Let's play a game. I call it Frivolous vs. Magnanimous. It's a great way to highlight the differences between the two political parties.
Debate
Frivolous: The Democrats cancelled their debate on Fox News, apparently afraid of partisan "spin".
Magnanimous: The Republican debate appeared on noted pro-Democratic outlet MSNBC and was hosted by liberal pundit Chris Matthews... with color commentary offered by Keith Olbermann. Olbermann, of course, is an unhinged leftist who recently named the GOP the "leading terrorist group" in America. The Republicans were unafraid of political spin and were happy to appear on MSNBC.
War
Frivolous: only months after the Iraq war had begun, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi pilloried the Bush administration, stating that "The situation in Iraq and the reckless economic policies in the United States speak to one issue for me... and that is the competence of our leader." (source: CNN).
Magnanimous: After President Clinton's 1998 decision to order military strikes against terrorists in Afghanistan and Sudan:
| House Speaker Newt Gingrich quickly sided with the adminstration, saying the president "did the right thing" by ordering the simultaneous attacks against facilities believed linked to terrorists suspected in the Aug. 7 bombings of U.S. embassies in east Africa. (source: CNN) |
Supreme Court Justices
Frivolous: Democrats split over the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice John Roberts in a harsh, and nearly unprecedented, divide:
| On September 22 the Senate Judiciary Committee approved Roberts' nomination by a vote of 13-5, with Senators Ted Kennedy, Richard Durbin, Charles Schumer, Joe Biden and Dianne Feinstein the dissenting votes. Roberts was confirmed by the full Senate on September 29, passing by a margin of 78-22. All Republicans and the lone Independent voted for Roberts; the Democrats split evenly, 22 for and 22 against. Roberts was confirmed by what was, historically, a narrow margin for a Supreme Court justice... |
And Judge Samuel Alito was confirmed by an even narrower margin:
| [Alito's] nomination was voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on a 10-8 party line vote. Democratic Senators characterized Alito as a hard right conservative in the mold of a Clarence Thomas or Robert Bork... The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) formally opposed Alito's nomination... After a failed filibuster attempt by Senator John Kerry, ...the Senate confirmed Alito to the Supreme Court by a vote of 58-42... Such a close vote along party lines is rare for Supreme Court nominations, making Alito's confirmation one of the most controversial in American history. |
Magnanimous: Despite her ultra-liberal background -- including serving as a chief litigator for the ACLU -- Ginsburg was confirmed by the Senate by a near unanimous vote of 96-3. During Ginsburg's confirmation hearings:
| ...she did not answer some questions involving matters such as abortion, gay rights, separation of church and state, rights of the disabled, and so on. Only one witness was allowed to testify "against" Ginsburg at her confirmation hearings, and the hearings lasted only four days. They also pointed out that then-Judiciary Committee Chairman Joe Biden told her not to answer questions that she did not feel comfortable answering... |
Voting and Vandalism
Frivolous: Democratic supporters have a long history of vandalism and destruction in their pursuit of political victory. A partial list of violent incidents during the 2004 campaign include:
- Seattle, WA campaign Bush's campaign office was seriously vandalized
- Spokane, Washington - Bush's campaign office was burglarized, vandalized
- West Allis, Wisconsin - Dem. demonstrators stormed a Republican campaign office
- Knoxville, Tennessee - Gunshots fired into Bush-Cheney headquarters>
- Orlando, Florida - Mob attacks Bush-Cheney office
- Madison, Wisconsin - Swastika Burned Into Grass On Bush Supporter's Lawn
- Vail, Colorado - Vandals chainsaw Bush-Cheney sign
- Columbus, Ohio - Purple Heart Iraqi vet attacked
- Gainesville, Florida - Democrat slugs area GOP chief
- In flight, over Canada - Drunken Kerry supporter assaults seatmate in flight
- Dallas, Texas - Family of dead soldier harassed at candlelight vigil
- Huntington, WV - Gunshot fired at Republican headquarters
- Bozeman, Mont. - Bush campaign office vandalized, paint sprayed and rocks thrown
Magnanimous: I found no instances of Democratic campaign offices being vandalized, shot into, set aflame, burglarized, or otherwise damaged.
