Posted on 12/28/2005 9:20:44 PM PST by smoothsailing
Dingy Democrats
By R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.
Published 12/29/2005 12:08:26 AM
WASHINGTON -- 'Tis the end of 2005 and time to look back. In politics what do I see? Well, I see the Republican Party struggling against high seas. In the media the party is depicted as being in danger of losing to the Democrats in the off-year elections next fall. That probably will be the case, unless the Republicans have to run against the Democrats. Against the Democrats they could win with Warren Harding in the White House.
The reason for this is that the Democratic leadership is fractured and dominated by people who are hysterical, abusive, and oblivious. The things they have called George W. Bush this past year are as excessive as anything Joe McCarthy ever called his opponents, but without the charm or for that matter the factual basis. Not only that, but they are feeding on their own. They have now made Senator Joe Lieberman controversial and among the Democrats' left-wingers, objectionable.
His transgression is to treat a war as a serious matter and demur from criticizing the government in a way that might encourage our enemies. He is also consistent. As a Democrat he has stood by the principles outlined by Harry Truman in the Truman Doctrine. In sum: "I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures." President Truman enunciated that principle before a joint session of Congress on March 12, 1947, after which he defied the last of America's isolationists and sought appropriations to take up the position of faltering Great Britain in Greece and Turkey.
When Truman announced this policy there were opponents in the Republican Party who rolled out a critique that was complex, as analytical as the critiques of the present policy excogitated by the Democratic leadership, and as wrong. The Republican isolationists were a vanishing breed, and the more I read about them the more I am reminded of the present Democratic leadership. They have the same abusive style and the same obliviousness. Dr. Howard Dean, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and the delightful Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid sound like partisans who have never met anyone who was not just like them. When Senator Reid was hooted at for bragging "We killed the Patriot Act," I wonder if he was surprised. Doubtless he did not even hear his critics, or if he did he dismissed them as being hellish Republicans.
The death this year of the long-time Democratic activist Penn Kemble reminds me that among Democrats there is an alternative to these provincials. Kemble, who died of cancer at age 64, began his political life as a civil rights demonstrator. On his deathbed I saw him listening to a tape of Negro spirituals being sung by Bayard Rustin, a black civil rights leader who like Penn, who was white, never lost his faith in America or in its essential goodness. Kemble was an ardent believer in the labor movement, but from all I could tell was open to technological developments that might increase the productivity of workers. Convinced of the imperative of America's Democratic values, Kemble favored the use of American strength in the world. Where he might have disagreed with the President he was always measured and restrained. And there were limits to his partisanship. In the three decades that I socialized with him and played handball, I am sure that we disagreed on things but we never had an argument. I walked away from his presence understanding his position and he walked away understanding mine. We never doubted each other's good motives. I can tell you this sort of comity is very rare on Capitol Hill. The last time I was there I frankly was amazed by the lack of trust and respect on both sides.
I think what is at the heart of the Democratic leadership's rants and partisanship is a refusal to admit the opposition's good motives. Second there is a refusal to understand the opposition's policies. As the Republicans' policies, both domestic and in foreign policy, are adaptions to the way the world is, that leaves the Democratic leadership in denial of the way the world is. It is this denial that will ensure the party's continued decline. The Democrats do have an alternative.
Joe Lieberman is from the same wing of the party as Penn Kemble, and he is equally civilized. My guess is that the Democratic rank and file will in the years ahead side with Lieberman. That is the intelligent future for the party and there are still plenty of intelligent Democrats. It is just that they are not numbered with the likes of Harry Reid.
R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. is the founder and editor in chief of The American Spectator, a contributing editor to the New York Sun, and an adjunct scholar at the Hudson Institute. His latest book is Madame Hillary: The Dark Road to the White House (Regnery Publishing).
bump!
I don't know much about the author. He sounds like a democrat mourning the death of sanity in his own party. Am I right?
If that second to last veep of FDR's, Wallace, had ever taken office, this could easily be a communist country today.
He's right about Lieberman; I wouldn't vote for him, but he's an honest, well-meaning opponent, instead of the harridans, kooks and Clintons that have overrun the Left like a malignant tumor.
