By - Laura Ingraham
Thank God for C-Span. For two days it broadcast the speeches by Democratic
presidential hopefuls attending their party's winter meeting, and for two
days we were reminded why the Dems keep losing elections. They claimed to
speak up for "the regular people," but it became clear that their "regular
people" are more like George Clooney than Ward Cleaver.
Some highlights from the candidates:
Dick Gephardt reached back to the 2000 recount to rally the crowd: "George
Bush is not gonna be easy to beat. This is a guy who came in second in the
election and still figured out how to get in the Oval Office."
Former Senator Carol-Mosely Braun, who avoided prison a few years back,
wowed the crowd with: "Duct tape is no substitute for diplomacy!" When she
was asked what her college major had been, she responded haltingly, "Uh.I
think history.but I'll get back to you on that." (nervous laughter)
Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, proud leftist, is an early media-darling: "What
I want to know is why in the world the Democratic Party is supporting the
president's unilateral attack on Iraq?" Can someone please tell the
Democrats that the prefix "uni-" means one. We have dozens of nations
supporting us in any war against Saddam.
Dennis Kucinich, full-time Ohio Congressman and part-time ventriloquist,
tried to out-do Gov. Dean, stage left. He condemned the prospect of a war
"initiated by our own government against a nation which did not attack
us." At one point he sounded like he was speaking for the Iraqi Ministry
of Information: "Iraq was not responsible for the anthrax attack on our
nation. Iraq does not have the technology to strike at this nation. Iraq
does not have nuclear weapons." Call Al Jazeera!
Al Sharpton, part-time reverend, full-time racial provocateur, was not
content to take swipes at Bush, he took on the Supremes too: "[Bush] is
the ultimate beneficiary of a set-aside program. The Supreme Court
set-aside a whole election for him." Actually a pretty funny line, but
wouldn't it be grand if Sharpton lavished such vitriol on Saddam?
But perhaps the most disturbing speech was that given by so-called
Demohawk Sen. Joe Lieberman. Lieberman fell all over himself to explain
how you can be for a war against Saddam in Iraq and still wage war against
Bush at home: "By pulling out of the Kyoto global warming treaty, arms
control treaties and other international pacts, and by issuing an
unnecessary and divisive policy of military pre-emption, George W. Bush
has separated us from most of the rest of the world and weakened our
alliances just at the time when we need them more than ever." Translation:
If America becomes as liberal as France and Germany on issues unrelated to
Iraq, France and Germany will help us in Iraq.
Strip away the Democratic rhetoric, and what you'll find is the core
belief that America should really stop acting like a super power. The
Democrats believe the best way to protect against terrorist attacks is to
act less like a dominant force and more like a domesticated global
partner. This essentially requires that we sign on to treaties such as the
one creating the International Criminal Court, or remain bound by accords
like the ABM treaty, regardless of whether they are in our national
interest.
Why stop there? Let the Europeans dictate our tax policy as well. In
recent days the heads of the European Central Bank and euro-zone finance
ministers have expressed "deep skepticism" about President Bush's tax cut
plan. Whether the issue is tax policy, gun control, health care, abortion,
the environment, or the death penalty, Democrats are more in sync with
Europe than America.
Memo to the Democratic presidential field: Europeans don't vote in
American elections. At least not yet.
E-Blast Extra: (New York, NY) Not only did Sunday's Grammy Awards not turn
into a 3- hour commercial for the anti-Bush/Blair/take-out Saddam crowd,
the few brief attempts to inject politics into the evening triggered no
spontaneous outburst of cheers. Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit lived up to his
group's name when he said: "I think we're all in agreeance (sic) that this
war needs to be stopped." Good news: I wasn't the only one groaning in the
first 10 rows.
WORD OF THE WEEK
Pusillanimous, adj. Lacking courage or cowardly.
The pusillanimous attitudes of the French in standing up to terror will
eventually come back to haunt them.
