Saturday, December 13, 2003
Fervor Isn't Victory
The Approaching Cliffside of the 2004 Election
By Ozymandias
As many have warned, from every side of every aisle, in what may be the most spectacular doctor-assisted suicide ever witnessed, the ever-so articulate anger mismanagement of Howard Dean will soon drive the Democratic Party over Dukakis Cliff into McGovern Gorge. The reason this is a foregone conclusion is because of two things that will not change in the next year:
#1: The Republicans want to win more than they want to beat the Democrats.
#2: The Democrats want to beat Bush more than they want to win.
Let’s take these one at a time.
Republicans don’t really care about Dean, Gephardt, or Kerry, or Clark. These names don’t really matter to Republicans. (Clinton, now that’s a name that matters to Republicans.) Republicans want to win because they actually believe their ideas for the country are better. They have a plan of where they want America to go, and what they want America to be. Republicans are the avatars of American exceptionalism – that America is actually “a shining city on a hill” and should remain so. Republicans believe that America should be telling the world how to run itself, because that is America’s divinely ordered right. Our ideas for the world are the best ideas.
This is also why Clinton (either one) brings up so much visceral reaction in Republicans – Bill Clinton usurped this divinely ordered role. Hilary has the potential to do again. This is not to be borne. When the Republicans truly dropped the ball, and they did, with the impeachment of Clinton; it revealed exactly how dangerous this rage can be. Not to Clinton, mind you, but the Republican Party. The American public roots for the underdog, and is also pretty good at recognizing wrong priorities. Clinton’s approval went up because the Republicans had violated their most core tenet, focusing all their energy and power on one man instead of doing the work of governing. Basically, exactly what the Democrats are doing now.
Democrats can’t govern, you say, because they are not in power. True to a degree, but they can choose to look like statesmen. Instead, they have chosen to simply be against whatever Bush is for. They do not offer a plan or vision of what America should be in the world; they merely say what it shouldn’t be. It shouldn’t be a boss. It shouldn’t be hegemonic. It shouldn’t tell other countries what to do. It shouldn’t support Israel so strongly. It shouldn’t… It shouldn’t… We do not hear about what it should be.
Because the Democratic Party’s agenda is now very much controlled by, as Dean himself said, “the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.” Meaning the far left wing. The secularist wing, the gun control wing, the environmental wing, and the tax increase wing. Al Gore, whom I voted for, by the way, did not win a single Confederacy state; he did not win his home state of Tennessee, or the lock, stock, and barrel union state of West Virginia. Al Gore did not win Arkansas. Gore won my home state of Illinois handily, but lost the state outside of Chicago. My own rural county was 65% Bush.
Now enter Dean, or any other Democratic nominee, with the current Democratic Platform. Think of how this will play in the South or Midwest. The Democrats are:
Against guns
Against the killing of criminals
Against children praying
Against any public display of religious sentiment
Against tax cuts
Against a war that most Americans feel was an honorable cause
Against the idea that America is unique or better than other countries
For the killing of unborn children
For tax increases
No plan. No vision. Just a list of things that America is doing wrong and need to be fixed so that we can be like all the other nations. We can blend in and ‘be friends’ with everyone.
So blind to this kumbaya concept are the Democrats, they even have the DNC (Democratic National Conflagration) chairman meeting with Nader. Not to talk him out of running, but to “be friends.” Attention all Democrats with functioning brain cells. As one might explain to a four year old, we will keep it real simple: A vote for Nader is a vote for Bush. Period. Fact. Law. Maxim. Nader will not take a single Republican vote; he will therefore take Democrat votes. A Nader campaign cannot, in anyway hurt Bush. It can and has cost the Democrats the White House.
Republicans understand this quite well, and this is why John McCain was very nearly crucified for his insurgency in the primary. It wasn’t personal. McCain simply had to be annihilated, demoralized, and left dead on the road. Bush could not afford an empowered third party candidate that would bleed R’s. Republicans wanted to win more than they wanted to beat Gore. It was ugly, and harsh to McCain, a good man caught in the maelstrom. But it was crucial to Bush’s campaign.
The Democratic response to Nader? The DNC took him to lunch.
I’m quite certain Karl Rove shook his head in amused bewilderment, and walked smiling back to his office, giving a startled passing staffer an abrupt “high five.”
What Democrats forgot somewhere is the simple and well-established fact that America is what it is because of what we are for. Think for a moment if the following things were universally imposed on the world: Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech, Rule of Law, Participatory Government, and Gender Equality.
Is there anyone who thinks this would not be good? That this should not be the goal of humanity? That this is not a worthy and noble endeavor?
Yes, actually. Two main groups known as fascist Islamists and liberal democrats.
One has chosen to destroy innocent lives at every opportunity. The other expects to be elected president.
So, the cliff approaches and, like the terrorists, mistaking agitation for progress and fervor for victory, no one will turn the wheel.
Everyone is looking to the guy next to them to stop the careening Dean campaign before its too late.
“We are going to swerve, right?” someone asks.
“Are you going to turn us as the last minute?” a supporter yells up to the good doctor.
But the doctor can’t hear, he’s smiling, speaking, shaking hands, and meeting people.
“Um… sir that cliff is right up there. You have a plan, right?”
But the doctor can’t hear, and he’s got a photo-op with Ms. Sarandon.
“The money just keeps coming in,” the doctor says, holding up the checks with a Cheshire smile.
“Yes, sir. But the cliff, sir.”
Yes, the cliff.
