Us vs. Them
It's time for Republicans and
conservatives in general to turn a negative into a positive. Thanks to the Trent Lott
fiasco, the Democrats showed their true colors. Never before have I ever seen an entire
party take something and run with it as long and hard as they did. But I'm glad for it.
Because now I hope their supporters that have allowed themselves to be spoon-fed
outrageous lies disguised as fact will finally get to see who's really working for them
and who's really holding them back.
Bill Clinton sounded off and painted
the entire Republican Party as racists. He said at a luncheon in New York on Thursday
December 19th, 2002 that it is "pretty hypocritical of Republicans to criticize Trent
Lott for stating publicly what he said the GOP does on the back roads every day." He
added: "They try to suppress black voting, they ran on the Confederate flag in
Georgia and South Carolina, and from top to bottom the Republicans supported it."
What party raised that flag, Mr.
Clinton? Democrats. He just alienated a significant group of Americans -- Southerners. How
can this stand?
If Mr. Lott was wrong for supporting
Strom Thurmond, an ex-Democrat segregationist who has since changed his ways and turned
Republican, what should we think of Clinton, who called the unapologetically
pro-segregationist William Fulbright his mentor and a great man?
Listening to various conservative
talk radio shows such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, the Democrats constantly try to
direct the conversation away from their racist acts, such as Clinton's above. Whenever the
many examples are brought up, such as ex-KKK member Robert Byrd or Jesse Jackson's
insensitive "Hymie-town" reference to New York a few years ago, they say it's
not fair and that we're comparing apples to oranges. What it actually is about is the
hypocrisy of their party. It's about the double standard perpetuated by the liberal media.
It's about their selective moral outrage. They can dish it out, but they can't take it.
When Trent Lott uttered his stupid
comments, nobody jumped on him faster or more harshly than his own party. Why? Because we
don't look the other way when one of our own is wrong. Democrats did that during the
entire Clinton presidency and when an ex-Klan member in Robert Byrd led their party in the
Senate.
How is it that the entire country
missed Democratic Senator Patty Murray's public slap in the face to the victims of 9-11?
She basically said Osama bin Laden was a great guy in front of a group of high school
students.
Bin Laden, she said, has "been out in these countries for decades, building schools,
building roads, building infrastructure, building day-care facilities, and the people are
extremely grateful. We haven't done that." Excuse me? We do it every day when we
donate billions of our own tax dollars to repressed or developing nations.
She continued. "How would they look at us today if we had been there helping them
with some of that rather than just being the people who are going to bomb in Iraq and go
to Afghanistan?"
The only major paper in the country that carried it was the Washington Post, and even then
only a blurb. The major networks and CNN only mentioned it several days after
conservatives, already weary from the Trent Lott fiasco, pointed out the obvious hypocrisy
and media bias. How is it she gets a pass and Trent Lott gets run up the flag pole for a
tongue-in-cheek comment, albeit a dumb one, at a 100-year-old's birthday party?
I did a comparison of the two party's web sites at the time all this was going on. I was
astounded by what I found on the front page of both. I'm not suggesting a political
fence-sitter decide which party to join based solely on a web site, but they do illustrate
how radically different the two parties are.
On the Republican National
Committee's site (www.rnc.org), a casual glance at the major topics included the
following:
- President Bush Introduces New Missile
Shield to Defend America
- A Strong Economy
- Protecting Social Security
- Better Health Care
- The War on Terrorism at Home and
Abroad.
Every goal on the Republican site
points to accomplishments, issues, and strengths. It has one icon where you can click on
the Democrat's mascot, the donkey, and report false and misleading attacks by the
Democrats. It has only one icon where you can donate money if you want to.
Then there's the Democrats' site
(www.democrats.org). Here's what a review of their features and headlines at the time:
- Bush Administration Plan Shifts Tax
Burden to the Poor
- "It's Going to Be a Cold
Winter" (President Bush is putting hundreds of thousands of Americans at risk this
winter by cutting a program that helps low-income seniors and families pay for home heat.
Learn how "President Scrooge's" heartless decision affects families in your
state!
- Republicans' Choice of Lott as Leader
Reflects History of Racially Divisive Politics
- President Bush Awards Bonuses to
Political Cronies While Abandoning Working Families
- Republicans Fill Homeland Security
Bill With Special Interest Giveaways
- GOP Leadership Puts Anti-Choice
Measures at the Top of Agenda
See the difference? The GOP doesn't
point fingers, invent stories, or call people names like "President Scrooge." I
was hard-pressed to find where the Democrats' site talked about the good things they'd
done or where they listed their strengths. All they can do is make childish accusations
because they can't argue with Republicans or conservatives on the real issues. They have
nothing to offer, so they resort to these below-the-belt tactics. They also gave ample
opportunity to donate money on every page.
Despite claims that the Republicans
have authored a "vast right-wing conspiracy" via their so-called stronghold on
the media, it's the Democrats that have the majority of the country's newspapers, major TV
networks, and cable news outlets in their hip pocket. The Republicans have Fox News, the
Wall Street Journal editorial page, and talk radio. That's it. Hardly a fair fight.
Unfortunately, working Americans have less and less time to research the facts and be
involved in the nation's political process, so they're more willing to just click on the
tube, absorb whatever the TV news tells them, and they move on without wondering whether
or not what they heard was fact, spin, or opinion.
A current example would be the
acceleration of the president's tax cut. Letting citizens keep more of their own money always
boosts the economy. But once again the Democrats criticize it as nothing but a "tax
cut for the rich." To say that ignores the facts. Ninety-two million Americans will
get about $1000. But this will hurt the economy? The Democrats are countering by offering
about $600 distributed in check form from the U.S. Treasury. Why does the Republican plan
of giving Americans back their own money break the economy, but the Democrats' handing out
money doesn't?
Conservatism today is about more
than just us versus them. It's about more than right versus left, or even right versus
wrong.
It's about good versus evil.
Dwight Baker is an engineer for
a NASA contractor at the Johnson Space Center. |
