Too many people seem to formulate their beliefs based upon other people's emotional outburts and bumper
stickers rather than rational thought and objective examination of facts. Apparently that is the case
all over the country. Even so-called conservatives know the power of emotional appeal and sentimental
rhetoric, which is why, for example, the federal takeover of school standards was given the name of "No Child
Left Behind." What heartless beast of a Congressman would vote to leave children behind? But you
see, the Constitution does not authorize federal involvement in education issues. The only way to keep
people from mentioning that little technicality is to give that federal involvement an irresistibly warm and
fuzzy name.
Other warm and fuzzy names that have been successfully applied in the past include
"The Fairness Doctrine", "The Great Society" and "Social Security." So-called
conservatives use the same technique, which is one reason almost nobody in the Congress voted
against the Patriot Act, even though they
hadn't read it. Many other words in
the liberal vocabulary have their connotations -- some more sinister than others.
Usually it is the more liberal-leaning voters who operate this way. That's why political
candidates are chosen (subconsciously or not) on the basis of hair styles or general cuteness.
But even without the influence of television, people seem to be easily swayed by sound bites and one-liners.
Liberal (or "progressive") politicians and their allies in the news media would like us all to believe that
we live in an endless series of crises that only the government can resolve. Every day there's another
emergency, another shocking update, or another politically incorrect outburst that must be addressed with
more legislation.
And no matter what evil deed you've done, liberals will forgive you. All you have to do is apologize,
cry on television, and go into rehab.
The Envious Feminists.
People are emotional beings, often governed more by feelings than reason. And this is never truer than
with leftist people. If you want to understand liberals, know that most of their ideology is simply a
pseudo-intellectual justification for what feels right to them. As for these feelings, the one stereotypically
associated with the left is compassion, which supposedly manifests itself in mercy, charity, forgiveness, and
temperance. In reality, though, the feeling that far better characterizes the left is envy.
Social Security
Bait and Switch. Democrats are trying to keep control of Congress by scaring the wig off grandma
with a phantom GOP plot against Social Security.
Nil, Baby, Nil.
"Where is the outrage? Where are the millions marching in the streets, where is the round-the-clock roadblock
coverage tracking every moment of the crisis?" Such were the questions asked by the Huffington Post's Peter
Daou in late May. And the declarations were no less bracing. "We are at an inflection point, one
that will likely determine the fate of our species," he informed readers. The "planetary emergency" to
which he was referring was not, as one may be forgiven for thinking, the appearance of alien spacecraft above
civilization's greatest structural landmarks. Daou's concerns were grounded in earthly developments.
Or, rather, a single earthly development: a pipe broke.
The Parade of
Bleeding Stumps. As public spending becomes an increasingly important issue for the
November elections, be prepared to see the left engaging in hysterical scare-mongering about the
potential effect of spending cuts. This has been seen recently in Britain, where such scare-mongering
already has its own label — "The Parade of the Bleeding Stumps." This unsavory phrase
originates in British government bureaucracy and darkly refers to the Civil Service's clever response
to the threat of spending cuts.
Obama
decries demagoguing while, well, demagoguing. As the granddaddy of political demagoguery,
President Obama might have outdone himself with his recent admonition to political opponents not to
"demagogue" the immigration issue. A "demagogue" is "a political leader who seeks support by
appealing to popular desires and prejudices rather than by using rational argument."
Sour Grapes. What is it
about liberals that compels them to be such obnoxious, self-righteous know-it-alls? Does it ever occur
to them that there might be a reason for the things someone does?
Ending Birthright Citizenship.
When the open-borders lobby runs out of excuses for amnesty, their final resort is to "do it for the
children." Last year Nancy Pelosi told a crowd in San Francisco that "Our future is about our children"
and "Taking parents from their children ... that's un-American." When the speaker of the House considers
enforcing our immigration laws "un-American," it becomes the constitutional duty of the states to stand against
illegal immigration. This is why I introduced SB 1070 into the Arizona legislature, which has prompted
a much needed national debate about immigration.
Obama's Empathy Card.
Indeed, from his meagerly documented Harvard Law School days to his remarkably (to say the least) brief senatorial
debut and eventual presidential election, Obama seems to have providentially benefited, again and again, from his
followers' peculiar dependence on fleeting emotional impulses — in particular the mystifying,
near-invincible pathos of empathy, which liberals rank as the most reliable gauge for making life-altering
decisions.
Franken
warns that GOP Congress would bring 'truly dangerous agenda'. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), addressing
a convention of liberal bloggers and activists Saturday evening [7/24/2010], implored the left to fight to
stay in power in the midterm elections. "If Republicans take back Congress they'll implement a truly
dangerous agenda," Franken told the Netroots Nation gathering in Las Vegas. "Everything is on the table,
from repealing healthcare reform to privatizing Social Security."
The Editor says...
All that stuff was "on the table" the last time Republicans had the majority — and that which Al Franken
so greatly fears did not come to pass.
Obama Is Wrong; Alternative Energy is Not an
Alternative. Obama is using the oil spill in the Gulf as an emotional lever to push his cap and
trade policy.
The
Truth About the Humane Society Of the United States. Over the course of the last few months, the
Center for Consumer Freedom has ramped up its effort to educate Americans about the deceptive fundraising and
spending practices of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). Most Americans don't realize that
less than one half of one percent of the society's revenue goes to support hands-on pet shelters, despite
their use of tear-jerking ads...
Obama and the Morning After.
Of course, the press sold Obama like the newest form of crack, getting the public fixated on his every word.
The same media that stalks Angelina and Paris anointed Obama the ultimate celebrity. And to the addicted
masses, entranced by leering reality shows and 24/7 texting, the Obama Show was just another sexually charged
extravaganza. But while reporters behaved like lovesick schoolgirls, Obama's sex appeal wasn't just
manufactured by the press. His handlers carefully crafted his image to seduce and excite.
Security
Policy by Bumper Sticker. Liberal approaches to foreign policy continue to rely more on wishful
thinking than on realism or maturity. But even in the context of liberalism, President Obama's recent
policy declarations on the matter of nuclear weapons are juvenile and disturbing. Speaking in Prague,
the president declared, "I state clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security
of a world without nuclear weapons." Has the president really thought this through?
Has Obama
"Stimulated" the Economy Yet? In the past sixteen months, Mr. Obama's immediate, short-term political
need has produced a lot of public policy that positions the President to appear as though he's rescuing people — rescuing
them from the economic downturn, from "greedy bankers" and "rich executives," from the threat of home foreclosure, from
credit card debt, and so forth. And part of the political calculus involved with this kind of policy is the
assumption that as long as the President gives away enough "things" to the American electorate, and appears as though
he's doing enough to "protect" them, the electorate will continue to vote for him and his party, regardless of what the
economy does.
Demonstrations and
Dependency. Raucous public protests are hardly new but their celebration, at least in
the US, is traceable to the 1960s anti-Vietnam War student activism and the civil rights movement.
Marching and chanting "for justice" soon infused civics textbooks and documentary films, not to mention the
liberal-dominated mass media. As a result, almost anything became possible, from the unqualified obtaining
a college degree to saving the planet, if the public demands were sufficiently loud and strident.
The Remarkable Rise of
Jan Brewer. As women have moved into the forefront of conservative politics, they have become
targets for serious assaults from the left. The treatment they receive is far worse than that given male
politicians of the same order, as we have clearly seen with Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann. Families,
looks, personality, grooming, every last element of their lives and persons becomes fodder for some of the
trashiest elements of the contemporary political scene. No insult is too low, no attack too foul.