Comments: ozymandias_1@hotmail.com
The Approaching Cliffside of the 2004 Election
By Ozymandias
As many have warned, from every side of every aisle, in what may be the most spectacular doctor-assisted suicide ever witnessed, the ever-so articulate anger mismanagement of Howard Dean will soon drive the Democratic Party over Dukakis Cliff into McGovern Gorge. The reason this is a foregone conclusion is because of two things that will not change in the next year:
#1: The Republicans want to win more than they want to beat the Democrats.
#2: The Democrats want to beat Bush more than they want to win.
Let’s take these one at a time.
Republicans don’t really care about Dean, Gephardt, or Kerry, or Clark. These names don’t really matter to Republicans. (Clinton, now that’s a name that matters to Republicans.) Republicans want to win because they actually believe their ideas for the country are better. They have a plan of where they want America to go, and what they want America to be. Republicans are the avatars of American exceptionalism – that America is actually “a shining city on a hill” and should remain so. Republicans believe that America should be telling the world how to run itself, because that is America’s divinely ordered right. Our ideas for the world are the best ideas.
This is also why Clinton (either one) brings up so much visceral reaction in Republicans – Bill Clinton usurped this divinely ordered role. Hilary has the potential to do again. This is not to be borne. When the Republicans truly dropped the ball, and they did, with the impeachment of Clinton; it revealed exactly how dangerous this rage can be. Not to Clinton, mind you, but the Republican Party. The American public roots for the underdog, and is also pretty good at recognizing wrong priorities. Clinton’s approval went up because the Republicans had violated their most core tenet, focusing all their energy and power on one man instead of doing the work of governing. Basically, exactly what the Democrats are doing now.
Democrats can’t govern, you say, because they are not in power. True to a degree, but they can choose to look like statesmen. Instead, they have chosen to simply be against whatever Bush is for. They do not offer a plan or vision of what America should be in the world; they merely say what it shouldn’t be. It shouldn’t be a boss. It shouldn’t be hegemonic. It shouldn’t tell other countries what to do. It shouldn’t support Israel so strongly. It shouldn’t… It shouldn’t… We do not hear about what it should be.
Because the Democratic Party’s agenda is now very much controlled by, as Dean himself said, “the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.” Meaning the far left wing. The secularist wing, the gun control wing, the environmental wing, and the tax increase wing. Al Gore, whom I voted for, by the way, did not win a single Confederacy state; he did not win his home state of Tennessee, or the lock, stock, and barrel union state of West Virginia. Al Gore did not win Arkansas. Gore won my home state of Illinois handily, but lost the state outside of Chicago. My own rural county was 65% Bush.
Now enter Dean, or any other Democratic nominee, with the current Democratic Platform. Think of how this will play in the South or Midwest. The Democrats are:
Against guns
Against the killing of criminals
Against children praying
Against any public display of religious sentiment
Against tax cuts
Against a war that most Americans feel was an honorable cause
Against the idea that America is unique or better than other countries
For the killing of unborn children
For tax increases
No plan. No vision. Just a list of things that America is doing wrong and need to be fixed so that we can be like all the other nations. We can blend in and ‘be friends’ with everyone.
So blind to this kumbaya concept are the Democrats, they even have the DNC (Democratic National Conflagration) chairman meeting with Nader. Not to talk him out of running, but to “be friends.” Attention all Democrats with functioning brain cells. As one might explain to a four year old, we will keep it real simple: A vote for Nader is a vote for Bush. Period. Fact. Law. Maxim. Nader will not take a single Republican vote; he will therefore take Democrat votes. A Nader campaign cannot, in anyway hurt Bush. It can and has cost the Democrats the White House.
Republicans understand this quite well, and this is why John McCain was very nearly crucified for his insurgency in the primary. It wasn’t personal. McCain simply had to be annihilated, demoralized, and left dead on the road. Bush could not afford an empowered third party candidate that would bleed R’s. Republicans wanted to win more than they wanted to beat Gore. It was ugly, and harsh to McCain, a good man caught in the maelstrom. But it was crucial to Bush’s campaign.
The Democratic response to Nader? The DNC took him to lunch.
I’m quite certain Karl Rove shook his head in amused bewilderment, and walked smiling back to his office, giving a startled passing staffer an abrupt “high five.”
What Democrats forgot somewhere is the simple and well-established fact that America is what it is because of what we are for. Think for a moment if the following things were universally imposed on the world: Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech, Rule of Law, Participatory Government, and Gender Equality.
Is there anyone who thinks this would not be good? That this should not be the goal of humanity? That this is not a worthy and noble endeavor?
Yes, actually. Two main groups known as fascist Islamists and liberal democrats.
One has chosen to destroy innocent lives at every opportunity. The other expects to be elected president.
So, the cliff approaches and, like the terrorists, mistaking agitation for progress and fervor for victory, no one will turn the wheel.
Everyone is looking to the guy next to them to stop the careening Dean campaign before its too late.
“We are going to swerve, right?” someone asks.
“Are you going to turn us as the last minute?” a supporter yells up to the good doctor.
But the doctor can’t hear, he’s smiling, speaking, shaking hands, and meeting people.
“Um… sir that cliff is right up there. You have a plan, right?”
But the doctor can’t hear, and he’s got a photo-op with Ms. Sarandon.
“The money just keeps coming in,” the doctor says, holding up the checks with a Cheshire smile.
“Yes, sir. But the cliff, sir.”
Yes, the cliff.
Comments: ozymandias_1@hotmail.com