Fair Voting Practices
Frivolous: Democratic voting rights front group ACORN (the "Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now") has been tied to a wide variety of illegal behavior, including forged voter registrations, payment for votes, voting fraud, and paying for votes with crack cocaine:
| ...four persons working for [ACORN were indicted], accusing them of submitting more than 15,000 voter registration forms with fictitious names, phony signatures and bogus addresses... The Wall Street Journal reported that an Ohio ACORN worker was given crack cocaine in exchange for fraudulent voter registration cards. Many of the newly registered voters were deceased, underage or were named Mary Poppins, Dick Tracy or Jive Turkey... In Minnesota, authorities founds hundreds of voter registration cards in the trunk of a car owned by a former ACORN worker suspected of registering voters twice so he could double his fees... |
Magnanimous: Most complaints against Republican voting activities don't center around fraud and criminality. Instead, most of the outcry relates to requiring a valid ID before voting, preventing felons from voting, and accusations of "gerrymandering." Though there have been sporadic reports of voter registration cards being thrown away if the prospective voter was a Democrat, I can find no record of arrests, indictments, and paying for votes with drugs and cash.
Free Speech
Frivolous: Insight reports that Rep. Maurice Hinchey and Sen. Bernie Sanders are spearheading Democratic efforts to stifle the only media channels espousing conservative opinion by reinstituting the "fairness doctrine". Sanders stated, "now is the time to begin asking that if networks provide their listeners with 99 percent of talk shows being with right-wing extremists, whether that really is what public trust is about." Bottom line: Democrats seeks to eradicate conservative talk radio, because it has dominated its competition (consider the bankrupt Air America network).
Magnanimous: I can find no serious effort by Republican leaders to suppress free speech. To the contrary, I've found only examples of Republicans defending the right to dissent.
Media Criticism
Frivolous: Pulitzer-prize winning Washington Post columnnist David Broder recently called Harry Reid an "embarrassment" after the Senate Majority Leader declared the ongoing Iraq war "lost". In response, all 50 Democratic Senators published a joint letter roundly criticizing Broder for his comments.
Magnanimous: on September 8, 2004, Dan Rather led off his CBS Evening News broadcast with a major scoop: CBS had in its possessions documents that proved George W. Bush had skirted his duties in the Texas Air National Guard. The story subsequently exploded: The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, ABC, CNN, and NBC breathlessly covered the story. But within two days, the documents had been proven forgeries of the lowest quality. By September 20, when CBS finally admitted the story was a "mistake", the only response from the White House was exceedingly mild. White House spokesman Scott McClellan simply questioned the source of the memos and noted, "[the witness, Bill Burkett] in fact, is not an unimpeachable source, as was previously claimed."
Climate Change
Frivolous: With the introduction of a new "Intelligence Authorization bill", Democrats intend to divert funds from national security intelligence efforts in order to consider "the effects that climate change has on national security." In other words, Democrats view global warming as a threat that justifies stripping funds away from fighting terrorism.
Democrats view any criticism of global warming as intolerable. Al Gore notes a "scientific consensus" though some scientists point out that such a phrase is nonsensical, at best:
| Consensus is the business of politics. Science, on the contrary, requires only one investigator who happens to be right, which means that he or she has results that are verifiable by reference to the real world. In science consensus is irrelevant. What is relevant is reproducible results. The greatest scientists in history are great precisely because they broke with the consensus. |
Magnanimous: Republicans have generally raised valid questions about the man-made causes of climate change. In 2003, Senator James Inoufe asked, "an obvious question: If the Earth was warmer during the Middle Ages than the age of coal-fired power plants and SUVs, what role do man-made emissions play in influencing climate? I think any person with a modicum of common sense would say, 'Not much.'" Pop quiz: how did Greenland get its name?
Further, Republicans have noted complaints about a conflict-of-interest inherent within the UN's panel on climate change. Put simply, a wide range of respected scientists, environmentalists, researchers, agriculturalists, and activists -- on the left, mind you -- believe that the IPCC's carbon-offseting schemes are a "scam", "fantasy", "fiction", "nonsense", "fraudulent" and worse.
Conclusions
I call this study Frivolous vs. Magnanimous, but the term 'frivolous' is inadequate. The current Democratic leadership is a petty, partisan bunch more interested in reading polls than defending the country. And they've changed positions on Iraq so many times they could illustrate a political Kama Sutra.
Unable to compete in the marketplace of ideas, Democrats* instead suppress free speech, use violence and drugs to win elections, and treat national security and the Constitution like partisan punching-bags. It's just something to consider the next time you prepare to cast a vote.
*Today's Democratic Party is brought to you by George Soros™.
Author's Note: this post has been updated; hat tips: the incomparable Anchoress and the irreplaceable Larwyn.
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