The gentleman has truly become an extinct species, at least on the left side of the fence. But nothing
of the sort has happened with Jan Brewer.
A Bumper Sticker Presidency.
Is there any experience more delightful than being stuck in a traffic jam, choking on exhaust fumes behind a
hybrid car festooned with leftist slogans? Actually, yes! This would be living in America, circa
2010, scarfing down Chairman Barack's toothsome and intellectually nutritious daily ration of brilliant
policies, ultimately derived from liberal bumper stickers. Is it not the most obvious fact on the planet that
all of Obama's ideas are merely implemented leftist slogans?
Twelve Million Illegals — or Thirty?
It is no surprise that the American left is in hysterics regarding the new immigration law passed by Arizona.
In the fevered constitutions of those raised to believe feelings matter most, hysteria, race-huckstering,
name-calling and outright lying are considered a viable substitute for a logical argument. Intellectual
dishonesty has been the left's stock in trade for decades.
Narcissism,
Power, Fear of Death, and Liberalism. Could it be that for liberals and certain therapists
endowed with self-importance but without religion, influencing others is all they have? Forcing others
to do as they wish fends off their fear of insignificance, which is why it is so urgent that others go along.
It keeps their legacy alive. Notice how many times people bring up "Ted Kennedy's legacy" of health
care. Is this more about keeping Kennedy's name immortal and his image alive than about real solutions
to real-world problems?
President Obama Makes
Poverty Permanent. There's an old story — not apocryphal, unfortunately —
in which a politician is heard to moan: "50% earn less than the median income. Something needs to
be done!" Oh, how I weep for those unfortunate people! No, not those with less money, but those
who find such cris du coeur convincing.
More
about Poverty and Dependency in America.
When Lame Ducks Attack. [Scroll down]
The party currently in power can't be expected to take defeat well. Liberals, just like their toddler counterparts,
can't modulate their emotions. In other words, they are prone to tantrums. Unlike toddlers, whose impact on the
rest of the world is minimal, rulers of the Thugocracy can't be trusted to behave with a modicum of decorum in defeat.
The time between election day and the official ousting of the vulgarians may well make today's tumult and danger seem tame.
Be prepared.
(Tea) Party On. [Scroll down
slowly] We live in a country where most peoples' knowledge of history is minimal and their attention
span is limited by technologically-driven distractions. Sound-bytes aimed at destroying the credibility
of the Tea Party movement are being driven by those who know full well that "volume" — aka, the
lie repeated often enough — is often the determining factor in winning the hearts and minds of
the general public.
The Closing of the Liberal Mind:
The current issue of The New Republic contains a vapid, mean-spirited, and indefensible attack on one of the
most important intellectual figures of our time. Alan Wolfe's review of Thomas Sowell's new book,
Intellectuals and Society, is not even a review. Not a single idea presented in the book is
addressed in Wolfe's text, which is simply a lengthy ad hominem attack on Sowell that displays
astounding ignorance of both Sowell and his important intellectual oeuvre.
The Big Lie of Health
Care Reform: One-Sixth of the US Economy is threatened with a takeover by the Federal Government
on the erroneous rationale that "Tens of millions of people in the US are without health care insurance, and
therefore are being denied access to adequate health care." Unjust! Unfair! This is, of course,
an absolute lie. And nor do some large number of people "die every day from lack of health insurance
coverage." That too is a lie.
We The People Losing Control Of
Government. Demagogue — a word of Greek origin — means a person who uses
falsehoods, prejudices and emotional appeals to gain power. Huey Long, governor of Louisiana from 1928
to 1932, U.S. senator from 1932 to 1935 and creator of the Share Our Wealth Program, fit that definition.
Long stirred crowds with fiery denunciations of corporate greed. Ultimately, even fellow Democrats grew
alarmed and backed away from his legislation. Demagogue also describes how President Obama revved up
crowds as he crisscrossed the country selling his health legislation.
A perfect
storm is brewing for the IPCC. Put the errors together and it can be seen that one after another
they tick off all the central, iconic issues of the entire global warming saga. Apart from those
non-vanishing polar bears, no fears of climate change have been played on more insistently than these:
the destruction of Himalayan glaciers and Amazonian rainforest; famine in Africa; fast-rising sea levels; the
threat of hurricanes, droughts, floods and heatwaves all becoming more frequent. All these alarms were
given special prominence in the IPCC's 2007 report and each of them has now been shown to be based, not on hard
evidence, but on scare stories, derived not from proper scientists but from environmental activists.
Debating Obama's
Health Care Clichés. As I listened to the congressional Democrats recite their
arguments for the Pelosi health care bill, I was reminded of those Bazooka gum wrappers. Their
speeches consisted of trite phrases devoid of any depth or intelligence, the words selected only for
their emotional impact. These arguments sound so compelling — as long as no measurable
time is spent thinking about them.
Slavery and the healthcare
debate. Last week the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid compared conservative opponents of his massive
takeover of the American health system to slaveholders and segregationists.
Secondhand
Hate: Another step downhill for modern liberalism. "They have ardent supporters who are
nearly hysterical at the very election of President Barack Obama," Senator Sheldon Whitehouse roared about
his Republican opponents in the closing hours of the Senate health care debate on December 20. ... Two weeks
earlier, Majority Leader Harry Reid likened opponents of his bill to those who opposed the end of slavery.
When the Charm Rubs
Off. His Dec. 8 televised economics speech at the Brookings Institution was followed
on Dec. 10 by his televised Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, which was remarkable for 38 uses
of the pronoun "I." And for disavowing a competence no one suspected him of. ("I do not bring with
me today a definitive solution to the problems of war." Note the superfluous adjective.) And
for an unnecessary notification. ("Evil does exist in the world.") And for delayed
utopianism. ("We will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes." But in someone's.)
And for solemnly announcing something undisputed. (There can be a just war.) And for
intellectual applesauce that should get speechwriters fired and editors hired.
Deliberative Analysis: RIP.
A troubling trend has emerged in regard to hot-button issues like anthropogenic global warming and health care.
It may not come as a surprise, but there no longer appears to be an interest by many on the left to engage in
deliberative analysis and debate about proposed legislation. There are a handful of stereotypical accusations
and responses from the left, whether from the Democrat leadership (including the president), or the average, everyday
liberal. These irrational attacks must be addressed, broken down, and put away for good.
The Myth of the World Community.
Americans have been imprinted as never before from a very early age with the idea that they are part of a
global community, rather than merely one nation. But behind the olive branches and the posters of
smiling children, lies a very different truth entirely. The entire notion that there is a world
community is itself mostly a myth.
Reid's Teachable
Moment. Harry Reid is an obvious product of a government education that he and other
Liberals are inflicting on the rest of America, and he should be the poster child for school choice.
In his recent comment regarding Republicans' efforts to block "healthcare" legislation, Reid invoked the
ghosts of Democrats past, claiming that Republicans tried to block emancipation and civil rights
for blacks. I believe Reid gave America yet another teachable moment.
Reid
Compares Opponents of Health Care Reform to Supporters of Slavery. Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid took his GOP-blasting rhetoric to a new level Monday [12/7/2009], comparing
Republicans who oppose health care reform to lawmakers who clung to the institution of slavery
more than a century ago.
