Democrats to America: "Boo!"
It’s somehow fitting that this year’s elections are being held so close to Halloween. Not only has the Left attempted to characterize the coming Republican tide as an invasion of ghosts and ghouls rising from the dead, it's removed its collective mask and announced to the world that it really does hold millions of its fellow Americans in contempt. Like Frankenstein’s monster in its death throes, its messengers are lashing out with incoherent grunting as they attempt to explain away the coming bloodbath.
There’s something shockingly spooky about watching some of this nation’s leading politicians, pundits and entertainers banding together to defame such a large portion of their constituencies. To them, the stupidity of the people is self-evident; after all, they’re being ignored by the boobs. They have Nobel Prizes and Pulitzers and Oscars and Emmys, and yet their wisdom is being questioned. And so they’re reduced to smarmy put-downs and self-congratulatory smugness. They call the activists “teabaggers,” and all those hip folks understand the reference. They blithely attack conservative women in repulsively misogynistic language. The country they celebrated two years ago for creating an atmosphere that allowed a grassroots movement to grow they now villify for the same thing.
Anyone who believes their mission to attack and destroy will end after election day seriously underestimates the panic they feel. They, of course, will sift through the ashes to find a few remnants to allow them to claim things were really not as bad as they could have been, and they’ll re-dedicate themselves to making sure this horror won’t be repeated in 2012. The battle doesn’t end on Tuesday. It begins.
- Comment (15)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (2)
Comments :
Oct '10
Re: Democrats to America: "Boo!"
Pat, you are very right that the conflict doesn't end Tuesday. It strikes me that this, in part, is rooted in two problems. One is the difference between beliefs being rooted in ideology and beliefs being rooted in observing reality. The second is the difference between seeing what creates a common bond between people is shared beliefs versus shared being.
Sadly, today our politics is dominated too much by people who subscribe to beliefs because of ideological reasons. (And conservatives aren't immune from this either.) Facts don't penetrate and that's the shame, because they are the objective thing from the outside that can cause two people to come closer together through a common recognition of the meaning of that fact. Instead, ideology is internally generated and thus not open to change. But facts won't change; they will keep beating on the door to be let in. Which means ideological people will either ultimately admit them entry or become even more ideological and defensive to try and keep them out. It seems like our politics today is dominated by the latter.
As for common bond being about shared beliefs versus being...
Oct '10
Re: Democrats to America: "Boo!"
it is pretty dangerous because defining commonality based on belief leaves no room for disagreement. It says that the tension that might exist between two people, if persuasion can't resolve it, needs to be eliminated by force (e.g., using the courts to legislate goals). And soon it becomes easier just to go to force ("you can't persuade them, they are ...").
Again, this isn't a phenomenon limited to Democrats. Conservatives can make the same mistakes. However it strikes me that Democrats more than Republicans are taken up by ideology whole cloth and have persuaded themselves that what unites us is belief not being.
Not wanting to get too philosophical, but I think those are underlying problems in American politics (and maybe always are there in politics) that we are seeing play themselves out.
Bottom line, though: Pat is very right.
Oct '10
Re: Democrats to America: "Boo!"
Indeed. Both the article and the comment(s) that followed.
Re: Democrats to America: "Boo!"
Jack, thanks for really thoughtful analysis.
Sep '10
Re: Democrats to America: "Boo!"
First comment: Yeah!
Second comment: As has been recommended by Peggy Noonan and others, we shouldn't focus on 'bright shiny things' after 1/20/11. On a recent Ricochet podcast, it was suggested that one of the first things should be to bring up a bill on that day to de-fund NPR. It might feel good to do such, but honestly NPR is beside our point. And will be seen as a distraction by 'the great unwashed' middle.
We need to tell the public that we are serious about cutting spending. For example, the House has to pass a budget for 2011. For that, we should re-pass the 2005 budget, and say that's the down payment on reducing spending. (Obviously it's politically a non-starter to cut SS and Medicare to their 2005 levels.) Adopting a prior year budget is the least demagogue-able approach to start with. IMHO.
