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"They'll Do Anything: Why DEmocrats and the media think they're entitled...
The Weekly Standard ^ | November 1, 2004 | Fred Barnes

Posted on 11/01/2004 5:52:24 AM PST by Salty Cobra

They'll Do Anything Why Democrats and the media think they're entitled to do whatever it takes to win this election.

THE SCARIEST THING about this election is not the prospect of a contested outcome with no winner declared for weeks, just as in 2000. No, the most scary thing is the sense of entitlement that many Democrats and their allies have about tomorrow's election. It goes like this: Bush stole the presidency four years ago, then proceeded to act as if he had a mandate, so now we're entitled to do whatever it takes to defeat him, to say whatever we want.

You see it in the bumper stickers that call for the "re-defeat" of President Bush. You see it in the destruction of Bush yard signs and posters all across the country. You see it in the harassment, at least in blue states, of anyone wearing a Bush pin or button. You see it in the hatred of Bush by his opponents, who think they're only venting righteous indignation.

You see it in the religious bigotry against the president, a born-again Christian, and against his conservative Christian supporters. Without any evidence, Bush's opponents accuse him of believing that he has a direct line to God and that God gives him instructions, such as when to invade Iraq, and that any criticism of him is illegitimate. You see the bigotry as well in the belittling of Christians who support Bush as if their political views have no standing or worth because they may have been influenced by their religious faith.

You see it in the now exposed plans of Democrats to claim intimidation of minority voters even if no intimidation actually occurs. You see it in the voter registration efforts by Democrats that have made the number of people on the voting rolls in some jurisdictions larger than the voting age population. You see it in the plans of Democratic lawyers to file lawsuits all over the country, challenging the outcome unless Bush is defeated.

You see that same sense of entitlement in elements of the national media--especially CBS News--who jettison the normal rules of journalism when Bush is the target. CBS not only rushed out with forged documents to torpedo the Bush campaign in September, the network intended to take another bite at Bush two days before the election by airing a dubious story about stolen explosives in Iraq. Would CBS have dared to do this against any other public figure but Bush? No.

And you see it in the victimization that is claimed for John Kerry. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth? Anything they say about Kerry is automatically a smear and thus doesn't have to be examined or even considered. And Kerry has no obligation to answer questions about his Vietnam experience, though he's played it up in the campaign. Bush's record in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam war, however, is fair game.

And you see the feeling of entitlement in comments by the Democratic candidates and their backers, who seem to feel they're free to say anything they want about Bush and Vice President Cheney. So we get the targeting of Mary Cheney as a lesbian and the criticism of Laura Bush for having worked in jobs that weren't real jobs. And when anyone accuses Democrats of debasing the campaign, the answer is always: it's Bush's fault. Bush is hardly without fault, but the shabby style and substance of this campaign is the fault of his opponents.

Fred Barnes is executive editor of The Weekly Standard.


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS:
This election has corrupted the Democratic electorate process that our country was founded on which has allowed it to grow to be the leader of the free World. God help us if Kerry is allowed to steal this election witht help of the liberal main-stream-media. It is unbelievable that the younger generations do not remember or very likely were never taught in our messed up schools of the result of media censorship under the terrible reign of Adolph Hitler. Also, the young and old seemed to have forgotten that trying to pacify evil does not work!
1 posted on 11/01/2004 5:52:25 AM PST by Salty Cobra
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To: Salty Cobra
Their sense of entitlement is older than this election. After all, if you throw T Bone steaks at the tiger, do honestly think he will go away? NOT...
2 posted on 11/01/2004 5:56:37 AM PST by SMARTY ('Stay together, pay the soldiers, forget everything else." Lucius Septimus Severus, to his sons)
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To: Salty Cobra

I have a Treo 600 PDA and it freezes on Free Republic just started two days ago. It does not freeze on any other sites. Any ideas. Sorry to be off topic but this is a critical time to stay connected!