Thank God for C-Span. For two days it broadcast the speeches by Democratic
presidential hopefuls attending their party's winter meeting, and for two
days we were reminded why the Dems keep losing elections. They claimed to
speak up for "the regular people," but it became clear that their "regular
people" are more like George Clooney than Ward Cleaver.
Some highlights from the candidates:
Dick Gephardt reached back to the 2000 recount to rally the crowd: "George
Bush is not gonna be easy to beat. This is a guy who came in second in the
election and still figured out how to get in the Oval Office."
Former Senator Carol-Mosely Braun, who avoided prison a few years back,
wowed the crowd with: "Duct tape is no substitute for diplomacy!" When she
was asked what her college major had been, she responded haltingly, "Uh.I
think history.but I'll get back to you on that." (nervous laughter)
Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, proud leftist, is an early media-darling: "What
I want to know is why in the world the Democratic Party is supporting the
president's unilateral attack on Iraq?" Can someone please tell the
Democrats that the prefix "uni-" means one. We have dozens of nations
supporting us in any war against Saddam.
Dennis Kucinich, full-time Ohio Congressman and part-time ventriloquist,
tried to out-do Gov. Dean, stage left. He condemned the prospect of a war
"initiated by our own government against a nation which did not attack
us." At one point he sounded like he was speaking for the Iraqi Ministry
of Information: "Iraq was not responsible for the anthrax attack on our
nation. Iraq does not have the technology to strike at this nation. Iraq
does not have nuclear weapons." Call Al Jazeera!
Al Sharpton, part-time reverend, full-time racial provocateur, was not
content to take swipes at Bush, he took on the Supremes too: "[Bush] is
the ultimate beneficiary of a set-aside program. The Supreme Court
set-aside a whole election for him." Actually a pretty funny line, but
wouldn't it be grand if Sharpton lavished such vitriol on Saddam?
But perhaps the most disturbing speech was that given by so-called
Demohawk Sen. Joe Lieberman. Lieberman fell all over himself to explain
how you can be for a war against Saddam in Iraq and still wage war against
Bush at home: "By pulling out of the Kyoto global warming treaty, arms
control treaties and other international pacts, and by issuing an
unnecessary and divisive policy of military pre-emption, George W. Bush
has separated us from most of the rest of the world and weakened our
alliances just at the time when we need them more than ever." Translation:
If America becomes as liberal as France and Germany on issues unrelated to
Iraq, France and Germany will help us in Iraq.
Strip away the Democratic rhetoric, and what you'll find is the core
belief that America should really stop acting like a super power. The
Democrats believe the best way to protect against terrorist attacks is to
act less like a dominant force and more like a domesticated global
partner. This essentially requires that we sign on to treaties such as the
one creating the International Criminal Court, or remain bound by accords
like the ABM treaty, regardless of whether they are in our national
interest.
Why stop there? Let the Europeans dictate our tax policy as well. In
recent days the heads of the European Central Bank and euro-zone finance
ministers have expressed "deep skepticism" about President Bush's tax cut
plan. Whether the issue is tax policy, gun control, health care, abortion,
the environment, or the death penalty, Democrats are more in sync with
Europe than America.
Memo to the Democratic presidential field: Europeans don't vote in
American elections. At least not yet.
E-Blast Extra: (New York, NY) Not only did Sunday's Grammy Awards not turn
into a 3- hour commercial for the anti-Bush/Blair/take-out Saddam crowd,
the few brief attempts to inject politics into the evening triggered no
spontaneous outburst of cheers. Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit lived up to his
group's name when he said: "I think we're all in agreeance (sic) that this
war needs to be stopped." Good news: I wasn't the only one groaning in the
first 10 rows.
WORD OF THE WEEK
Pusillanimous, adj. Lacking courage or cowardly.
The pusillanimous attitudes of the French in standing up to terror will
eventually come back to haunt them.
