I’ve never had so much email from an article as I did from the one I wrote last week (‘Krushing Karl Rove’ CFP, July 21, 2005) where half of those who wrote me berated me as an idiot for getting taken in by Rush Limbaugh’s spoof and the other half cheered me on for smacking down the liberal Democrats’ evil conspiracy. I must admit that I wasn’t entirely sure whether the radio commercial was a spoof or not, and being agnostic on that issue, I chose to treat the piece as a sort of morality play, an "it could happen" scenario. It served to illustrate in my mind exactly what the Democrats’ apparatchiks might be capable of. Think about it. Twenty million listeners hear Rush Limbaugh’s spoof and half of them believe that it’s the real thing.
The essence of good satire is that it contains a strong element of truth and the Karl Rove commercial certainly had that, judging by some of the things historically emanating from groups such as moveon.org and related entities.
It’s often said that perception is reality and in this case the reality is that the Democrats are perceived by a large cohort of their countrymen as being loony, left-wing conspiratorial character assassins whose opinion of people in general is that they are mentally deficient and need the government to tell them when and how to wipe.
Examine the Democratic leadership, their moral and financial supporters and you have a walk-in closet full of multiple skeletons. There’s Ted Kennedy of the Chappaquiddick swim team and the Harvard elbow-bending squad; there’s Robert Byrd, a former Grand Kleage, Exalted Dragon or other lynchpin of the KKK; there’s Howard Dean, cheerleader extraordinaire, a real screamer; Barbra Streisand, who can’t tell the difference between Iran and Iraq; Michael Moore who makes up facts if those at hand don’t fit; and of course, the Clintons who have had more of their friends die under mysterious circumstances than most L.a. Gang members.
No wonder so many people thought that Limbaugh’s spoof was real. Given the Democrats’ leftist philosophy and the loony party leadership, I’d say they’re on par with the Star Wars bar.
The question facing the Democrats is just how weirdly dystrophic does the Party have to get before the general membership will consist only of the current leaders and their media lackeys? You can just about predict what they are going to do and say to whatever eventuality may arise. If there’s a rumor that prisoners of war are being abused by U.S. troops, then it must be true, hence the ridiculous charges of the "Gulag of our time". If the president attempts to nominate a judge to an appellate position, then come hell or high water, that judge will not be confirmed if they have to shut down the government to do it. Guess what’s going to happen with the John Roberts Supreme Court nomination: the Democrats will proclaim Roberts as too conservative to sit on the high court and will try their damndest to torpedo his appointment, albeit I think they will fail.
The Democrats pay lip service to national security and anti-terrorism initiatives, but complain bitterly when legislation that enables the authorities to nab terrorists before they strike is enacted. When terrorists do strike, then the Democrats seem to understand why they struck and more often than not be sympathetic to the terrorists.
Democrats complain about the looming energy crisis and the high price of oil, yet are categorically opposed to exploring domestic sources of oil that could free the U.S. from the OPEC stranglehold.
The Democrats go on and on about how racist Republicans are. Yet fewer minorities and women were appointed to cabinet-level positions when the Democrats were in power than today, not that this should matter. The Democrats have been talking about fighting poverty since 1963, when Lyndon Johnson declared his War on Poverty. Now over 40 years later poverty has become a bigger problem than ever and the Dems are trying to blame "the rich". Inciting class or race envy has been one of the mainstays of the Democrats’ political repertoires for years. But people have begun to see it for what it is and as a result more blacks and Hispanics voted Republican during last election than at any previous time.
If your old song and dance no longer draws a sympathetic audience, then it’s time to change the song and/or the dance. all indications are that the Democratic Party is well beyond its "best before" date. Given that so many people took a spoof commercial as a serious political stratagem, I’d say their image in the eyes of the public is pretty tarnished. But then, only we gullible people seem to be able to see that.