At what
point does a liberal become a Stalinist? I've started to gently question the beliefs of the liberals
I know, without getting into any loud argument. Much to my surprise, some of the gentle-sounding people I know
actually talk murderously at times. I wouldn't have believed it, because these are people I like a lot.
They have a warm side. In their own minds they all believe they are driven by love and compassion. And
yet, some of them — certainly not most — seem ready to hang the current media scapegoat from
the nearest gallows. I also know a lot of really sweet, dumb liberals, people who are so desperate to be loving
that they rationalize all the nonsense they are fed by our media.
Democrats and the
Politics of Rage. As liberal ideas have continued to lose at the polls over the last two
decades, Democrats have become the party of utopian rage as they persist in replacing real political debate
with effusive attacks on conservatives while promising to create an idyllic society for Americans.
Barack Obama epitomized these politics when he built a movement offering hope as his main political platform.
To bolster this emotionalism, Democrats have resorted almost whole-heartedly to conjuring up visions of racist
conservatives opposing the first black president primarily because of his skin color.
I Thought
'Dissent Is Patriotic'. Living in liberal Los Angeles, I am surrounded by people —
and bumper stickers — I do not agree with. One of the more popular liberal bumper stickers of
the last decade tells us "Dissent is Patriotic." Now, as it happens, it is impossible to truly disagree
with that phrase, not because it is self-evidently true, but because it is self-evidently meaningless.
As are most left-wing bumper stickers.
America Needs a Climate Change Revolt.
[Scroll down] In order to implement all this equality (also known as "social justice"), it takes a
crisis. Just this week, U. S. Rep. Alan Grayson, a Democrat from Florida, went on the House floor
to say the Republican plan for health care is for people to "die quickly." He charged that 45,000
people perish each year for lack of health insurance. He even called the situation a "holocaust."
The Democrats seem to think if they can scare the dickens out of people, they can pass their agenda.
The
Straight Poop On Radical Islam. The problem is that liberals are not only nuts, but inconsistent.
They very much want to send our military to Africa to stop the savagery in the Sudan, but didn't want to see it
employed against the equally barbaric Saddam Hussein, Pol Pot or Ho Chi Minh. Funny how
you never hear them insist that we have no business in Darfur because Sudan didn't attack us on 9/11 or point
out that we have no compelling interest in sub-Sahara Africa. But that's to be expected when people get
their information from Bill Maher and Jon Stewart and their talking points from the likes of Bono and the
Dixie Chicks.
Obama and
faith: Of all the silly arguments that have been passed off as deeply profound in American
politics, the notion that politicians can't "impose" their personal morality on others has to top the list.
Opposing Obama is Satan's work? A "right" to health
care means the state must compel more than just payment. It must compel medical care providers to
render their services regardless of compensation or any other consideration. If someone has a "right" to
medical care, then a physician may not deny any care for any reason. Doing so would be an infringement
of the patient's "rights."
'Empathy' Is Code for Judicial Activism.
Mr. Obama said he wanted to replace Justice David Souter with someone who had "empathy" and who'd temper the court's
decisions with a concern for the downtrodden, the powerless and the voiceless. "Empathy" is the latest code word
for liberal activism, for treating the Constitution as malleable clay to be kneaded and molded in whatever form justices
want. It represents an expansive view of the judiciary in which courts create policy that couldn't pass the
legislative branch or, if it did, would generate voter backlash.
Thumbs-Down On Obama's 'Empathy'
Standard. Most Americans reject the broader criteria that judicial activists think can be brought
to bear on Supreme Court decisions, including the "empathy" standard that President Obama has said is important in
particularly difficult cases, a new IBD/TIPP Poll shows. ... On the empathy factor, a majority (51%) disagree
with a statement paraphrasing remarks Obama made in 2005: "When it comes to the Supreme Court justices, law
and precedent should determine rulings in 95% of the cases, but in the really hard and important cases, justices
should go with their heart." Only 23% agree with the statement. Most independent voters (58%), conservatives
(61%) and moderates (50%) disagree with it. Democrats (31%) and liberals (35%) are the leading supporters of
the concept that justices should go with their heart.
Photographic
Fraud. Over the past two decades, judicial-confirmation hearings have often become exercises
in character assassination against nominees that senators oppose for political reasons having nothing to do
with the inflammatory charges that are aired on nationwide TV. Judges who have for years supported
civil rights have been depicted as racists. Other events in their careers have been twisted beyond
recognition. Utterly irrelevant questions have been raised to appeal emotionally to uninformed
television viewers.
The
Six Problems With Modern Liberalism. [#1] You really didn't learn everything you needed
to know in kindergarten: Liberals love to think of themselves as sophisticated, nuanced intellectuals,
but the truth is they have a kindergartner's view of the world. If it has been defined as "nice" to
people they like, they're for it. If it has been defined as "mean" to people they like, they're
against it — and that is about as deep as it gets.
I wish I were a liberal.
I'd like to be a liberal because then I'd be rewarded for all my shortcomings and nothing would ever be my
fault. I'd be an important cog in the wheel of social justice, and a cherished warrior in the current
fight for equality. ... I'd like to be a liberal because everyone knows that conservatives are racist,
homophobic, stupid and, well, beneath contempt. Conservatives are motivated by —
gasp — profit, instead of being nice.
The Notional Dangers of
the Fictional Far Right. Listen to Nancy Pelosi or Barney Frank or MSNBC reporters or the New
York Times. What is the mythical danger? It is the "far right." [But] the far right of the
liberals' imagination simply does not exist.
Obama Loses His "Cool". When the
generation of Americans under the age of 30 gets around to realizing that this handsome young president might
not be nearly as cool as they'd hoped, it won't be hard to affix a date on when the milk began to sour. ... Scratch
a young Obama voter and you won't necessarily find someone who likes bailouts or cares about financial market
regulations one way or another. Instead you're likely to hear about how the awful Republicans wage wars,
bait gays and racial minorities, and basically act like a bunch of mean old white men. Party membership
and voting are frequently more about group identity than philosophical orientation about the proper role of government.
Five Useful Idiots.
When there is no substance to a tantrum one must assume it is just a ploy for attention. This generally
comes from kids who were put into day-care too early and too often. The irony is that America's move
towards socialism drives up taxes, which forces mothers to work. This, in turn, forces kids into day
care. This makes the kids seek attention by adopting political positions which happen to be chic (like
socialism).
Honk! You're Hateful.
Leftists have always confused their good intentions with actual virtue. The tyranny allowed to spread by
left wing appeasement, the neighborhoods and families destroyed by their corrupt welfare programs, the millions
of lives snuffed out by environmentalist hysteria — these don't show up on their moral scorecards
because they meant so very well. Indeed, so swathed are they in the warm glow of their purposes, any
question about the actual results of their actions strikes them as shockingly cruel.
The Age of
Irresponsibility. [Scroll down] Suspicion. Paranoia. Contempt.
Resentment. This sort of thinking doesn't make for reasonable politics. And here, ultimately, is
the problem with populism. It is good at diagnosis but bad at prescription. Are a large number of
the folks in charge not performing their duties? Yes. Is American society suffering from a deficit
of personal responsibility? Absolutely. But the populist too often goes overboard. His
rhetoric becomes too fiery. His anger feeds on itself. Asked what steps he'd take to address the
problems he has identified, he says little more than "Throw the bums out!" But that doesn't get us
anywhere. There are always new bums to take the old bums' places.
