http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2001847694_satrdr31.htmlPosted on 01/31/2004 10:27:48 AM PST by ppaul
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2001847694_satrdr31.html
The never-ending story
By Max Albert
Special to The Times
It seems some Democrats are these days blinded by fury, steering off the leftward cliff. "Gore Won in Florida!" bellows the Democratic National Committee's Terry McAuliffe; Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean wonders aloud if the president knew about 9-11 beforehand; and the mob clamors to burn (oil services provider) Halliburton at the stake for the unforgivable sin of charging for its services. Good grief, what ails these people? Never mind all the ballot reviews proving Gore would've lost whatever the decision of the courts to which he went running. Surely, they can't believe they'll ever recapture either the White House or Congress (which fell in '94 without a black robe in sight), with the politics of resentment, demonization and paranoia, those mainstays of the lunatic fringe.
My theory is this: What's driving the party's strident wing is denial; not that Gore lost, but that the pivotal reason he lost, Clinton fatigue, was their own damned chickens come home to roost. Why else can they not get over it?
Character does matter, eventually. Bill Clinton, "Nixon of the liberals," is a type that Max Nordau (1849-1923) termed "the highly-gifted degenerate." Such a person "will employ his brilliant facilities quite as well in service of some grand object as in the satisfaction of the basest propensities."
For Democrats, it's the mother of all hangovers. For years they excused Slick Willie's "peccadilloes," keeping two sets of ethical books. Suffering charges of hypocrisy and cynicism, they pawned their credibility in defense of a man whose associates and appointees were convicted of felonies in unprecedented numbers, who worshipped the most amoral expediency, lied under oath, abused and maligned women ("bimbos," "blackmailing tramps," "trailer-park trash"), and generally disgusted even those who opposed his impeachment.
They called it inexcusable — then excused it. With the electorate closely divided, the loss of moral high ground was just enough. Bush squeaked in.
No wonder they'd rather blame the Supreme Court — or Ralph Nader — or anybody but themselves. If only they'd disowned the "big creep," if only the Senate had convicted him, making Gore the incumbent, it's unlikely their worst nightmare — tax cuts, environmental policy reviews, partial-birth abortion bans, conservative court appointments and pre-emptive wars — would be happening today. Now Bush appears headed for re-election. A lightweight, they said. No wonder they're still crying three years after it's all over.
And what can this raging negativity give the Dems to run on in 2004? The morally awkward position of opposing the liberation of Afghans from the medieval Taliban, or Iraqis from the Butcher of Baghdad. Disingenuous claims that tax cuts didn't really stimulate the economy. Kyoto environmentalism rejected by the Senate, 95-0.
Al Gore's loss was not the only damage done to the party by years spent accommodating Clintonian sleaze. More crippling is the resultant habit of hunkering down in "spider-hole(s) of denial," to lash out with character assassination and accusations of right-wing conspiracy. This is Clinton's last, most destructive legacy — and the formula for perpetual minority status.
This writer articulately nails it.
The democRATS will bear the stain of der Schlickmeister for a generation.
I'm still waiting for it to sink in the heads of his supporters (including many media types): Birds of a feather flock together.
They can try to associate Ken Lay to President Bush till the cows come home, but that was an acquaintance, and Lay spent the night in the Clinton WH. But it illustrates that the libs understand the concept that the company you keep speaks volumes about you.
All during the Clinton years I marveled at the sleazy types surrounding and associated with him. We all know the list of names. The media acted like it was an accident they were partners with the MacDougals, for instance, instead of pointing out that it was an indication of what type of huckster he was.
It is the self-loathing of dems after they prostituted themselves giving Willie figurative lewinskis that causes the strong anti-Bush feelings. They are sublimating, taking out their self-hate on W.
Dems aren't ethical folks to start with and their blind support of Willie on every point of filth and corruption didn't not rise to the level of "ethical." But, you are not allowed to mention this in the left wing media!!
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