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The Political Werewolf

If you know me, then you know I'm a big political nut. So, I've decided to add my own personal flavor to the realm of political discussion. We'll be talking about various issues - some of them having to do with current events, others perhaps more on a philosophical level. But in any case, you're free to respond to whatever you read here, either by E-mail or on the message board.

All righty, here we go.

Desperate Measures from Desperate People

When you have the facts on your side, argue the facts. When you have the law on your side, argue the law. When you have neither, holler.
          -Al Gore

Watching the last few weeks unfold, however difficult they were, proves the point that I've been making over the last few months in this column: the Democratic Party is going absolutely nowhere, and they know it. They're out of power in just about every place where it matters, they no longer have a stranglehold on mass media (now it's only a full nelson), bastions of liberalism like California are beginning to swing right, the war in Iraq is succeeding despite their efforts to paint it as a quagmire, the economy is recovering despite their attempts to talk it down, their ordained nominee can't get any traction from any bad news directed towards Bush... and the Dems just can't take it.

So much so, that they've developed a new hobby: throwing temper tantrums. Conservative talk show host/blowhard (depending on who you ask) Rush Limbaugh has always theorized that liberals are always at their funniest when they're not in charge of anything. And after witnessing the antics of the Democratic party recently, he's once again been proven right. Never has an entire party - and not just the party, the leadership of that party - been so visibly frustrated at their inability to spread their rhetoric.

We saw glimpses of it last year, when anti-war protests were at a fever pitch. No one quote encapsulated the entire anti-war sentiment as the one screeched out by New York senator Hillary Clinton: "I am sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and you disagree with this administration somehow you're not patriotic! We should stand up and say, we are Americans and we have a right to debate and disagree with any administration!!" Unfortunately, words on a computer screen just don't do this quote justice. You have to hear it to believe it. But in case you missed that gem, don't worry, there's more where that came from.

Perhaps the most famous meltdown of all was the one from presidential candidate Howard Dean when the wheels fell off his campaign just days before the Iowa caucus. In his attempt to rally the troops, the American public got a glimpse into just what kind of a person Howard Dean truly was: temperamental, standoffish, unable to accept reality. His tagline - "Yeeeeaaaarrgh!!" - made many people wonder if he was channeling Lou Ferrigno. But it's another example of Democrats' total inability to come to grips with their situation. Even when it's just a race for the nomination, their blind hatred for Bush and conservatives as a whole leaves them flabbergasted when they realize they're on the outs.

The most recent case of a prominent Democrat going into conniptions was former vice president Al Gore. Speaking in front of a crowd, Gore reverted to his old southern twang (which was totally absent during his years as veep) and let off on this rant: "Our nation's best interest lies in having a new president who can turn a new page, sweep clean with a new broom, and take office on January 20 of next year with the ability to make a fresh assessment of exactly what our nation's strategic position is as of the time the reins of power are finally wrested from the group of incompetents that created this catastrophe! ... [The Iraqi prisoner abuse did not] spring from a few twisted minds at the lowest ranks of our military enlisted personnel. No, it came from twisted values and atrocious policies at the highest levels of our government! This was done in our name, by our leaders!"

Once again, just reading the words isn't enough. You have to listen to the sound bite in order to get the full effect. Of course, the words alone are ridiculous as it is; implying that anyone in Bush's administration condoned or even encouraged the abuse of Iraqi prisoners is false and unfounded. But this was not the oft-lampooned stoic, statuesque Al Gore giving this speech. This was a rabid, fire-and-brimstone Al Gore that was preaching to his followers like a Baptist minister gives his sermons. You know, I do call myself the Political Werewolf, but at least I don't snarl when I rant. Just remember, folks - this guy almost became president just three and a half years ago.

The last few months have been filled with people who are visibly desperate to derail Bush and his plans for Iraq and this country. The Democratic party have been trying to spin everything from Iraqi prisoner abuse to high gas prices to the voting peculiarities on American Idol to the Bush Administration. At the Cannes film festival, Michael Moore's "documentary" - which in and of itself is another anti-Bush tantrum - won the top honor, in an attempt to legitimize the radical filmmaker's message. Stateside, hundreds of millions of dollars were poured into the environmentalist wacko's equivalent to a porno flick - a movie about the what-ifs of global warming. Meanwhile in Iraq, terrorists from Iran and Syria are doing their darnedest to destabilize the country as the march towards the June 30th transfer of power.

There's been a dirty little secret within the party ranks for some time, however: Democrats are fully aware that the platform they run on is, in a vacuum, unpopular with the American public. A minority of people think we ought to defer to the United Nations when it comes to defending our own country. A small percentage of people believe that we as a society are undertaxed. Many people follow an established religion and want to have that religion recognized in the public square. Hell, even the poison pill issue of abortion doesn't enjoy the same level of support it had in the '70s. This is why liberals need to hide behind the terms "centrist" and "progressive" to get elected. It's why they need a biased media and a propagandistic public education system to prejudice otherwise open minds. It's why they need an activist judicial branch, passing court orders to force laws that they couldn't pass themselves. They see their grip on the American public slipping, and they can't handle it.

The Democratic party has always been quite liberal in its ideology. They've just been able to hide it well until recently. But as election day draws near, those on the left are becoming more radical, more shrill and more irrational. They despise Bush like normal people despise Osama bin Laden. Hell, to some liberals, the two of them are comparable in their evilness. They no longer have the public support they enjoyed just a decade ago, and they're letting everyone know it. With every passing day, people like Hillary Clinton and Al Gore will grow more and more belligerent, because they know that if Bush is re-elected, their days of hegemony are gone.

Care to discuss this?

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