3 posted on 11/01/2004 6:00:10 AM PST by Blacksheep
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To: SMARTY

We have a constitutional crisis with our media. They now have no desire to even hide or deny their loyalty to any liberal/socialist candidate. They will create news, fraudulent news at that, forge documents, run stories completly false that, if were true, would embarass their opponent.

We have a crisis and it's apparant that much of America just doesnt' care that major media outlets, capable of reaching hundreds of million people would do such a thing.

If that is considered "progress" or "progressive" then I am very afraid for our country.


4 posted on 11/01/2004 6:03:27 AM PST by Illinois Rep
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To: Salty Cobra

This is how the Dems now work - use false allegations that their opposition cheated to justify their voter fraud.

While ignoring SCOTUS's 7-2 ruling that Al Gore's recount scheme violated the Constitution.


5 posted on 11/01/2004 6:06:42 AM PST by Fenris6 (3 Purple Hearts in 4 months w/o missing a day of work? He's either John Rambo or a Fraud)
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To: Salty Cobra

If Kerry prevails in this election because of the influence of the "Blue" states, it may be time for the rest of us to consider another Secession movement! Seriously! No foolin'!


6 posted on 11/01/2004 6:12:29 AM PST by bowzer313
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To: Salty Cobra

This mornings local news reports featured a couple and their five children who were waving kerry/edwards signs over the washington beltway during rush hour on friday. Caused a FIVE MILE BACKUP!!

When the police came to do something about the problem this couple started complaining and resisting. They ended up arrested for disorderly conduct and I believe disrupting traffic.


7 posted on 11/01/2004 6:13:38 AM PST by Samurai_Jack (I pray that Im wrong about alot of things.)
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To: Samurai_Jack

these fools thought they were entitled to some senate seats a bunch of house seats and a certian govenorship in florida in 2002......

see what that got them.


8 posted on 11/01/2004 6:17:58 AM PST by jneesy (certified southern right wing hillbilly nutjob)
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To: Salty Cobra
The shabby style and substance of this campaign is the fault of [Bush's] opponents. -Fred Barnes

You go, Fred! This excellent piece will reach a lot of people.

9 posted on 11/01/2004 6:26:56 AM PST by NutCrackerBoy
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To: Salty Cobra
No, the most scary thing is the sense of entitlement that many Democrats and their allies have about tomorrow's election. It goes like this: Bush stole the presidency four years ago, then proceeded to act as if he had a mandate, so now we're entitled to do whatever it takes to defeat him, to say whatever we want.

A scarier thing to me is that half of my fellow citizens are prepared to give the presidency to a lying appeaser with no core values who would subordinate our national sovereignty to a world government if given half a chance. A scarier thing is that half my fellow citizens are prepared to elect a man who will nominate more "progressive" judges to add to those who are busily undermining the foundations of our society and our republic. A scarier thing is that half my fellow citizens don't understand the moral or intellectual rot behind liberalism and are prepared to elect the most liberal man to ever be nominated for the presidency by one of the two major parties. A scarier thing is that half my fellow citizens are so fat and stupid that they believe they live in economic "hard times" when they really live in a material abundance far beyond anything ever seen in the history of the world. A scarier thing is that half my fellow citizens are prepared to vote their fat "pocket books" while ignoring an enemy sworn to destroy us who is standing at our very gates. A scarier thing to me is that there is a 50-50 chance I may wake up on Wednesday morning in a country where those who have their priorities straight, who are willing to sacrifice temporary comforts for the survival of the the country, and who understand there is a price to be paid for freedom will be in the minority.

10 posted on 11/01/2004 6:32:25 AM PST by Semi Civil Servant (November 2, 2004: I'm suspicious of the timing of this election.)
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To: Salty Cobra

This election has corrupted the Democratic electorate process that our country was founded on which has allowed it to grow to be the leader of the free World.
______________________________________________________

Sorry the Dim party went off the trackes in 1992 when Bill Clinton repeated a lie over and over about the worst economy in the last 50 years and won. The Dims then two years later lost both House of Congress and from that point on, lying became acceptable political discourse for all Dims.