OK, He's a conservative mourning the loss of sanity in the democratic party. Am I right now?
If he ever was a Democrat, it was probably back around the time Ronald Reagan was one.
To quote Euripides: "Those whom God wishes to destroy, he first makes mad."
That way at least,assuming that the Republican nominee was also strong on national defense,regardless of who won, America's security would be safe.
LOL
I don't really think that this guy is "mourning" any of the dims' self-imposed problems. Rather, I believe that he revels in them. He celebrates the idiocity of the opposition "leadership".
I don't know either, but this former Democrat does miss the sanity. I couldn't remain there. The Democrat party has been completely taken over by socialist idiot cry-babies. I am appalled, really. Democrat presidents of late seem to be interested only in thier popularity, their legacy, or their own lust for power. Just take Truman and FDR for example. Whether you agreed with them or not, do you think FDR would have made certain technologies available to communist China to help them "compete" on the world stage for some contributions to his campaign fund? Do you think Truman would have given up a canal which was in our control (and vital to our security) to communists? Which of them would have said that Castro is a nice guy, and that the U.S. is just a bully? Would FDR have allowed American citizens to be held hostage in Iran for A YEAR? Which of them would have allowed this nation to be attacked over and over again without hitting back hard? Most Democrats were patriots, and most of those have either left the Democrat party or passed on to a better world. There are some die hards who hang on in confusion because they are too stubborn to admit the party has gone terribly wrong. Then there are those of us who saw we had to now fight against that once good and decent party. I do mourn the death of sanity in the Democrat party. At least when it came to national defense, when the nation was under attack as it is now, the 2 parties could work together for the good of the country. Those days are gone.
bttt
Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. is a mainstay of the Republican party and conservatives. He is hardly a Democrat but I can certainly understand the need to mourn because I know exactly what he is talking about as we most do. The core leadership of the current Democratic party are leading the party like a group of crazed villagers rather than a political party that once dominated American politics. The Democratic party as it is today is positioned for more losses in 2006 and when they do lose yet again they will write homilies about how they just aren't getting their message out and then craft ways to convince (deceive) the public into voting for them.
Tyrrell is also right about the lack of civility in political discourse. It has become more and more difficult to have a reasoned conversation with any Democrat let alone one who is a "true believer". It is especially difficult when so many Democrats have become so traitorous in their rhetoric. So few are the Liebermans and the Hitchens, who though without a doubt are liberals, are not confused as to where the true enemies of Democracy and freedom lie. It is hard to fathom how a party that claims to hold as a central value the standing up for liberty and the little people (maybe they really mean leprechauns?) can so quickly alley themselves in defense of dictators and tyrants. This contradiction alone is what will doom them and rightfully doomed they should be.
I think the Loony Left in the Democrat Party is there for a purpose, a purpose in addition to their leftist ambitions. I think Howard Dean and the Democrat leadership in Congress are just foils for Hillary. They are the left wing fringe who allow her to triangulate with what she calls, and mischaracterises, as the ring wing fringe, the Christians. It is all part of her political plan to dupe the "moderates" into thinking she is in the middle of the political spectrum.
Check the link under the story's heading, passionfruit.
Robert Emmett Tyrell is the editor of and constant contributor to "The American Spectator" magazine.
A staunchly conservative publication that takes great pleasure in exposing and lampooning Democrats, Liberals and Lower Tier MoonBats.
He is also the director of The Media Research Center. Which also enjoys skewering the Media and their celebs, stories and topics du jour.
Jack.
"I don't know much about the author. He sounds like a democrat mourning the death of sanity in his own party. Am I right?"
Naw, Emmet is to the right of Buckley, his protoge in a sense until American Spectator got creamed by lawsuits.
[The Democrats do have an alternative]
Yes they do, it is for their cold rusted tickers to stop since their cerebral matter has calcified and no longer salvagable.
I disagree. Lieberman is an opportunist. The so called "conscience of the Senate" doesn't take a firm stand on anything. He was against Hollywood, until he was Gore's running mate, he turned on a dime. He is for the Iraq war but the abuse he took made him vote against the Patriot Act and appear on tv in full Democrat mode. I wouldn't trust him at all.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.