The new San Francisco democrat

TownHall.com ^ | 9/27/02 | Jonah Goldberg

[kattracks]

At the 1984 Republican National Convention held in Dallas, Jeanne Kirkpatrick delivered one of the most devastating speeches in modern American politics. She railed against the Democratic Party, whose own convention met in San Francisco the previous month. As a lifelong Democrat, Reagan's former representative to the United Nations explained that it was the first Republican convention she'd ever attended.

She went on: "When the San Francisco Democrats treat foreign affairs as an afterthought, as they did, they behaved less like a dove or a hawk than like an ostrich -convinced it would shut out the world by hiding its head in the sand. … When the Soviet Union walked out of arms control negotiations, and refused even to discuss the issues, the San Francisco Democrats didn't blame Soviet intransigence. They blamed the United States. But then, they always blame America first."

The irony of Al Gore's speech in San Francisco Monday (SEPT. 23) extends past mere geographic coincidence. Jeanne Kirkpatrick was a so-called Reagan Democrat, but the reality is that Reagan didn't pull her out of the Democratic Party, the San Francisco Democrats chased her out. There were some Democrats -gluttons for punishment -who considered themselves heirs to Truman and Marshall who stayed in the party hoping to beat back the dominance of the San Francisco Democrats.

Many of those gluttons -honorable and decent people -pinned their hopes on Al Gore. He was one of the first "new Democrats." In the 1980s, he mastered the Byzantine minutiae of arms control and supported the MX missile. He supported the Contras in Nicaragua and military action against Libya and Grenada. In 1990, he was one of only 10 senators in his party to support the Gulf War.

Now, I'm no fan of Al Gore. I've long believed that these positions were based upon equal parts conviction and rank political calculation. Gore has been groomed from birth to be president, and he believes anything that gets him there is justified. More than any mainstream presidential contender since at least Richard Nixon, Gore is willing to paint his opponents as not merely wrong, but motivated by base and evil motives.

This, of course, is just my opinion. Others believed Gore was the real McCoy, chief among them the editors of the New Republic who touted Gore for president with an almost self-parodying fervor. Well, here's what they thought of Gore's recent speech: "In the 1980s and 1990s, Al Gore consistently battled the irresponsibility and incoherence on foreign affairs that plagued the Democratic Party. And it was partly out of admiration for that difficult and principled work that this magazine twice endorsed him for president. Unfortunately, that Al Gore didn't show up at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on Monday."

The New Republic may think this was a new Gore, but to me it was the same old Al. He unfairly leveled the accusation that "the timing of this sudden burst of urgency" for war during this "high political season" was intended for narrow partisan advantage. But, as usual, he didn't have the courage to leave his fingerprints on the accusation meekly asserting, "I have not raised those doubts, but many have."

As for Gore's "foreign policy," it's almost impossible to find. Because Gore had to work around his own extensive record of favoring regime change in Iraq and the use of force to rid Saddam of his weapons of mass destruction, the whole speech reads like a mouse running through a brick of Swiss cheese.

Gore doubles back, crisscrosses and zigzags -between favoring force, opposing force, opposing multilateralism, opposing unilateralism -the only conclusion one can reach is that this speech wasn't written to reveal his convictions. It was crafted as an attack on Bush and an attempt to win the Democratic nomination. The overriding theme wasn't to depoliticize the war but to blame George Bush, at all costs.

Bill Bennett, another Reagan Democrat chased out by the San Francisco Democrats, wrote in the Wall Street Journal that Gore's speech was an act of "political suicide" because it revealed that "if he were president the war against terrorism would be conducted in a radically different manner."

Bennett is wrong. The speech revealed something we always knew: Gore will say anything to be president. And that makes him even less principled than an original San Francisco Democrat, and it makes his defenders nothing but gluttons for punishment.

Jonah Goldberg is editor of National Review Online, a TownHall.com member group.

Contact Jonah Goldberg | Read his biography

©2002 Tribune Media Services

[Irish Eyes]

Thanks for the article. A good read.

[bybybill]

Jonah is turning out to be a very good THINKER

[Fracas]

Thanks for posting this. Ms. Kirkpatrick was on t.v. a few weeks ago, opposite the usual couple of Libs. She sliced and diced them without turning a hair. Brilliant woman with a wry sense of humor.

[goldstategop]

Algore has confirmed the old stereotype of the Rats as a party wishy-washy on national security and uncertain of how to deal with America's adversaries.

[Nick Danger]

Bennett is wrong.

I don't think that Bennett is wrong to say that Al Gore committed political suicide on Monday. People will remember that speech for a long time.

Gore may even be correct in calculating that the speech will aid him in securing the Democratic presidential nomination. It certainly played well among the sort of activists who are important in the primary phase of the election cycle.

But in doing that, Al Gore transformed himself into George McGovern, who also won the nomination, but who lost 49 states in the general election. Most Democrats who are not among the liberal fringe understand that. That is why we see almost all of them quietly tiptoeing away... some because they sense that Gore has made a major gaffe, others because they're not sure how it's going to play but they don't want to be in the same room with him right this minute.

I think Gore will proceed toward the nomination, and he will appear to be having success. I think he will have trouble raising money, but since no one will be sure whom else to give it to, others will have trouble as well. But I predict that the undercurrent through the whole thing will be whispers about "the new McGovern" and whether Al has not poisoned himself with the general electorate. I think he has. I think he did an unpatriotic thing for crass political gain, at a time when the country really needs to be presenting a united front to the outside. I don't think people will forgive him for that.

[struwwelpeter]

It's a long time until 2004, and the electorate has a ninety-day memory.

Let's hope Dubya stays Dubya, and doesn't follow in his father's waffling footsteps.

[Fracas]

It certainly played well among the sort of activists who are important in the primary phase of the election cycle

Very true. He also infuriated many Republicans, and after Daschle's 'melt-down', the two may have motivated many to VOTE! A lot of people sit out the mid-term elections, and I sensed that among Republicans until this week.

That speech sounded more like Karenna than Rob Reiner. The Dems love to tout Karenna as being sooooo smart, so hip, so in control - (WIFE!...MOTHER!....LAWYER!...ACTIVIST!...CAMPAIGN ADVISOR!...) - but I've been less than impressed when I've listened to her on t.v.

Now if only we could prevent dead people from voting....

[Nick Danger]

the electorate has a ninety-day memory.

That's why Gore will be so sorry that he invented the Internet. Did you see how long it took people to dig up Gore's statements from 1991 and the 2000 election, and throw them right in his face? The public may have a 90-day memory, but the disk drives never sleep. Politicians who rely on the old saw about the public having a short memory are in for a surprise. The reminders are all on-line, indexed six ways from Sunday, and ready to haul out in milliseconds.

You can bet the GOP 'oppo' guys are already running that speech through the video editors, canning the juciest bits for use in 2004.