUD gits to live with MUD!!"

Thankyouverymuch...MUD

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

It's good to hear from you, Landru.

Given the fact one omits any one of those events, & things could be completely different, today.

...yes; the epitome of, "Divine Guidance."

I Believe. (^:

[Stand Watch Listen]

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Chelsea spends her time askin' Reno,
"Why's my Dad a 'HO?!!"

Hah! Mud, your brain's a wonder of nature.

Billzabubba seems vacuously FRightful.

"Neener, neener, neener..."

Mud at FR:

Billzabubba seems vacuously FRightful!

Repeat until the walls fall down.

Thanks for the pick-me-up, my friend. (^:

[Landru]

"Watch it, bub...I don't like the tone yer usin'!!"

No disrespect intended.
After all there's not a thing in the world wrong with my eyes; &, she sure is purty.
Same eyes, incidentally, telling me you're one butttt-ugly puppy! :o)

"Well, that may indeed be so; however, if MissuzMUD kicks Mudboy out in the street--AGAIN!!--MamaMUD may have a boarder, and that ain't cool fer nobody no-how...LOL!!"

Maybe so; but, look at it from my POV.
Better your *Mum* take the hit than your winding-up in one of our guest bedrooms, eh?

"They've all got an angle the way I figger it..."

Nothing wrong with your "calculator," son; internal *or* external.
Just GOT to keep your Philly seperated from my Philly, is all.
Why if those two ever had a chance to compare notes?
Might as well just go ahead & give our souls to God.

"See, my FRiend, US GlassHalfFull-types prefer to say, 'MissuzMUD gits to live with MUD!!'"

Is that rich, or what?
Right on the heels of your threatening me with what *I'd* said, too.

...ya gotta think harder before shooting off that big trap!

[GOPJ]

bump

[TheGrimReaper]

Thanks for putting that up in lights.
Recent graduates of publik skool may require it.

[Landru]

Nice seeing you too, cowgirl.
Of course, it always is.

Say??
Imagine my delight to learn the voting machines at the polling place I'll have to use??
They have right-handed levers!

Why that just-so-happens to be the very same arm I use to pull levers on slots down at the gambling boat!

Suffice to say I'm practiced & my right arm's well excersized!!

...plenty strong enough to pull that voting machine lever, come tomorrow. ;^)

[Go Gordon]

While Republicans get millions in donations from hundreds of thousands of contributuers in the 100 to 500 dollar range the Democrats have no similiar middle class support and rely on a small band of extremely wealthy individuals and corporations for their support.

Say hello to CFR, playing in a theater near you (starting 11/6/02)

[Mudboy Slim]

"No disrespect intended."

I'll stand down then...

"After all there's not a thing in the world wrong with my eyes; &, she sure is purty."

Ain't she, though?!

"...you're one butttt-ugly puppy, you Commie Sumbitch!!"

SHEEEESH...Now how nice was that, TrashMouth?! Tighten up, folks're watchin'...

"Better your *Mum* take the hit than your winding-up in one of our guest bedrooms, eh?"

You got that rickety skylight fixed yet?! Heh heh heh...restrainin' orders ain't never bothered me before!!

"Just GOT to keep your Philly seperated from my Philly, is all. Why if those two ever had a chance to compare notes? Might as well just go ahead & give our souls to God."

That's why I wuz thinkin' y'all might be able to swing over to Myrtle beach this weekend...just me and a bunch of bone-headed ex-jocks and high school coaches from Tidewater...LOL!!

You and me can teach the FatherInLaw 'bout politics south of the Mason-Dixon Line...leastways, I can!!

"See, my FRiend, US GlassHalfFull-types prefer to say, 'MissuzMUD gits to live with MUD!!'"

"Is that rich, or what? Right on the heels of your threatening me with what *I'd* said, too. ...ya gotta think harder before shooting off that big trap!"

I think much harder prior to each BigTrapShoot than you apparently give me credit fer, my still disbelievin' FRiend...MUD

[Mudboy Slim]

"Thanks for the pick-me-up, my friend. (^:"

Ain't that why we're really all here on FR.com?! Fer positive reinforcement...MUD

[Zack Nguyen]

Really these days the Democrats are more of a coalition than a party, and the coalition is very shakey.

Very astute. The Democratic coalition has virtually nothing in common in terms of fundamental values. Example: a gentleman at my church (a fundamentalist Southern Baptist) votes straight Democrat every time. He is quite elderly, an active member, and very much a Christian. He shares a party with homosexual activists, pro-abortionists, man-hating feminists, America-hating multiculturalists, and profit-hating redistributionists. He is an old-time Democrat. Of course he will go to heaven soon and no one will replace him.

What holds the Democratic Party together? At its core, what holds the bizarre collection of culturally conservative unionists, homosexuals, Hollywood hanger-ons, atheists, sex-obsessed feminists, etc., is an absolutely uncontrollable hatred for Republicans. It is really that simple. Many, but not all, also hate America and it's history of a Christian-based culture, and are determined at all costs to deconstruct it to its very foundation and rebuild it in their own image.

[windchime]

"ATTACK THE DNC, ATTACK THE TICKET AND THE VOTER FRAUD orchestrated by the hard core sore losers but we must reach out to the conservative dems who are fed up and ashamed of being a democrat. They have every reason to be ashamed, not of themselves but of the DEM PARTY. Invite them to join us."

Amen, Floriduh Voter!

[Dutchgirl]

I am the product of a mixed marriage.

Dad: USAF, R, Texas,OCS, agnostic. Mom: USN, D, Mass., Wellesley, Catholic. By the time Dad died, he was Catholic and Mom was Republican. She told me never give up my principles.

Hubby is not evil just misguided.

As a military brat, I had no leftist cultural upbringing, spent the 60's overseas and did not see bigotry until 1970, also never saw a Jane Fonda film til college. But highlights of Enlightenment...Reagan in '76,McNelly cartoons (now sadly missed), "Witness" by Chambers, C.S. Lewis and oddly enough Malcolm Muggeridge on Buckley.

Seeds of doubt for spouse- voted for Jesse Jackson and now has to live with himself, had to explain to minor children that oral sex is sex, September 11th, saw Kristinn at patriots rally II on cspan and was impressed. (In his world, except for me and Kristinn, Republicans are just hateful hating racist war mongers.)

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

By the time Dad died, he was Catholic and Mom was Republican. She told me never give up my principles...

Sounds like a wonderful upbringing, Dutchgirl. I'm betting on you....give your hubby a few years of holding out at the most (depending on the war). (^:

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Why that just-so-happens to be the very same arm I use to pull levers on slots down at the gambling boat!

Lol! Ka-ching!

Right-winged eagle, ping. (^:

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Ain't that why we're really all here on FR.com?! Fer positive reinforcement...MUD.

There are a few curmudgeons who just can't bring themselves to cheer on the team....keeping the rest of our heads from swelling up and floating away like some vacuously Frightful Democrat's. (^: