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.

[ChadGore]

WIN ONE FOR THE GIPPER

Vote on Tuesday.

Do the right thing.

[VOA]

Damn Dirty Democrats

Now there's some poor usage of English - never use three words when one will suffice.

[pgkdan]

The Party of Dirty Tricks....after 10 years maybe it's really start ing to sink in. Good grief, I hope so! The NYT and the USA Today/CNN/Gallop Polls both have the GOP at a 6-7 point advantage on the generic party preference question. That's something athat always underestimates GOP strength by several points. We could be looking at another 1994 on Tuesday. I pray that we are.

[Utah Girl]

I'm glad Orrin Hatch said that. I may think he is not the most effective senator, but he is above all, fair and honest and tried to treat all equally, regardless of party affiliation. The judicial nomination process was a three ring circus when the Republians took over the Senate in 1994, Hatch restored order to it.

[PRND21]

Today Democrats are what they believe Nixon was.

Bump

[McGavin999]

It's gotten so bad that now when I hear someone is a democrat I automatically distrust them. I figure that you have to be either corrupt or incredibly stupid to stay in that party after what they've done these last few years.

[MissAmericanPie]

I really don't understand how the country can be so divided politically when the democrats are quickly being recognized as the anti-American party. Of course it could have something to do with native born Americans only being 60 something of the population of the USofA now.

[Wingy]

We could be looking at another 1994 on Tuesday. I pray that we are.

Hush your mouth! Voter fraud will trump all that. Remember that 150,000 dead voters in Detroit will cover all the voter turnout plans that the GOP can muster. Prayer is our only chance.

Be well...

[Dems_R_Losers]

He forgot about the Rat operative for KKT who told the Washington Post that he would "make Bob Ehrlich look like a Nazi" in the black community; and the Rat mayor of Washington, DC getting caught turning in hundreds of forged signatures on his nominating petitions; and the Rats spreading gossip about Tim Hutchinson to depress the conservative vote in Arkansas.

(I am too depressed to continue this list...)

[RichInOC]

"My mother's mother, Grandma Loy, came from downstate Illinois....Grandma thought the Democrats were, like drought and wheat rot, an inexplicable evil of nature that America had done nothing to warrant....And she wouldn't even speak the word 'Democrats' if there were children in the room. She'd say 'bastards' instead."

--P. J. O'Rourke, from the introduction to Republican Party Reptile

[CalConservative]

I was listening to Hugh Hewitt the other day when he was broadcasting from Minnesota and he was interviewing someone ( I can't remember the name) who was running as a Republican for U.S. Representative. In that district, the Demoncrats actually got someone to qualify a candidate for a phony political party for the ballot on a "No New Taxes" campaign. It was basically just designed to draw votes away from the Republican candidate - i.e. he was not a serious candidate - just there to muddy up the waters for the Republican. I wish I could remember more of the details, but it struck me as a "how low can you go" Demoncrat tactic. i guess there is really no limit on what they will do to win.

[Burkeman1]

Actually, the Democratic Party first became a manifestly corrupt and even evil party in the late 80's. The Bork nomination was the first sign that Leftist Radicals had taken firm majority control of the Democratic Party and proved they would stoop to any lie or falsehood to win. It got worse with Tower and Thomas and many other nominees. The Clinton years showed them literally capable of even betraying their own principles and turning a blind eye to executive abuses that make Nixon look like a jaywalker. The old guard liberals and moderates of the Democratic Party are all but gone now and the Democratic Party is fully corrupted. Look how bad it is for them. Their "elder statesmen" are Gephardt, Daschle, Gore, and Hillary (Not a lick of difference among them on any issue at all.) Heck- Up until a few months ago the Torch was considered presidential timber for the Democrats!

The Democratic party is in deep trouble. It has zero popular support and it's "natural constieuncies" are largely gone or showing signs of breaking away. 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. They still enjoy mainstream media bias and support but that too is in jeapordy. Even demographics show blacks questioning support for Democrats or becoming less vulnerable to racialist scare mongering.

Academia, elements of popular culture, mainstream media support is how they survive now. But that is not enough for the long run. They are trapped by their own failures and ideology which allows them to admit no error. They are trapped by Leftist cliches and bromides. Their policies have utterly failed. Incapable of embracing any sort of dissident ideas that may breath life into the party- they lash out with phoney charges of "racism"- seek to demonize their enemies, make crude pleas to class that no longer even exist. The democrats are ossified intellectually- and it has corrupted them completely.

[DmBarch]

Couple more things..

I thought there was a report that in Maryland, they actually threw the Oreos (tm) onto the stage at the debate.

In Hawaii, the health of Rep. Patsy Mink (D)was hidden from the public as she was dying while on the ballot. I would not be suprised if she was quietly kept on life support until the deadline to replace her on the ballot had passed. Then one could vote in sympathy for the dead Dem. Then they realized what NJ could mean and decided that there was plenty of time for a special election..

[timestax]

bump

[dalebert]

GET OUT THE VOTE!

[dalebert]

GET OUT THE VOTE!

[dalebert]

GET OUT THE VOTE!

[dalebert]

GET OUT THE VOTE!

[dalebert]

GET OUT THE VOTE!