Mob Rule In D.C.. Of
all the alarming things going on in Washington these days nothing is as shocking, or disheartening, as the collapse
in respect for the rule of law and the Constitution. Just look at the flap over AIG's bonuses. ... While
letting AIG pay some employees retention bonuses might seem wrong or even immoral to some, it wasn't illegal.
Political Economy: Mob
Rule. Cue the mob. It's time to storm the castles where rich folks — and quite likely
just upper-middle-class folks — play games with our money. Bankers and financiers are obviously
all evil, even the ones who are trying to save us from impending catastrophe. ... That pretty much captures the
mood of the public these days, exacerbated by name-calling and posturing on Capitol Hill and even
encouraged — to a point — by President Obama.
The Gravy Train Is About to Leave the
Station. Now that the Democrats control all branches of government, there is only a debate about the level
of "compassion," not whether any of this enormous spending that will mortgage our future to other nations is worthwhile.
In fact, President Obama echoed others when he said at his Monday night news conference there is no guarantee that any of
this will work immediately, if at all. That's a revealing statement about liberalism. It doesn't matter if
liberal ideas work, only that liberal intentions are good.
A Fool And Your Money. Once
again we have stubborn liberals who refuse to admit that their strategy is wrong and will not work, and instead not only
give credence to their agenda with this scheme, but do so under the guise of "fairness". Massachusetts Democrats
recently advocated voting rights for illegal immigrants because it is an issue of "fairness". President Obama aims
to change the social fabric of this country because as is the system lacks "fairness".
Psychiatrist
Says: Liberalism Is A Mental Disorder. Psychiatrist Lyle Rossiter, MD, wrote a book
entitled, The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness, in which he claims that the
ideology motivating liberals is actually a mental disorder characterized by strikingly irrational beliefs
and emotions. "Like spoiled, angry children, they rebel against the normal responsibilities of
adulthood and demand that a parental government meet their needs from cradle to grave."
Welcome Back to Democratland.
It is a world in which facts always bow to feelings. What matters is not so much that you do good, but that
you feel virtuous, or perhaps more to the point, are seen to be virtuous.
I hope Obama Fails, too.
The left absolutely hated George W. Bush. Their contempt for him was so profound and palpable that it was even
given a name by psychiatrist Charles Krauthammer: Bush Derangement Syndrome. Now, most of the millions of
leftists who despised the ex-president absolutely wanted him to fail; in fact, while they're loath to admit it, they
felt this way even when his success was synonymous with our nation's (this even included the failure of the Iraq war).
And "felt" is the operative word; they were governed by emotion and hated the man with a burning passion.
Liberal
emotion vs. Conservative logic: It takes a lot more integrity, character, and courage to be a
conservative than it does to be a liberal. That's because at its most basic level, liberalism is nothing
more than childlike emotionalism applied to adult issues.
Explaining
Liberal Thinking In A Single Column. Since liberals tend to support or oppose policies based on
how those policies make them feel about themselves, they do very little intellectual examination of whether the
policies they advocate work or not. That's because it doesn't matter to them whether the policy is
effective or not; it matters whether advocating the policy makes them feel "good" or "bad," "compassionate" or
"stingy," "nice" or "mean."
Senate Finance Chairman: Congress
Must Spend Money to 'Show it Cares'. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the chairman of the Senate
Finance Committee, said the federal government is going to have to spend a "significant" amount of money
if it is going to get the country out of its current economic troubles — despite rapidly ballooning
federal deficits, historic unemployment, and the hundreds of billions already spent.
Study:
brain switches off rationality when given 'expert advice'. Financial advice can make us take
leave of our senses, according to research that shows how the brain sets aside rationality when it gets the
benefit of supposedly expert opinion. When a bank manager or investment adviser recommends a financial
decision, the brain tends to abdicate responsibility and defer to their authority with little independent
thought, a study has suggested.
Big Oil Democrats: Here is
how you know Republicans are on the winning side of the oil drilling issue. It's not that two-thirds of
the American people support offshore drilling. It's that the Democratic response has been to simply
point at Republicans and shout, "Big Oil!"
Obama
is dangerously unfit to be president. "We are the ones we have been waiting for!" Waving
one's hands aloft and screaming "Yes we can!" is Obama's calculatedly emotional response to complex issues
that require careful, thoughtful analysis. The record of history is a mournful litany of the horrors
wrought by cynical demagogues whose sole message was themselves.
Obama's Moral
Equivalence Problem: I guess we really shouldn't be surprised that Barack Obama sees no difference
between our toppling of Saddam Hussein and Russia's invasion of Georgia. On an emotional level —
which is where most liberals live and breathe — the comparison is attractive. But on an
intellectual level, it is stupid and deceitful.
Mixing It Up With
Left-Wingers. If I had to describe liberals in a single word it would probably be "feminine." In most
cases, I wouldn't regard that word as a pejorative. In its best sense, it conveys sensitivity and an emphasis on the
emotional. As it relates to liberals, it simply means that feelings trump everything else. So it is that
liberals love the idea of the U.N., excited by the notion of a lot of nations sitting down and talking out their
problems, as if to a marriage counselor. Unfortunately, when dealing with evil nations with evil intentions, the
U.N. is nothing better than a bad joke.
Environmental extremism must be put in its place in
the climate debate. Environmental extremists have successfully applied intense emotional pressure — both
moral and political — "you don't care about the planet, the children, or the future if you question us", let alone
disagree, they assert. Many politicians are caught in an awkward position because, while they understand how
environmental extremism poses a very serious threat to our economies, including the ways that have brought us peace
and prosperity, they also don?t want to be accused of not caring about the environment.
Sarah Palin and the
Experience Factor. Why is it that liberal misrepresentations are never fully addressed before
they become established as received wisdom? Whatever the topic may be, the left is consistently allowed
to set the terms on which the argument takes place. ... In the past few years we've seen "WMDs were the sole
reason for invading Iraq", "CO2 is the major driver of climatic trends", and "Karl Rove is the Devil
Incarnate", to consider only three. Each case is demonstrably false, yet each case has been allowed to
dominate the public debate.
Are Polar Bears
Really an Endangered Species? Environmentalists use charismatic megafauna to raise awareness of and promote
policy solutions to perceived environmental threats. Studies show charismatic species are more likely to be protected
than are less photogenic animals. Giant pandas are charismatic megafauna, as are whales, salmon, eagles, and caribou.
The latest example is Ursus maritimus, the polar bear. Environmental groups, claiming manmade global warming
threatens the polar bears' survival, have called for an endangered species listing with extraordinarily far-reaching
consequences.
Poll: Humans Don't Cause Global Warming.
The survey confirmed wide discrepancies in belief between Americans identifying themselves as Democrat or Republican.
... Tom Kilgannon, president of the nonprofit Freedom Alliance, says the reasons for this partisan divide are
simple. "Those on the left are more likely to accept the global warming theory for two reasons," Kilgannon
said. "First, they tend to make public policy decisions based on emotion as a first reaction." And
second, Kilgannon continued, global warming fits the usual Democrat call for bigger government.
Populists
equalize poverty. Populism is back in fashion. By populism, I mean the exploitation of the
uninformed, angry impulses and unfiltered passions of the masses. That anger and resentment has
historically been directed at the usual villains and cardboard stereotypes: bankers, insurance companies,
"big pharma" (that means drug companies), agri-business, "the military-industrial complex," free trade, free
markets and, of course, "the rich."
