Over the past several weeks a remarkable but unsurprising trend is seeing the light of the day involving Democrats and throwing their left wing anti-Iraq War, anti-capitalists, anti-America, (you name it) base under the bus.
Your author has previously stated multiple times that the takeover of the House by the Democrats in 2006 had nothing to do with the Iraq War but rather was enabled by the Republicans’ failure to police their own elected members. Your author has cited the Connecticut Senate election where former Democrat now Independent Senator Joe Lieberman did not receive his party’s nomination. The endorsement went to anti-war candidate Ned Lamont. Lieberman had previously voted with Republicans and vocally supported the Iraq War. While DNC chairman Howard Dean, famous for screaming, requested Lieberman to stand down and not embarrass the party, as if referring to Senator Ted Kennedy as their party’s ‘conscience’ isn’t embarrassing enough, Lieberman won. Connecticut was and is still seen as a blue state, a liberal corner of New England and even they could not put in an anti-war representative.
Hint: The Democrats only wanted the Iraq War to end under President Bush’s term. The hayseed from Crawford, who defeated one of their former darlings Al Gore in 2000 and their aristocratic blue blood Senator John Kerry in 2004, would have to leave office with his tail between his legs if the war abruptly ended.
When push came to shove the Democrats could not woo Congress to garner enough votes to stop military funding. This had to be one of the most malicious examples of politicization in recent US history. Meanwhile through 2006 and this year conditions in Iraq approved. In fact much of Iraq, particularly with the case of the Kurdistan region, was already looking up long before General Petraeus’s recent assessment. However most rank and file Democrats chose to ignore facts and instead picked the path of cantankerous bitterness and demonized their political opponents.
Meanwhile House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had to be held accountable and last week she had had enough of these anti-war types that were previously credited with the Democrat Congress takeover in 2006. It seems that some of her supporters had taken refuge by lounging in the front lawn of her San Francisco residence. They were none too please that Madam Speaker had not ended the Iraq War. Mrs. Pelosi was quoted in the Washington Post with the following:
"Look,I had, for five months, people sitting outside my home, going into my garden in San Francisco, angering neighbors, hanging their clothes from trees, building all kinds of things -- Buddhas? I don't know what they were -- couches, sofas, chairs, permanent living facilities on my front sidewalk."
The reader also must remember that famed anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan has vowed to run against Pelosi in 2008 for her failures to end the Iraq War. While this may be an idle threat from Sheehan, one can only imagine the first woman Speaker having to explain what she has been doing while in office to one of her base’s members she depended on in 06.
Then last week Democrats drummed up the ‘blame Bush’ beat as they did with post Hurricane Katrina aftermath in New Orleans (did the reader take note that Louisiana just elected Republican Bobby Jindal as their governor?) and anything else they didn’t like when attempts where made to expand federal funding for SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program). The Democrats and too many Republicans for that matter wanted to provide insurance for those families who could not qualify for Medicaid and somehow a tax of sixty one cents per pack of smokes was going to cover the expansion, which would have increase the funding for the program from $5 billion to $12 billion. This was to be funded by a demographic group (smokers) who are shrinking in numbers?
The Bill (labeled HR 976) originally passed the House and Senate. It was heralded, most notably by Democrats, as a ‘bipartisan effort’. Democrats only say such things when they get what they want, which includes their cake and your bakery. President Bush wisely vetoed the legislation, his fourth such action since he has been in office. Now your author doesn’t know how long it took Democrats to parade children around the Capitol proclaiming Bush was callous and put their health at peril but one should know that if a group has to resort to such cheap and gross tactics something is hanky on the goods being sold. In this case it was mess of an entitlement program that would have hit you the taxpayer in the wallet before it was over. Supporters of this attempt commented on it being the largest expansion since Medicaid and that was when LBJ graced the Oval Office. Medicaid has been a bureaucratic nightmare ever since.
The Democrats vowed to garner enough votes to override Bush’s veto. At the end of the day representatives listened to their constituents and this attempt failed in the House.
Finally the most obvious display of Democrats losing touch with their anti-war, anti-capitalist, anti-American (you name it) base happened over the course of the past few days. Last week California Democrat Congressman Pete Stark, a figure best left in the House basement, ranted on the floor and stated that Bush was sending troops to Iraq to be killed for ‘amusement’ and proceeded to tie in Bush’s veto on SCHIP as reckless. Today House Minority Leader John Boehner proposed censuring Stark for his ridiculous comments but the effort failed. Just last year the MoveOn.org crowd and other leftist groups would refer to Stark as a hero, a patriot or brave. However few if any Democrats who received campaign contributions from MoveOn and others failed to come to Stark’s defense and merely voted against what would have an embarrassing strike against one of their own.
Back in 2006 your author predicted the Democrats were given hollow victory. To the victor goes the spoils but in this case the recipient is carrying spoiled baggage. Now the only question remains is: Will the Republicans be able to capitalize on the Democrats’ failures?
