Posted on 03/05/2005 8:08:22 AM PST by Beckwith
Sydney Blumenthal, the Clinton’s attack ferret, writes in Slate, "The coming defeat of President Bush on Social Security will be the defining moment in domestic policy and politics for his second term and for the future of the Republican Party. It will be a central, clarifying event because Bush alone chose to make this fight."
Blumenthal continues, "Bush's political advisor, Karl Rove, had forecast a fundamental realignment that would establish Republican dominance, but Bush's desperate political position required a series of tactics of character assassination against the Democratic candidate and culture war gambits on gay marriage, atmospherically organized around the fear factor of Sept. 11. The outcome was a strategic victory but not a structural one, and Bush's campaign further polarized the country."
"In the chasm between his meager win and his grandiose ambition, Bush might have decided to form a government containing some moderate Republican and Democratic Cabinet members, claiming that the gravity of foreign crisis demanded national unity. But the thought never occurred to him. Instead, he bulled ahead in the hope of realizing the realignment that eluded him in the election."
Sydney warns of disaster. "But, most important, it would unravel the fact and idea of government insurance programs providing for the needs of the people as a whole. Once Social Security was cut into pieces, the Democrats would be left defensively representing the least politically powerful and most vulnerable -- literally the lame and the halt, the poor single mothers ("welfare queens") and minorities. The Democrats would be drawn and quartered on the wheel of broken entitlements."
He then makes his prediction. "Bush's impending defeat on Social Security is no minor affair. He has made this the centerpiece of domestic policy of his second term. It is the decades-long culmination of the conservative wing's hostility against Social Security and the Democratic Party. Projecting images of Roosevelt and Kennedy cannot distract from Bush's intent to undermine the accomplishments of Democratic presidents. The repudiation of Bush on Social Security will be fundamental and profound and will shake the foundations of conservative Republicanism. Bush's agony is only beginning, if the Democrats in the Senate can maintain their discipline."
link: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/030305D.shtml
Sydney spends 2,000 words of soaring rhetoric, Democratic platitudes and wishful thinking to attack President Bush's attempt to fix the Social Security System. He predicts the Democrats will defeat the Social Security System overhaul. He doesn’t mention that the Democrats have no counterproposal or ideas of their own, just no, do nothing. However, Blumenthal's ending sentence tells the story, "... if Democrats in the Senate can maintain their discipline."
Blumenthal claims that Bush won the 2004 election with the smallest margin of any incumbent president in American history. He neglects to mention the Republican victories in the Senate and House, where the Social Security battle will be fought. He laments that Bush won’t include Democrats in his cabinet.
Blumenthal whines that Kerry's character was assassinated and the gays were picked on. How does one assassinate the character of a person who has no character? How screwed up is Sam and Charlie getting married? Bush won because the American People trusted him more than they trusted Mr. Flip-Flop. Even leading Democrats have pointed the finger at the miserable candidate that was John Kerry, who has yet to sign the Standard Form 180 as he promised Tim Russert a month ago on Meet the Press.
Barbara Boxer isn't disciplined. She's a whiner and hysteric, prone to emotional outbursts. Harry Reid is a passive-aggressive wimp who gets upset when he's challenged and pleads "no mas." With leaders such as this, how will they maintain their discipline. The Democrats have simply become the "just say no party."
What I really want to know from Sydney is if he has stopped beating his wife?
Should this plan be defeated, the Democrats are the ones who will suffer because they will be seen as obstructionist and naysayers who stopped a plan without offering a plan of their own. How quickly they forget that John Kerry's lack of a plan on anything was one of the torpedos that sank his [swift] boat.
Ah, yes. Sidney Blumenthal, mob attorney. Let us hope that some day he enjoys the prison cell he deserves.
Just like they predicted tens of thousands of body bags coming back from Iraq, bla, bla, bla
...morons
The last question of the essay is along the lines of, "when did you quit beating your wife?" (I forget the lawyer latin for this type of question). Anyway, the correct answer to that question is, "I've never beaten my wife." I've used that before and, boy, does it shut the interrogator up.
Whoa, Tex. Before you get all sanctimonious and on your high horse, we've lost 1500 soldiers, Marines, airmen and sailors to this war.
It's pretty evident that you've never worn a uniform or had to write a letter home to a next of kin.
BTW ... there will be a fix offered and it will pass.
AARP, and the "greatest generation" be damned.
Syndney Bluming Idiot
Thydneys twisted thought process left me convinced that he is terrified by strong decisive men.
"Should this plan be defeated, the Democrats are the ones who will suffer because they will be seen as obstructionist and naysayers who stopped a plan without offering a plan of their own."
I agree. If the personalization of SS accounts doesn't happen it's only a matter of time before our kids are screwed so badly that even those who have benefited from the dumbing down of our school systems will figure out who screwed them. It may take a while, but in the end the democrats will pay for adding to the misery. It just makes me mad that my kids will be forced to live through higher taxes, poor economy, and the end of life as Americans knew it.
W hasn't lost the issue yet. Funny how they keep writing him off but yet he keeps kicking their arses.
1,142 died as a result of hostile action.
The British have reported 86 deaths; Italy, 20; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 17; Spain, 11; Bulgaria, 7; Slovakia, 3; Estonia, Thailand and the Netherlands, 2 each; and Denmark, El Salvador, Hungary, Latvia and Kazakhstan 1 death each.
Unreported is the total number of Iraqi police and National Guard casualties, probably even higher.
Apples and oranges. If the DC figure was 1000 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty there would be a tenuous connection.
Your simplistic rationalization astounds me.
The outcome was a strategic victory but not a structural one
It seems structural to me given Republican gains in both 2002 & 2004. It feels like a majority biding its time until terms expire so they can throw the bums out.
Angel,
I've worn the uniform and my son is currently in the military, and while 1500 deaths are very regretable, did you forget 9-11? This country is in a war, not of our own making. Let's not get into whether the sadman was operational in 9-11, or merely complicit. Besides, this article was about kidney blommer and social security {and the left did predict [and rooted for] 10's of thousands of body bags}. The majority on the left is anti-American, is not patriotic and should be tried for treason, convicted and shot. I volunteer either for execution duty or burial duty {I'm too biased/honest to be a judge or the member of the jury}.
No, as a matter of fact I haven't, but what I seem to remember, and what a lot of folks are selective about, is that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals, OBL is a Saudi national, there was zero connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda (the President said this), and the House of Saud is still supporting the hate schools that are indoctrinating young Saudis to kill the infidels (us). In other words, we not only made mistakes in regards to the intelligence, but we even attacked the wrong country.
And you write like a fricken idiot. I point out facts, you ad hominen attack. Smart move, keyboard warrior.
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