Oil Woes Left and Right:
So much for the idea that Bush went to war for cheap oil. Yes, I know, they're now imagining that high gas prices are
actually lining the pockets of the president's cronies at Exxon and Sunoco. But this is not an argument advanced by
grownups. … Conservatives are right to stress the virtues of non-carbon-emitting nuclear power, and liberals have
strenuously opposed it for reasons that are 90 percent emotional and 10 percent rational.
A Skeptic's View
of Voting: Let's face it, ladies and gentlemen, if we raised the voting age to, say, 25, the
Democratic party would go the way of the dodo and the Whigs. Liberals want young kids voting for pretty
much the same cynical reason they want to extend suffrage to illegal aliens, convicted felons and dead people.
It takes a certain mentality, a certain degree of gullibility, after all, to believe … that "hope" and
"change" are any more profound and meaningful than "Tastes great, less filling" or "My bologna has a first name."
The Hidden Costs of Voting Early: If
people go to the polls during a swing in public opinion for one of the candidates, they may vote emotionally instead
of rationally. These days, much of the information released about the candidates must be dissected and discussed
before it can be considered reliable. It's hard to distinguish what is fact from fiction because the news is
slanted by the opinion of the reporters. ... Complicating matters, the education system in this country is not
providing voters a well rounded education that teaches them to think for themselves. Much of what students
learn these days is colored by a politically correct agenda or by the instructors charged with them.
The Bullet Counters: The
biggest and most common talking point when the police fire at someone is counting how many bullets they fired. There are
politicians, media people and — above all — community activists who can work themselves into a rage over
how many bullets were fired. If we stop and think — which of course the demagogues hope we will never do —
it is hard to see any moral difference between killing someone with one bullet or with dozens of bullets.
The Dissent
Deceit: The latest example of utter nonsense is Obama's contribution, "The Audacity of Hope." My fellow
Americans, there is nothing audacious about hope. Hope is what makes people buy lottery tickets instead of paying the
bills. Hope is for the old gals feeding the slots in Atlantic City. It destroys the inner-city kid who quits
school because he hopes he'll be a world-famous recording artist.
'Hope'
and 'change' a gimmick. If we just look beyond the attractive Obama package and ourselves for a
moment, we might remember that the election is about actual issues. What are we hoping for? What
is the "change" that the pro-Obama Kennedys are so excited about? The fresh, young face of Obama
represents change, yes. But he also represents something very familiar: liberalism. Government
as a permanent, inefficient, out-of-control crutch.
Liberalism is
an Addiction. Liberals have an impossible time defending their beliefs, which is why they rely
on slogans and catch phrases, unfounded rumors and ad hominem attacks, on those who, like Sara Palin, think
clearly and live according to Judeo-Christian principles. The brains and values of left-wingers have
decomposed to the point where they actually believe Keith Olbermann, Rosie O'Donnell and Chris Matthews make
sense and that people like Whoopi Goldberg, Al Franken and Bill Maher, are funny.
Whoopi Goldberg and the Slavery Question.
On the September 12 edition of "View," host Whoopi Goldberg asked Senator John McCain, "Do I have to be worried
about becoming a slave again?" Goldberg's question was obviously a loaded attempt to either stump McCain
or force him into saying something politically incorrect.
The Editor asks...
When was Whoopi Goldberg released from slavery?
Phony-Ops build the
Obama Myth. Barack Obama's appeal to his legions of enthusiasts rests in no small part in their
hearts. And where the heart is concerned, myths, images, and archetypes work their wonders on the
nonrational faculties of the mind. The biggest Phony-Op of the election season so far was that giant
riverfront photo in Portland, Oregon with "the masses" yelling their lungs out, as if for a messianic King.
The Rev.
Wright Connection Still Haunts Obama. It's a little dangerous in interpreting polls to assume that voters'
thinking proceeds along logical lines. People who aren't professionally involved in politics, whose knowledge comes
from bits and snippets of news, can hold beliefs that are contradictory or in tension with each other. They don't feel
obliged to resolve contradictions.
Barack Obama 'saves the world' (between
speeches). First, it was "Change you can believe in," a nice friendly bit of folderol that was no more scary
than "I Like Ike." … But lately the slogan coming out of the Obama campaign is "We can save the world," which shows
that some people can believe anything — and will — without the slightest provocation or evidence.
We Scream,
We Swoon. How Dumb Can We Get? What was this, the Beatles tour of 1964? And when
they weren't screaming, the fair-sex Obama fans who dominated the rally of 16,000 were saying things like:
"Every time I hear him speak, I become more hopeful." Huh?
Will
Hillary's 'Secretary Of Poverty' Solve Problems Of The Poor? The Do Something Disease compels
posturing that shows off the compassion of politicos, rather than policies that actually improve the lives of
afflicted citizens. Results don't matter, as long as the leader manages to demonstrate concern. Good
intentions — feelings — count for everything, with no consideration of real world
consequences.
The Editor says...
You may recall that Lyndon Johnson said he was going to end "poverty as we know it" about 44 years
ago. Even the liberals don't believe poverty can be eliminated, which may be why the news media
brushed off the idea. Let history be your guide: Did the creation of the Department of Education solve
all the public education problems -- or make them worse? What about the Department of Energy?
The Anger of the
Left: Particular issues can arouse passions here and there for anyone with any political views.
But, for many on the left, indignation is not a sometime thing. It is a way of life. … There doesn't
even have to be any identifiable individual to arouse the ire of the left. "Tax cuts for the rich" is
more than a political slogan. It is incitement to anger.
Dangerous
Demagoguery. Most people have too much of a sense of decency and too much common sense to have gone
along with those horrors unless someone found a way to turn off their thinking and turn on their emotions.
That is how Jim Jones led hundreds of people to their deaths at Jonestown. On a much larger scale, that is
how Lenin created a regime of mass murder in Russia, how Hitler did the same thing in Germany and Mao in China.
Why
a Black Artist Replaced the National Anthem: [Scroll down] The left's second contribution to Marie's value
system has been its elevation of feelings above other values. For example, one determines right and wrong
on the basis of how one feels (as opposed to, let us say, asking what one's religion, or God, or any moral law
that transcends one's own feelings would say on a given matter). Now, the elevation of one's feelings
above other considerations is generally viewed as a form of narcissism. And while narcissism is as old
as humanity, until the 1960s it was generally regarded as a character flaw. Since the 1960s, however,
it was more often heralded as a virtue.
The
Identity Trap: Both the feminist movement Clinton rides and the civil rights rhetoric Obama uses
were constructed at a time when the enemy was the reactionary white male establishment. Today, they are
not facing the white male establishment. They are facing each other. All the rhetorical devices
that have been a staple of identity politics are now being exploited by the Clinton and Obama campaigns
against each other. They are competing to play the victim.
Anti-liberal universities. Classic
liberals must be turning over in their graves when they see today's institutions of higher education.
University officials are silent while students shut down reasonable debate based on facts replacing it with
emotional mob rule. This behavior is the antithesis of historical liberalism that has stood for a free
exchange of ideas.
Infantilism Of the Left: Deep
thinkers need not apply for admittance to the left side of the political spectrum.
Demagogues rely on this, and depend on emotion to carry their arguments.
