The Permanent Revolution::The Neocon Crusader

02.19.04

The NeoCon Crusader

Well, the inevitable happened. Dean For America figured out that America wasn’t really too big on the idea this time around. But have no fear: According to the website, Dean’s withdrawal is “A beginning, not an end.” In his speech (Why do they always sound like victory speeches?) he declared that he would not actively run for president, but would rather “Continue a grassroots effort designed to take back America for ordinary Americans.” Translation: I frittered away a nomination that was mine to lose and couldn’t win a single primary, but I’m still important, so I’m gonna withdraw, but not really. I’m going to make sure and stay here so everyone knows how important I am.” This effort should be seen for what it is: a highly egotist effort to keep his name in the papers rather than just own up to an ultimate failure of a campaign.

But that’s not the issue that’s on my mind today as the Crusade begins its march. Check the quote above one more time: “A grassroots effort designed to take back America for ordinary Americans.” Democrats have been making a big fuss along this line as soon as the campaign heated up. Dean prides himself as the populist candidate with buttons that say, “I want my country back.” John Kerry frequently takes a similar stance condemning special interest groups and promising to return power back to ordinary people (Irony, anyone?) and John Edwards, strong as his campaign may be, is basically just dishing the same shtick everywhere he goes, the infamous Two Americas drivel, I mean speech….no, I meant drivel. Bush, so they say, is a puppet of big corporations and they’re out fighting for the little guy. Never mind that this is the same excrement that’s been shoveled about since at least the 1930s. The crusade must march to tackle this baseless lie.

Kerry’s first, since he’s easy. He has taken more special interest money than any other sitting senator. Now, this is not a bad thing in itself. I’m not against donations from special interests. But don’t have such a record and then turn around with your William Jennings Bryan moment, while amazingly maintaining a straight face. And I don’t feel like hearing that Bush is a puppet of the rich from a guy who’s worth over 30 times Bush’s (earned) wealth—money Kerry acquired through marrying into someone who married into it.

Edwards is undone by his own personal example. On one hand, he keeps insisting that America is in the hands of the few who oppress the many (Side note: This is a vicious, baseless lie which preys on people’s envy). On the other hand, he keeps talking about he’s the American dream embodied (which isn’t false, much to his credit). Yet, these two statements are in utter conflict. Hey, John, if America has a caste system, then how was the son of a mill worker able to become a millionaire and a senator? Doesn’t your success prove that the system works? He can’t have it both ways. If he wants to talk about how he wants more people to succeed like he did, then fine. But don’t rant about how the system doesn’t work after you’ve proven that it does. There’s populist lie # 2. Notice how I didn’t even bother with the Trial Lawyer Association.

Dean is not worth very much mention, but it troubles me that if you like Bush, you’re not an “ordinary American.” I suppose upper-class college kids are apple pie and mom while soldiers and small business owners are corporate slime. The parties are cast along ideological lines, not socio-economic. The Democrats have using this lie since the New Deal, but it gets more stale every time. Look at the county breakdown of the 2000 election. Bush swept, and I meant swept, the entire heartland, the whole south, know, places were these ordinary Americans might live. Gore, with some exceptions, hit major population centers in the Northeast, northern Midwest (Chicago, etc.) and the West Coast. Who’s more regular—a farmer in Iowa or Barbra Streisaand? An oil worker in Texas, or nouveau riche on Martha’s Vineyard? I’m not saying that Democrats are the party of the upper class, my earlier statement about parties remains firm. But don’t let the Democrats perpetuate that lie anymore. It assumes that the 54% of the country that supports Bush isn’t “ordinary” that something’s wrong with them. Let’s prove in November that we’re not the ones with the problem.