Edited on Oct 31, 2010 at 10:32amSep '10
Re: Democrats to America: "Boo!"
The Democrats view themselves as America's Candy Dispensers, and the Republicans as the guys sticking razor blades in the candied apples.
Jul '10
Re: Democrats to America: "Boo!"
I would have provided my own thoughtful analysis, except I'm so steeped in fear that I can't comprehend facts and science and argument.
May '10
Re: Democrats to America: "Boo!"
This title would be one James Taranto at the WSJ would title Breaking News From 2008, 2006, 2004, 2000, 1998, 1996, 1994, 1992, etc: "It is fitting that this year's elections are being held so close to Halloween." This is what comes of having elections in early November. Lame stump speeches about tricks described as treats.
And don't nobody try and tell me only Dems go negative when they're desperate, cause I ain't buying none of that. We do it too, when we're desperate.
The difference this year is that the tone for this is being set at the top, as our contributor Pat "Chuck Norris" Caddell said in an article a day or two ago. Usually, Presidents sit back and watch their minions do this stuff like Zeus upon Mount Ida. This year, the Prez is dragging his office through the gutter.
May '10
Re: Democrats to America: "Boo!"
Kenneth
I would have provided my own thoughtful analysis, except I'm so steeped in fear that I can't comprehend facts and science and argument. · Oct 31 at 10:41am
Clever Kenneth, but not nearly as clever as these soliders' jab at John Kerry in response to another of his many gaffes.
Re: Democrats to America: "Boo!"
Except that, since the elections are held on the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November, the 2nd is the earliest an election can be held, and, thus, the closest to Halloween.
Oct '10
Re: Democrats to America: "Boo!"
I'm looking forward to the ruling class finding unique ways to minimize what happens on Tuesday and I suspect we'll get to enjoy some elements of the chattering class attempt to claim victory because, for example, the Earl of Dingle (I love Mark Steyn) wasn't thrown out of his ancestral House seat.
That said, you ain't seen nothin' yet when it comes to demonization and hysterics aimed at the people who are going to take this one last stab at saving the country before it becomes unrecoverable. If we're serious about this last chance to start restoring constitutional government, we need to understand this is going to be a generational process that doesn't stop with one election cycle.
Edited on Oct 31, 2010 at 1:42pmMay '10
Re: Democrats to America: "Boo!"
Re misogyny, had I managed to snog Christine O'Donnell one Halloween, I wouldn't have blabbed for political reasons. I would've blabbed out of pride and vanity.
That is one area in which Dem ickiness is unique to Dems. Possibly because I can't think of anyone on the other team to brag about (no, Kirsten Powers doesn't count).
Sep '10
Re: Democrats to America: "Boo!"
We have only just begun to fight. And that includes the Republican establishment as well as the Dumbocrats.
My fear is that the election will only slow down the process of runaway spending, and not do anything really substantive. I hope the newly elected Republicans realize the media blitz that is about to happen. I hope they are ready to gird up their loins and fresh courage take. I hope that new leadership appears in the House and the Senate among the Republicans.
If it turns out to be the same ol' same ol', then expect to see a third party come 2012. If Tancredo wins the governorship of Colorado, then I think I know what the name of the new party might be.
Oct '10
Re: Democrats to America: "Boo!"
I read on Powerline earlier as they talked about a book being reviewed in the NY Times today, Ratification--the People Debate, by Maier. The book is about how our constitution was ratified. There is a quote at the end of the review I liked:
"Ratification was a tribute to what Nathan Dane of Massachusetts, a reluctant convert to the Constitution, called 'the attention of this intelligent people.' Elites who disdain or ignore their fellow citizens come to grief."
I think there is a slow rising up of the intelligent people in this country...I hope it will continue.
Sep '10
Re: Democrats to America: "Boo!"
"There’s something shockingly spooky about watching some of this nation’s leading politicians, pundits and entertainers banding together to defame such a large portion of their constituencies."
Pat, your comment piggybacks nicely with the last Ricochet podcast, in which the panel pointed out just how dismissive those on the left have been to a genuine grass roots movement.