Barack
Obama — I'm sure we've seen him somewhere before. Every time I listen to [Obama],
I … find my mind wandering, asking itself things like: 'What does "the challenge of
hope" mean?' … His is a rhetoric that soars and takes flight, but alights nowhere. It
declares that together we can do anything, but doesn't mention any of the things we can
do. … Maybe Obama is so successful because he's the supreme master of what American politics
excels in: high-flown language that denotes as little as possible.
It's Not Change,
Stupid. After Iowa, poll readers, pundits, Republican and Democratic candidates declared the
voters wanted "change." No matter what "change" actually is, no matter that "change" means different
things to different people: "change" is what the voters want. … The sorry truth is that "change"
was merely a phantom conjured by the political elite — a nano-trend, a shorthand, a figment,
a wild goose chase.
The Democrats' bitter
harvest. "No war for oil" and "Bush lied; people died" are snappy short slogans that are
essentially meaningless. The bottom line is the Democratic Party hasn't had a new or original idea in
nearly 40 years and that's why they will remain in the wilderness, no matter how low Bush's ratings
fall. The Democrats appear to be relying on events over which they have little or no control to
transpire and bring them back into power.
Liberal
Hatemongers: A politically progressive friend of mine always seemed to root against baseball
teams from the South. The Braves, the Rangers, the Astros — he hated them all. I asked him why,
to which he replied, "Southerners are prejudiced." The same logic is evident in the complaint the
American political left has with conservative voters.
Blue America: The land of
the easily offended. For one thing, conservatives are so used to being labeled as stupid, bigoted,
ignorant, racist, homophobic, sexist, insensitive and intolerant that it is almost impossible to offend them.
Moreover, the culture does not allow them to feel offended, since they are not an officially designated
minority. For another, liberal positions are far more emotion-based than reason-based.
Liberal
emotion vs. Conservative logic: It takes a lot more integrity, character, and courage to be a
conservative than it does to be a liberal. That's because at its most basic level, liberalism is nothing
more than childlike emotionalism applied to adult issues. Going to war is mean, so we shouldn't do it.
That person is poor and it would be nice to give him money, so the government should do it.
Brother, can
you spare a CHIP? This would seem to be a fairly typical media trajectory. The Democrats
sign up a sick kid to read their Saturday morning radio address. … who needs facts when you've got the
human-interest angle sewn up?
The
Democrats' Unhealthy Poster Child Abuse: After 12-year-old Graeme Frost delivered the Democratic
radio address, which was penned for him by Senate staffers, conservatives across the Internet asked the
questions the mainstream media wouldn't ask about the family's financial situation. The couple claims an
annual income of about $45,000. Neither the Democrats nor the Baltimore Sun indicates how they verified
that assertion before circulating it. What is verifiable: The Frosts own a home in Baltimore
purchased for $55,000 16 years ago — and now worth an estimated $300,000. That's a lot
of equity.
If Congress Truly Wants
to Help Children: There has been a whole lot of hoopla over the past few weeks with the Democrats'
latest attempt at foisting an expanded socialist encroachment upon the American electorate (SCHIP), via the
really-getting-old-now, "It's-for-the-Children," ploy. Nancy and Hillary both need to re-read their worn
copies of Alinsky's Rules for Radicals. That ruthless revolutionary knew that once the folks see through
your tactic, it becomes not only tiresome, but downright irritating.
Child's Play.
In truth, I do love kids. But it's the "the" in The Children that's the problem. It transforms
children into a principle for which any violation of limited government is justified. … The idea was as
simple as it was brilliant: By making The Children the beneficiaries of welfare rather than the adults,
the left could portray any attempt to curb the welfare state as "anti-child."
My own
Inconvenient Truth: It's no wonder the political left is all over the global warming
phenomenon, as it falls into line with the rest of their causes that require no logical argument, only
a bumper sticker, protest sign, or T-shirt. No matter what the weather happens to be
doing — whether its snowing or scorching hot — these people will simply point to
the nearest window and mumble, "Yeah man, global warming."
The Editor says...
Global warming is a perfect example of a left-wing
cause that is based on bumper stickers and sound bites rather than logic and evidence.
Populists
equalize poverty. By populism, I mean the exploitation of the uninformed, angry impulses and
unfiltered passions of the masses. That anger and resentment has historically been directed at the usual
villains and cardboard stereotypes: bankers, insurance companies, "big pharma" (that means drug companies),
agri-business, "the military-industrial complex," free trade, free markets and, of course, "the rich." This
mentality feeds on conspiracy theories and simplistic fantasies about the way the world works. It seeks to
impale the minority of "haves" on the pitchforks of the more numerous "have nots."
Why liberals fear
global warming far more than conservatives do. The usual liberal responses — to
label a conservative position racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic or the
like — obviously don't apply here. So, liberals would have to fall back on the one
remaining all-purpose liberal explanation: "big business."
Stop your sobbing.
[Rachel Carson's] "Silent Spring" set the template for nearly a half century of environment writing: wrap
the latest scientific research about an ecological calamity in a tragic narrative that conjures nostalgia for
Nature while prophesying ever worse disasters to come unless human societies repent for their sins against
Nature and work for a return to a harmonious relationship with the natural world. Eco-tragedies are
premised on the notion that humankind's survival depends on understanding that ecological crises are a
consequence of human intrusions on Nature, and that humans must let go of their consumer, religious, and
ideological fantasies and recognize where their true self-interest lies.
A
Democratic ploy for sympathy vote. During the last election, the Democrats paraded Christopher Reeves out as a spokesman for stem-cell
research. Remember, if we did not elect John Kerry, Chris would be confined to a wheelchair for the
rest of his life. The new "victim" for this year's dog-and-pony show is none other than
actor Michael J. Fox.
The leftist gush:
Democrats appeal to reason while Republicans appeal to emotion, or at least that's the claptrap you get in a
recent article in the New York Review of Books as one leftist praises another and both conveniently overlook
a mountain of contrary evidence.
The Return of the Thought Police.
I mean no disregard for the sufferings of crime victims when I say we should be wary of laws named after them.
However well-intentioned, penal laws that memorialize victims deter reasoned debate about the rights of the accused.
They rely on emotional blackmail: Oppose a law named for a murdered child, and you seem to insult her memory
and exacerbate her parents' grief.
Frivolous
politics: Part IV. It is not necessary to denigrate individuals in order to criticize their
policies. Unfortunately, there are too many voters — in both parties — who act as
if choosing whom to vote for is like choosing sides to cheer or boo at a sports event.
In
Politics, Aim for the Heart, Not the Head. Given the enormous proliferation of policy
questions today, surfing the emotional wave nowadays may be even more important than it was in 1935.
George E. Marcus, president of the International Society of Political Psychology, said modern research
confirms that unless political ads evoke emotional responses, they don't have much effect. Voters,
he explained, need to be emotionally primed in some way before they will pay attention.
More
politics of envy from the Democrats. Wealth, of course, is produced by individuals going to work.
Not by politicians getting them ticked off that their neighbor is making more than they are. But the latter
is what the Democratic Party is about.
Bait and
switch: Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) was one of the few who actually talked about the Marriage
Protection Amendment itself. He called any vote for the amendment "a vote for bigotry, pure and
simple." Well, that's pretty straightforward. If Mr. Kennedy is correct, then about half the
Senate, the president of the United States, the Pope, Billy Graham, the late Mother Teresa, Franklin Roosevelt,
the Founding Fathers and a majority of the U.S. electorate are or were drooling, raving hatemongers.
