by Klaus Rohrich
august 5, 2004
It’s curious how the Democratic Party attempts to portray itself as the party of the common people. This despite the fact that none of its candidates or functionaries are by any stretch of the imagination "common".
Looking at the Democratic National Convention held in Boston last week, one is reminded of the addams Family, or the Star Wars Bar, as a parade of speakers sought to fire up the faithful. The only speaker that seemed halfway "normal" was Barack Obama, whose speech was fairly upbeat. Following this, the Dems indulged in an orgy of fearmongering. The group hysteria took root as speakers like al Sharpton talked about a "vicious spirit in the body politic". This is the same al Sharpton who led authorities and the media on a wild goose chase in 1987 with the Tamara Brawley incident. according to Sharpton, Tamara Brawley, a young black woman was raped and beaten by a gang of white policemen. In the end it was proven that the entire incident was fictitious and Sharpton has yet to apologize for his role in the fiasco. Yet he was among the main speakers at the Democratic National Convention.
Then there is former President Jimmy Carter. For those too young to remember him, suffice it to say that his one-term Presidency will go down as one of the worst in american history. It was under Carter’s watch that Iran was lost to a fanatical bunch of Islamic clerics, who then took 240 american diplomats and their families hostage in Tehran and held them for a over a year. It was during the inauguration of Ronald Reagan that the Iranians finally released the americans, as they knew Reagan would do what was necessary to free the hostages, just as they knew that Carter wouldn’t. Yet he was among the speakers at the Democratic National Convention. His call for "…policies shaped by working americans instead of the super-rich…" was either a bad joke or a prime example of severe dementia, given the wealth of the Democratic candidates.
John Kerry is the wealthiest individual ever to run for President of the United States. Surely this qualifies as being "super-rich", doesn’t it, Jimmy?
Not to be outdone in loonieness, Teresa Heinz Kerry waxed poetic about some vague time in the future, under a Democrat government presumably, when "…women have all earned their right to their opinions [and]…will be called smart…just like men". Last time I looked women already had that right. Could it be possible that John Kerry is mistreating Teresa? How else might she get the impression that women were not allowed opinions?
Teresa then went on to say that it is important to "…protect our nation’s security without sacrificing our civil liberties." Maybe the fact that she stems from Mozambique and hasn’t taken much american history while attending university in South africa has confused her. Teresa, the Constitution of the United States guarantees your rights. The Bill of Rights of that Constitution lists 10 specific important "civil liberties", which all americans are guaranteed. This is america, Teresa, not South africa, Mozambique, nor even France, but america.
al Gore’s address was a veritable whinefest. He began by talking about the 2000 election. "This time," he said "every vote [will be] counted". He assured the delegates that the election would not be decided by the Supreme Court, but by the people. al, it’s a dead horse. Leave it alone. The facts are all the ballots in Florida were counted; you just didn’t like the outcome and figured you would suck and whine until you got the right answer.
al then went on to lament the "bad economy", citing the fact that he was out of work. I don’t know where al Gore and the Democrats get their economic statistics, but it has to be from the Farmer’s almanac, as even the most liberal U.S. media agree that the economy is booming.
Dennis Kucinich, the former Mayor of Cleveland, promised the delegates that, if elected, the Dems would work "with the International Criminal Court to reduce global warming". Huh? Since when is global warming and climate change a matter to be handled by the International Criminal Court? But then no one ever accused Kucinich of being rational, or sane, for that matter. Kucinich then went on to talk about weapons of mass destruction. Only, he wasn’t talking about missiles or bombs. He was talking about homelessness, joblessness, poverty, racism and fear. Does this mean american troops should have been sent into Cleveland?
Kucinich doesn’t have a reputation for being the most practical of all the democrats. What I can’t understand is why he was selected to speak at the Convention. The Democrat establishment can’t seem to understand what real people are looking for. There is a serious disconnect with the people they claim to represent.
and speaking of disconnect, Howard Dean (of Primal Screaming) Michael Moore (of Serial Lying) and Ben affleck (of Really Bad acting) rounded out the Democrats’ freak show.
Thomas Frank, the ultra-liberal author of the book What’s the Matter With Kansas: How Conservatives Won the Heart of america, put it most succinctly when writing about the Democrats. He had attended a party held for the Democrats in Boston and saw that the people who attended the party were all either celebrities of some sort, film stars or wealthy business people. Not a "common person" in sight. If the Democrats expect to win the White House this year their focus will have to be on real issues, not the imaginary ills dreamed up by their imaginary friends.