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Day #7::Dean

Unfortunately, most of what can be said about Howard Dean, especially from the conservative side, has already been said. We know that he’s a maniac. Even political nonbelievers can make commentary on “I have a Scream.” We all know that he is, at the core, unelectable. Two weeks ago, every liberal commentator on Hannity and Colmes prognosticated, “Don’t underestimate Howard Dean!” Nowadays, even Susan Estrich of Michael “The Duke” Dukakis fame laughs him off as a wayward lunatic. And we all know, far too clearly, that he’s a left-wing radical in sheep’s clothing. I can’t see why people like Alan Colmes kept trying to cast him as a centrist. Anybody who proclaims that the “The Iraqi standard of living has gone down since the end of Saddam’s rule” is just begging for the ultra-left label. So I’m not here to ridicule him as a candidate. He’s done that plenty well by himself. But let us take a fanciful look at what could have been, since he only has himself to blame, not those mean ol’ other Democrats who kept picking on poor Howie. A short while ago, I was a little nervous…not that Bush would lose, but maybe that overconfidence would be damning. Now, Rove was, once again, proven right: We should all go Democrat and vote him through the primaries. It truly is our best hope. Dean, though he claims to “relish his newfound role as the underdog” (Democrat self-flagellation at its most shameless), he has numerous reasons to kick himself, primarily because it was his nomination to lose. He really had a good thing going: a pretty successful Vermont record (if you ignore tax increases on everything imaginable, including cigarettes and property) and the centrist label due to his proclaimed support for gun control and opposition to gay “marriage.” An apologist could point to things like this to defend against the left-wing maniac charge. But at the same time, he picked up the Wesleyan crowd (those who aren’t staunch Kucinich fans) through his fierce war opposition and universal health care plan. He was two candidates running one campaign. Sure, the Republicans could have blown him out of the water in the general election, but who cares? This guy likes to chop wood! And he hates Bush! Doesn’t it just make you swoon with righteous indignation? Come on…Admit it… It would have all been so perfect, had he possessed a little thing called common sense, which is apparently not very common. But, from the looks of it, it seemed like he never really wanted to win anyway, unless he honestly believes the majority of American people believe that killing Udai and Qusai “didn’t justify the means” and that the capture of Saddam “didn’t make ANYONE safer.” No one who wishes to be a viable player launches vicious attacks on his opponents and then runs and hides behind Terry McAuliffe’s leg when they fire back. Nobody who is serious on winning an election and sane says and does such things. They weren’t gaffes, which implies something accidental. This was a drive towards self-destruction. And that’s probably what a candidacy of hate ultimately drives towards. This guy was all about destruction from day one: Destroy the war on terror, destroy tax cuts, destroy everything Bush, crush the infidels, rise, mighty legions of the orange hat! Emerge from your coffee shops, blog your way into the glory of victory or paradise of martyrdom! Sorry, folks. This country is not inclined to elect the candidate whose rhetoric most closely resembles that of an Islamic terrorist. He had everything going for him…image, credibility, a strong enough record…but maybe he didn’t want it to be that easy. Maybe he wanted a challenge in gaining the nomination, couldn’t resist the “underdog” (aka excused Well, he sure got it. One simple”YAHHHHRRRGH!” secured that one. He coulda been a contender…now he’s hardly even worth my half-baked witticisms.

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Day #6::Sharpton

I have a great deal of trouble laughing at Al Sharpton. I can’t approach this with the casual attitude I hold towards non-threatening Democrats like Joe Lieberman or Dick Gephardt. Sharpton really concerns me, because he’s not a harmless radical like Kucinich who’s just trying to stir the pot. He’s a vicious megalomaniac who has the incredible gall to call himself a civil rights leader. It worries me very deeply, because if this man can comfortably exalt himself in the ranks of the Democratic party, say and do whatever he wants without a qualm, then he is given sanction and legitimacy as a leader. And a community with that sort of leader is in so much trouble that I fear for the future of a community that’s dealt with enough betrayals from those who were supposed to guide them. He consigns his constituency into doom and his party into mockery. Sharpton is frequently compared with Jesse Jackson, and the conservative can correctly point out that they’re equally corrupt, ineffectual, and selfish. But at least Jesse Jackson’s really good at pretending. At least he can point to organizations like the Rainbow Coalition and PUSH as evidence of his accomplishments, even though one is a front for vicious anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism, and the other is actually a front for lining his own pocket. But at least he can fake it. Al Sharpton, in terms of being a civil rights leader, has nothing but his assurance. Even the NY Times can’t come up with anything, as they listed his accomplishments as such: Ordained at the age of 10, running for mayor, inciting a fatal riot (the subject of a riot was a Jewish businessman in Harlem whose crime was not being black. Sharpton referred to him as a “white interloper.”) Then there’s his claim to fame: Defending Tawana Brawley, who claimed to have been gang raped by various white men, including prominent businessman. Sharpton led the campaign to either put them in prison or ruin their lives…until the whole thing was proven as a hoax. Even now, he refuses to apologize to the innocent man he tried to destroy. He is a racist with blood on his hands, a fear-mongerer who talks enough about being a civil rights leader enough to make you forget how much of a lie that is. I fear very much for any black community that would consider this man a leader. None of this is a secret, I just wanted to open up the details to anyone who isn’t aware. Far more sinister than Sharpton himself is the nature of his role within the campaign. He is frequently considered the black representative, and constantly lectures the other candidates on racism. When Dean made his Confederate flag remark, he lambasted Dean for referring to the “Swastika of America” thereby labeling a huge portion of southerners and everyone in the States of Georgia and Mississippi a Nazi. He lectured Dean on not having any black people in his cabinet (Even I’m defending Dean here- he would have to have gone out of his way to find a black man, and that’s affirmative action). What’s wrong with this picture? What gives him the right to lecture anyone on civil rights? Only two things: His word of honor, and that he’s black. The color of his skin far outweighs the content of his character. And because of men like him, the civil rights movement, on a national level, is over. Gone are the MLKs and Malcolm Xs, fighting for justice. There are only Jacksons and Sharptons who invent nonexistent racial problems to perpetuate their own egos. And the Democrats eat them up and let them make speeches, applauding both them and their own selves for being so tolerant and multicultural. Conservative Americans ye be warned: Don’t ever let a Democrat tell you that they’re of the tolerance party. If they were, they’d do something that actually helped blacks, rather than consigned them to the stewardship of criminals. The Democrats exalt the people who do the greatest imaginable disservice to the black community by excusing immoral behavior and shadowboxing white racism instead of combating serious social issues like crime and illegitimacy. And when these bullies open their mouths, neither white nor black will never have the courage to call them for what they are. They’re too afraid of the labeling game. Funny. I always thought civil rights was about moral courage, about doing the right thing no matter the cost. Maybe it’s true that the mission is not accomplished in terms of racial equality. But until the Dems wake up, they ensure that that operation is a true quagmire.

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