Zoning
challenges now extend to feelings and belief. Remember when the city of Berkeley, Calif.,
declared itself a "nuclear-free zone"? … Many communities, mostly left-leaning university towns, have
declared themselves nuclear-free. Churches too. The Unitarian Universalist Association is a
nuclear-free zone. These moves led to a broad "zone" movement, which is dedicated to the idea that
communities can get rid of hate, violence, drunkenness, bullying and nuclear fears, mostly by
emphatically declaring these evils to be gone from their areas.
Harry Reid and the
end of liberal thought: The highest-ranking Democrat in America, Senate Minority Leader
Harry Reid, described the Senate bill making English the national language of the American people as
"racist." And the New York Times editorial page labeled the bill "xenophobic." Welcome to the
thoughtless world of contemporary liberalism. Beginning in the 1960s, liberalism, once the home
of many deep thinkers, began to substitute feeling for thought and descended into superficiality.
The
Democrats have issues. The Democratic leadership is fractured and dominated by
people who are hysterical, abusive and oblivious.
Liberals
and the Woman Who Hates Them. Reacting with stupefied indignation whenever someone disagrees
with them — especially in a way that makes people point and laugh at liberals — they
seem to be in a constant state of outrage. Liberals, and the conservatives who fear them,
have a look of perpetual outrage, kind of the way Nancy Pelosi has a look of perpetual surprise.
Liberals tend to shout down their opponents instead of reasoning with them.
The
Illiberalism of liberals. Do you see a pattern here? Does there not seem to be a concerted
effort to prevent any person with whom the liberal activists disagree from being heard in Vermont? Is
there not an effort to restrict First Amendment rights?
Thought
Police: The Left vs. Free Speech. For expressing my views to readers like you on these pages,
hardcore leftists believe I should be put on trial as a war criminal. It tells you all you need to know
about the extreme left's view of the First Amendment: Free speech is great, as long as it's their free
speech (or extreme pornography). But dissenting views must be censored. The more effective the
opponent, the more important it is to shut him down.
Online
activists on the right, unite! A digital war has broken out, and the conservative movement is
losing. Read the comment sections of right-leaning blogs, news sites and social forums, and the
evidence is there in ugly abundance. Internet hooligans are spewing their talking points to thwart the
dissent of the newly-out-of-power. We must not let that go unanswered.
Being
Shouted Down: On March 11, I joined a growing fraternity — conservatives who've
been prevented from speaking on college campuses. Student storm troopers have become the
final arbiters of who may speak and what views may be expressed in academia — once dedicated
to free inquiry and open discussion, now as intellectually open as a Stalinist gulag. The
academic archipelago?
Democrats
Eager to Exploit Anger Over Gas Prices. Democrats running for Congress are moving quickly to use
the most recent surge in oil and gasoline prices to bash Republicans over energy policy, and more broadly,
the direction of the country.
Democrats Try to Use
Katrina as G.O.P. Used 9/11. Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee,
toured a house on Friday [4/24/2006] that the Hurricane Katrina floods wrecked, picking up debris,
lamenting the federal response and leaving little doubt of the powerful symbolism his party sees
in the ruined neighborhoods here. As Mr. Dean's well-covered hurricane-cleanup mission
suggested, New Orleans may well become for Democrats in 2006 and 2008 what New York was for
Republicans after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, an evocative metaphor rooted in tragedy
that can potentially be turned to electoral advantage.
[Notice that Mr. Dean manages to clean up debris without getting his white shirt dirty.]
Anti-Poverty Spending Grows. Brian
Riedl, senior policy analyst in federal budgetary affairs at The Heritage Foundation, …
called for facts to overcome emotion in the claim the rich are shortchanging the poor.
Chill out over global warming. You'll
often hear the left lecture about the importance of dissent in a free society. Why not give it a whirl?
Start by challenging global warming hysteria next time you're at a LoDo cocktail party and see what happens.
A post-9/11 vocabulary test:
You see it in the refusal to profile at the airport, limit immigration from terrorist-enabling countries, and
shut down Saudi pilot training programs — even to this day — for fear of hurting
feelings. You will see it throughout the week-long commemoration of 9/11 as pundits and scholars
deemphasize the jihadi roots of the terrorist attacks in favor of "dialogue" and "tolerance" and
self-flagellation.
Liberals
and Their False Idols: As psychiatrist Lyle H. Rossiter, Jr., points out in his new book, "The
Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness," … the liberal agenda preys on weakness
and feelings of inferiority in the population by creating and reinforcing perceptions of victimization; satisfying
infantile claims of entitlement, indulgence and compensation; augmenting primitive feelings of envy; rejecting
the sovereignty of the individual and subordinating him to the will of the government."
Democrats oppose windmill power because
the windmills are unsightly. U.S. Reps. Alan Mollohan and Nick Rahall, both West Virginia
Democrats, are leading a high-profile fight against industrial wind farms on the state's mountaintop
ridges. … Mollohan wrote, "Because of the huge physical size of these projects, their starkly industrial
appearance, and the fact that they dominate the view of the entire area in which they are located, these
projects naturally raise concerns when they are proposed to be sited in areas that people enjoy for their
scenic, natural beauty."
"Success, simply by
its existence, is proof positive to the Modern Liberal of some kind of chicanery and likely bigotry.
Failure, simply by its existence, is enough proof to them that failure has been victimized."
Coulter Foes Launch Hate-Filled
Attacks. Many of those writing the negative e-mails are outraged that a conservative
would ask a conservative author questions from a conservative's perspective for a conservative
newspaper. One person writes, "You are so unfair and unbalanced!" Well, there goes
my shot as a Fox News anchor.
Liberals
from another planet. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be a liberal,
and to have self-righteous blowhards like Ted Kennedy, Robert Byrd and Charles Schumer,
speaking for me. And then I wake up screaming.
"Unhinged": Michelle
[Malkin] deliberately chose the
title, "Unhinged," purposely, to convey that the American Left, generally
speaking, has long since come unglued, giving itself over to irrationality and extremism
rather than reasoned discourse.
Patrick J. Kennedy faithful flooding
Rhode Island GOP with 'hate mail'. Rhode Island Republicans have received piles of "hate mail"
from supporters of U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, angry that the GOP has called for the troubled six-term
congressman to step down. "This has clearly hit a raw nerve somewhere," Rhode Island GOP spokesman
Chuck Newton told the Herald. "We've received mountains of hate mail from all over."
The Senator who
cried 'bigot'. According to Minority Leader Harry Reid, even suggesting the Constitution
should protect marriage as the union of husband and wife constitutes something like hate
speech: "For me, it is clear the reason for this debate is to divide our society,
to pit one against another," Reid said. "This is another one of the president's
efforts to frighten, to distort, to distract and to confuse America."
The Terrell Owens
Democrats. The Terrell Owenization of the Democratic Party is pretty much complete.
Selfish, media-hogging, and utterly unconcerned about the impact of what they are doing to their team, the
Dean-Reid-Pelosi Party has thrown its ongoing collective temper tantrum for months now. And the media
has shown up whenever they chose to flex their muscles in the driveway.
Attack dogs: The
boy who cried "Wolf" at least took the precaution of doing so when there was no alleged predator
in view. If he'd stood there crying "Wolf" while pointing at a hamster, he would have
been led away for counseling. That's the stage the Senate Democrats are at.