On a parallel track, the old leftist reporters of the 1970s and 1980s became editors and hired only leftist reporters as diversity became skin color and sex not thought. Thus the Dims are no longer vetted by the MSM and we are in the sad state we are in today.


11 posted on 11/01/2004 6:35:39 AM PST by JLS
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To: Salty Cobra

An entitlement is completely of socialist doctrine.
Socialists recruit "victims" for their cause. But the socialist doctrine is the creator of many of the same "victims" it claims to represent.

Same goes for the election process. The "victimized party" is entitled to be declared the winner this time because it was "unjustly disenfranchised" is the 2000 election.
Anything that can be done to enhance the chance that the "victims" (Democrats) will be compensated fairly will be initiated. If it takes fraud and intimidation, lawyers and supression of facts regarding their candidate Kerry, so be it.

Friends, we are witnessing a major push for a socialist agenda in America by the left. I cannot believe so many good people have been factually blinded by the "social" facade of the socialist Democrat party.


12 posted on 11/01/2004 6:40:30 AM PST by o_zarkman44
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To: Blacksheep

try decreasing the number of articles you view.

my pda is working fine.


13 posted on 11/01/2004 6:44:01 AM PST by papertyger
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To: Semi Civil Servant

Your comments are right on the money - which is actually what drives the current situation! When our country is run by legislators elected by people who don't pay their share of the freight - what do you expect. When 50% of the people pay only 5% of the taxes - yet still have a vote that counts the same as that ever-shrinking minority that pays the vast majority of the bill - of course bad things will happen in elections. We need to correct the tax system or we will surely see our country become a third-world socialist state.


14 posted on 11/01/2004 6:50:42 AM PST by USMA '71
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To: Salty Cobra
Remember the leftist mantra:


"The END justifies The MEANS!"


They will literally do ANYTHING to regain power, and I will not elaborate further. God Bless America and George Bush...!

15 posted on 11/01/2004 7:05:29 AM PST by Dubh_Ghlase ("Every man dies, but not every man truly lives...." Braveheart)
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To: Illinois Rep
The lengths to which the media and special interest groups have pushed the right to 'freedom of speech' represent what has been called 'hyper-democracy'. I think Ortega y Gasset described it best. The 'masses', out of all proportion to the merits of their program or their actual head count, have pushed their agenda and their revolt has displaced/is displacing the legimitate concerns of the actual majority in this country and which attempts to maintain and progress in the traditional and legimitate way.
16 posted on 11/01/2004 7:08:27 AM PST by SMARTY ('Stay together, pay the soldiers, forget everything else." Lucius Septimus Severus, to his sons)
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To: Salty Cobra
...You see that same sense of entitlement in elements of the national media--especially CBS News--who jettison the normal rules of journalism when Bush is the target...

Agreed. And the same national media now claims they "gave Bush a free ride" in the run-up to war in Iraq and now try to make up for it by painting the Bush administration in a negative light by default. Reference the NY Times "apology" for their pre-war coverage.

Then to make matters worse, this same national media has given Sen. Kerry virtually a free pass on his questionable Vietnam service or 20-year voting record. If Sen. Kerry is elected (sic) and a thourough examination of his record is known, I suspect many of his supporters will feel a sense of remorse. Will the partisan national media issue yet another apology, or will they clean up their mess by insisting on fair and balanced political coverage?

One of the biggest threats to our freedom and democracy is "the media-political" complex".

17 posted on 11/01/2004 7:16:10 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer (The democRATS are near the tipping point.)
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To: dbehsman

Ping to myself!


18 posted on 11/02/2004 4:06:26 PM PST by dbehsman (NRA Life member and loving every minute of it!)
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To: Salty Cobra

Why couldn't this article have been published months ago so every naive person out there can see how biased the MSM.
Amen to this article.


19 posted on 11/02/2004 4:17:43 PM PST by katdawg
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