The Party Of Petulance
The silly little stunt pulled by the Democrats yesterday indicates just how far the Democrats have fallen as Bush Derangement Syndrome spreads through the Democratic side of the aisle faster than a cold. The Democrats were hoping to kick Bush while he was down, but found themselves once again in a position of weakness as the Republican base closed around Alito and the Fitzgerald investigation failed to bring down the Bush Administration. So now the Democrats are petulantly demanding that there be an “investigation” to justify their idiotic assertion that Bush “lied” about Iraq, and they were too sheeplike and stupid to question it.
The Democrats have nothing else to fall back upon but trying to refight the battles of 2002. They have no agenda for anything else. Furthermore, by doing so, it gives the GOP the perfect counter - the Democrats saw the same intelligence as the White House. They came to the same conclusion. So if Bush is a liar, so are they. It’s not an argument they can win, and this kind of idiotic theatrical stunt is only going to make themselves look bad.
The Democrats just don’t have a clue. The Republicans should thank God they have such an idiotic opposition, or they’d be sunk. Just when Bush’s fortunes appeared to be running on empty, the Democrats come up with a sure-fire way of once again making them the party of weakness and petulance. They’ve even managed to get Bill Frist hopping mad, and that’s quite an achievement. This stunt will light a fire under the Republican base, alienate moderate voters who want solutions to today’s problems, and appeal to the radical MoveOn wing of the party that provides lots of fundraising at the expense of alienating everyone who isn’t a spittle-flecked partisan.
Meanwhile, the GOP has an excellent Supreme Court nominee with a stellar judicial record, a tax reform plan that would significant reduce regulatory burdens and increase GDP growth while eliminating the Alternative Minimum Tax and mortgage exemptions on homes over $1,000,000, and an agenda that looks forwards, not behind.
The Democrats are emulating the failed tactics of the 1998 GOP - which only proves that those who fail to learn from history are damned to repeat it - although it couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch…
UPDATE: The Bull Moose blog has some more thoughts on the Democrat’s anti-war positioning:
Will the American people have faith in and trust a party that claims that it was gullibly duped, or as George Romney claimed about another war - that it was “brainwashed.”? Moreover, should the objective be re-fighting the reasons to go to war and making the Democrats the official anti-war party or should the goal be achieving reasonable success in Iraq? If you believe in the former than you would encourage more efforts like the one Senate Democrats undertook yesterday. If you believe in the latter, you want the opposition party to present a better plan for winning this war.
While the war is increasingly unpopular, the Democrats should be careful that they are positioning themselves as a party that is gullible, feckless and indecisive on national security. It may provide immense partisan satisfaction to flummox the Republicans on a procedural maneuver, but beware of the long-term impact on the party which already suffers from a perception of being weak on national security.