Your Turn. Liberals
seldom bother to attempt to marshal arguments. Instead they resort to launching personal attacks and
changing the subject. Sometimes both in the same e-mail.
Fake but accurate. Again.
Senator Ted Kennedy looks ridiculous today, in the wake of his foolish reliance on a bogus story of "repression" under
the Bush administration's anti-terror efforts. … So the Senator's negative opinion, based on fiction, somehow is
still real. Because feelings matter more than facts, I suppose.
Good Economy, Bad Polls, What Gives?
President Bush's political opponents are always available and willing to poor-mouth the economy. When he
first entered Washington, all the talk was of recession. That ended quickly, but Democrats clutched on
to the budget deficit, caused of course by President Bush's tax cuts "for the rich." Then it was
unemployment; the worst economy since Hoover, they told us. But the jobs situation improved during
the 2004 campaign, so the "disappearing middle class" became the freak-out du jour.
Democrats Will Lose Because They Offer No
Hope. The Democrats offer no hope. It's that simple. The belief system of the Democratic
Party is predicated on the assumption that there is no hope. There is no hope that the poor and
aged will ever be able to live financially independent of government aid. There is no hope that
we can still create a lasting peaceful democracy in Iraq. There is no hope that we can guard our
borders and remain the beacon of light on the hill. There is no hope that women can survive having
an unwanted child, even if that child could find love elsewhere. There is no hope that those on
welfare can take the reins of their own destiny. There is no hope that God can be both primary
in our hearts and ancillary in our politics. There is no hope that marriage can remain a solely
heterosexual institution.
Katrina
Aftermath Highlights True Political Motives. For liberals, the scope of the Katrina
catastrophe, and the degree to which America is preoccupied with it, represent a golden opportunity
to exploit emotions and distort circumstances as a means to maximize the political mileage that
might be gained from it. Such callous behavior, while heartless and absolutely appalling,
is also absolutely consistent with standard liberal operating procedure.
Liberal reactions
to the marriage amendment are not deep. Virtually every news report about President
George W. Bush's support for a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of a
man and a woman describes it as "pandering" to the "far Right," the "radical Right" or, less pejoratively,
"social conservatives" of the Republican Party. Democrats regularly describe the amendment as enshrining
"discrimination in the Constitution." In the words of Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., "A vote for the
amendment is a vote for bigotry — pure and simple."
Hate speech from the left - 2005
edition. [2004 was] another year in which liberals engaged in, and mostly got away with,
grotesque slanders and slurs about conservatives — the kind of poisonous rhetoric that should
be unheard-of in a decent society. Once again, too many on the left — not crackpots from the
fringe, but mainstream players and pundits — chose to demonize conservatives as monsters rather
than debate their ideas on the merits.
The extreme sport of insult:
The hard left decided long ago that George W. Bush is Hitler. In maddened corners of the Internet and at
swastika-choked antiwar marches, Bush is shown with a Nazi uniform or a Hitler mustache.
DNC Stands By Rangel After 'Hate Speech'. The
Democratic National Committee yesterday [9/27/2005] refused to distance itself from Rep. Charles Rangel's
comparison of President Bush to an infamous Southern segregationist, Theophilus "Bull" Connor, remarks the
Republican National Committee identified as "hate speech" and urged the DNC to repudiate.
A major problem for the
Democrats: The headline is this: "Democrats Fragmented and in Disarray." The
story has two aspects that must trouble those Democrats who understand media. The first aspect
is that it is filled with dire portents. Journalists are attracted to dire portents whether
the portents are true or palpably absurd. The second aspect that must trouble Democrats is
that this news story happens to be true.
Catchy slogans make great bumper stickers,
but they usually don't mean anything. Take this one, for example. Are they trying to say
the stock market is high enough? Unemployment is low
enough? Wouldn't it be more meaningful (and honest) to have a bumper sticker that
says, "Vote for the Abortion Party", or, "Vote for the people who brought you 1.6–Gallon
Toilets", or "Let's Outlaw Everything that isn't Mandatory"?
Democrats' language is
for 'losers'. The Democrats' awkward new slogan — "Together, America can do
better" — may not say much more than "Anybody would be an improvement on the current bunch of
bozos," yet many Democrats are hoping that it will be enough to bring the party back to life this fall.
Supping
at the children's table. We must look at the Republicans as the Adult Party
and the Democrats as naughty children sent to sup at the children's table. Republicans
lead, Democrats rebel. George W. nominates serious judges and the Democrats throw
tantrums. Conservatives, dominant in the Adult Party, who try to conserve traditional
ideals are, ironically, in the vanguard.
Hating Bush: We have
reached the point where much political debate consists of insults and name-calling, every attack is likely
to be called a "lynching," and tired expressions such as "institutional terrorism," "institutional racism,"
and "intellectual McCarthyism" are supposed to be taken as real arguments.
Self-indulgence: The
enraged speeches and street disorders across the country that accompanied the inauguration of President Bush
may tell us more than we want to know about what is happening to this country. Elections are supposed
to be an alternative to other ways of settling political differences, including riots, military coups and
dictatorships. But riots have been re-christened "demonstrations" by the mealy-mouth media.
Hate in America: The
protesters, while unable to disrupt the Republican National Convention as intended, represented a disturbing
new development in the nation's politics: hatred in the streets. The organized demonstrations were
purely negative, attacking George W. Bush with scant expression of support for John Kerry. Individual
marchers singled out any person they thought might be a convention delegate, firing off angry, often obscene,
denunciations.
Politics Of Hate:
Its one thing to scare senior citizens about Social Security reform with hate speech, but to go so far as
staging an assassination of the president over his idea for a Social Security fix, is kind of over the top. In
researching the politics of hate, I was surprised to get 1,690,000 hits on Google for "hate Bush."
But I was astonished to get 1,140,000 for "kill Bush."
Blind
Anger. Anger, the most toxic of emotions, has poisoned the American left and
much of the Democratic Party. ... Anger has become the fashionable political mood in America's faculty
lounges, big city newsrooms, and Democratic political events. Anger is a terrific
motivator. Angry people contribute money, go to events, wear buttons, t-shirts, and
funny hats, and readily slap bumper stickers on their Volvos, Beetles, mini-vans, and Lexuses.
The Ignorant
and the Idiotic? On the web, embittered liberals and Democratic activists are
peddling spurious stories, urban legends really, about how IQ is inversely correlated with
voting Republican. In reality, no correlation exists.
Liberal
chattering class unhinged. Democrats have acted like victims of robbery
the last four years, but now they're acting like women scorned, rejected by a dueling
banjo-wielding electorate. I guess I suspected they'd take their losses badly, but I
didn't realize they'd unshackle all gentlemanly restraints on their septic bitterness.
Morals
hypocrisy: Isn't it ironic that liberals seem to resent conservatives for
promoting moral issues and being judgmental when every ounce of their leftist fiber bristles
with an air of moral superiority? It's a turf thing, a matter of entitlement. Liberals
are truly annoyed that large segments of the population vote Republican primarily because of
social issues, when for decades the "progressives" have claimed to have a monopoly on
morality and compassion.
Michelle
Malkin Axed for Views. My experience, both as a columnist and an observer of
life, is that liberals consider any bold assertion of conservative political thought
"mean-spirited." Indeed, the liberals' favorite charge against conservatives is
that they are intrinsically mean, uncompassionate people.
"Life is a comedy to those who think
and a tragedy to those who feel."
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