Posted on 10/31/2006 8:57:29 AM PST by MNJohnnie
The Choice
By The Editors of National Review Online
One Republican line of attack against Democrats has been, in the recent words of Majority Leader John Boehner, “The Democrats have no agenda and are hoping no one will notice.” If only it were true. The Democrats’ message in this campaign may boil down to “We’re not Republicans,” but in fact the congressional minority has fought for a far-ranging agenda in vote after vote during recent sessions. It’s time people took notice. If Democrats decide in the closing days of the campaign to run on their records, here’s a catchy slogan they could use: Tough on Taxpayers, Soft on Terrorism. A majority of House Democrats have opposed every measure President Bush has requested to fight the War on Terror, including the Patriot Act, terrorist-interrogation and military-tribunal procedures, and the NSA terrorist-surveillance program. Forty-two Senate Democrats were willing to filibuster an extension of Patriot Act provisions as they were about to expire, and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid briefly boasted of “killing” the act.
On Iraq, a big Democratic victory would be a blow to the war. Democrats probably wouldn’t attempt to cut off funding for it, but their victory would undoubtedly strengthen the forces who want to declare Iraq a defeat and come home. Partisan oversight hearings will politicize every military miscalculation, every dime misspent, and every abuse by our allies (real or imagined). The effect will be to sap what public support remains for seeing the job done in Iraq. The doomsday clock on our commitment in Iraq will have lurched a few minutes closer to midnight.
Congressional Democrats oppose tax relief for families and businesses and the elimination of the death tax. They support amnesty for ten million illegal aliens and an additional influx of 30 million immigrants, most of them poorly educated and disproportionately likely to require public assistance. If the Democrats get a majority, forget funding for a border fence.
Some disaffected conservatives appear to believe that next week’s elections will determine who controls Congress only for the next two years. But the only reason the outcome of these elections is in doubt, given the public’s sour mood this year, is the power of incumbency. If Democrats take Congress, they will benefit from that power next time around. The last time Democrats captured the House, they held it for 40 years. A Republican president can prevent some legislation from becoming law, to be sure; but certain acts and failures to act can’t be so easily nullified or undone.
Democratic attempts to raise tax rates on income and dividends would likely earn a presidential veto, but Democrats intend to restore “pay-as-you-go” budget rules that make it extremely difficult to reduce taxes and that will be extremely difficult to undo should Republicans battle their way back to a congressional majority. And the tax breaks that President Bush and the Republican Congress delivered are set to expire in 2010, when the Democratic majority still might not have expired.
Important provisions of the Patriot Act will expire in 2009. And new issues that we cannot foresee with total clarity are sure to arise. What happens if a court, in a spasm of activism, strikes down the terrorist-surveillance program? Congressional Democrats mostly opposed attempts by Sen. Arlen Specter and Rep. Heather Wilson, both moderate Republicans, to craft a compromise on the issue. If they run Congress at such a moment, the program will end. Or perhaps another leak of sensitive information will give the Democratic Congress an opportunity to flex its muscles on national security.
The likelihood of bad judicial decisions in the future would, meanwhile, increase. Senate Democrats began their unprecedented campaign of filibusters against judicial nominees after they lost seats in 2002. Imagine how obstructive they will be when they have actually won some. They will no longer be restrained by the threat of a “nuclear option,” since Republicans will not have the votes to choose it. Don’t be surprised if qualified conservative jurists decline the opportunity to be nominated.
The Senate elections will help determine whether the Supreme Court gets a fifth conservative justice. Forty Senate Democrats voted against Justice Samuel Alito. And lifetime appointments to lower federal courts shape the judiciary for a generation. Only a Republican Senate will give President Bush that opportunity over the next two years.
Some conservatives content themselves with “silver linings” of a Republican defeat. We think that the consolations of defeat should be sought only after every effort has been made to avoid having to find them. They are, after all, much more speculative than the likelihood that a Democratic Congress will make this a more liberal country.
Conservatives have had plenty of cause to complain that “Republicans don’t deserve reelection this year.” But desert has nothing to do with it. This election does not provide a cost-free opportunity to punish congressional Republicans for their many sins. A Democratic Congress will have real-world consequences for taxpayers, the economy, the judiciary, immigration, Iraq, and the War on Terror. No matter how disappointing the GOP has been, the country doesn’t deserve a Democratic majority.
Are we saying that the case for the Republicans largely consists of the fact that the Democrats are worse? Yes, actually. Every election presents a choice, and voters have to decide which alternative is better than the other. For conservative voters, that is not as hard a call as it has been made out to be.
Who's the babe in purple?
Kerry=Democrat=Free Pass
LOL! I've never seen a cat do that!
My current two are the opposite of yours. One in particular is very timid. She's afraid of unfamiliar noises, unfamiliar objects, seeing the furniture in a new place, etc. Real tiger.
What would a GIRLY man like Jean-Fraud know about real men who've got far better things to do than debate an intellectual lightweight!
Bingo.
I gotcha.
The unreported reality is, that the Republican Majority did pass a VERY strong energy bill the past couple weeks, which really puts Democrats on the spot having to oppose those things, and opposing energy independence and getting free of foreign sources of oil. I talked to Congressman Ralph Hall this weekend, 30 year House Member, and that bill puts Demcorats hard on the spot having to block all those things, including drilling in ANWR. If it doesn't get to Bush, it's because of the Democrats and the RINOs in the Senate. The GOP has accomplished a lot, and if there were a few more conservative Republicans in the House and Senate, our dependence on Arab oil would drop by half or much more in the next 15 years.
Thanks!
Another problem is that the talkies don't stay on it long enough either. It'll be around a day or two at best.
At the risk of being really vengeful, I hope he winds up like Paul Wellstone!
I have one that hides behind the toilet when the rain comes!
Well...Kerry HAS solidified his base today...didn't he???
The DUmmies are ecstatic....and that is why they are the DUmmies....LOL
Now Kerry was just tried and did not know what he was saying.
I would like to know who the 6.something% of FR members are who won't vote. I guess they don't care about the country too much.
Lame. Lame. Lame.
Just once, wouldn't it be great if the MSM treated Democrats like they treat Republicans:
"This is Charles Gibson from ABC News."
Senator John Kerry finds himself in some hot water tonight as the public and pundits alike react to his controversial remarks made today..."
"...now, when we come back, we'll discuss whether Senator Kerry will resign."
ROFL!
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