Missing and Feared
Lost: Dems
The other night I was fortunate enough to stumble upon the
Charlie Rose show and caught most of his interview with new Democrat Minority Whip Nancy
Pelosi. I say 'fortunate' because after watching her, I now realize how great the
Republican victory on November 5th was. I now realize how destitute the Democratic Party
really is to have had to resort to electing her Minority Leader. It is now obvious to me
that she has no idea what the Democrats message is and what they stand for. She even said
so herself! She admitted their message not only didn't get out during the midterm election
campaigns, but that there was no message. Charlie did everything he could to get her to
repeat the criticisms of the Bush Administration that we all heard so much of but she was
forced to take the high road, admit failure, and vow to "work with the
President" in the future. I know that won't happen but it gave me a good laugh
anyway.
I also realized how poor a speaker she really is. She seemed
totally dumbfounded by some of Charlie's questions, staring blankly like a deer in
headlights for several seconds before answering with unintelligible and incoherent
ramblings that came nowhere near an actual point. I almost felt sorry for her. It was like
watching a bad high school debate team that was totally unprepared for any of the
questions and made up answers on the spot.
If she is the best the Democrats have to offer, Republicans
need worry about defeat in the next round of elections only if they shoot themselves in
the foot and fail to deliver on what America entrusted them to do.
The other newsworthy gaffe by the Democratic Party in the
last week was, of course, Tom Daschle's idiotic remark concerning talk radio. Rush
Limbaugh can only wish he were as powerful as Tommy alleged and was another sign the
Democrats are totally lost. Daschle is obviously in denial and is playing the blame game
as liberals typically do when they lose. I dare them to come up with their version of Sean
Hannity or Michael Savage and try to compete. Their problem is it would have to be a 15 or
30-minute show due to lack of meaningful content.
If it weren't for the mindless sheep that follow them, we
might have to put their mascot donkey on a milk carton, because it appears they're totally
lost. I say sheep because I read plenty of editorials in the papers that almost repeat
verbatim the accusations the Democrats make towards Republicans. You know the list;
Republicans are going to gut Social Security, Bush is losing the war on terrorism, Bush is
a warmonger only interested in protecting the country's oil interests, Bush is responsible
for the poor economy, blah blah blah. (Actually the economy's steadily improving if you're
watching the Dow and Al Gore admitted the recession began in March 2000 on Clinton's
watch.) Letters to the editor aren't any better as it appears most people aren't willing
to study the facts and accept as gospel what the talking heads on the TV news tell them.
One major example is the war on terrorism. Daschle says we're
losing the war because Osama bin Laden appears to be still alive. Didn't the President
tell us in numerous speeches after 9/11 it wasn't just about Osama? Others claim al-Qaida
is as strong as ever and have reorganized. Oh, really? Where are they? Most of them are in
Guantanamo Bay, the rest are scattered all over the world and aren't pulling off anything
compared to what they did pre-9/11. Those that haven't been caught are prisoners wherever
they've been forced to hide. And those asking why Saddam and why now? Did not our
President tell us this was a global war to root out terrorism wherever it exists? If
Saddam, who kills and maims his own people when they defy him, doesn't qualify as a
terrorist, who does? Are we to wait for New York or D.C. to turn into a mushroom cloud
before we act? Not that we need the U.N. or NATO to approve but we are clearly within our
rights to defend ourselves.
Another example is all the people complaining about this new
Department of Homeland Security and how this administration is trampling the Bill of
Rights and all that garbage. I've read the Homeland Security Act HR 5005 and it says
nothing of tracking every purchase, phone call, e-mail, or trip every American makes.
Nothing at all. This nonsense came from the liberals who can only succeed by spreading
falsehood. The problem is, so many Americans close their eyes and ears and accept it
unchallenged.According to Section 202 of the bill, "Directorate for information
analysis and infrastructure protection," the undersecretary of Homeland Security is
required to: (A) Identify and assess the nature and scope of terrorist threats to the
homeland; (B) Detect and identify threats of terrorism against the United States; and (C)
Understand such threats in light of actual and potential vulnerabilities of the homeland.
Trust me, all this garbage about how the Bush Administration
is about to become the 2002 version of Big Brother is complete nonsense. Had this
department existed prior to 9/11, and prevented it, nobody would be complaining. And when,
not if, this new Act proves successful, all these arguments will go away and people will
see they had nothing to be afraid of. We're at war, and war causes a people to do things
differently in order to win the war. If America continues to slide back into the
complacency that existed before 9/11, we'll see another, and perhaps larger, terrorist
attack on our homeland.
Many have quoted Benjamin Franklin and/or Thomas Jefferson
(they aren't such which) as saying, "They who would give up an essential liberty for
temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security." Well that's fine. I have
the utmost respect, admiration, and gratitude for our founding fathers. But none of them
could have predicted 9/11 and I'm guessing wouldn't have said those things if they had.
The Constitution is not written in stone and was made amendable for a reason. I'm sorry,
but one man's opinion from more than 200 years ago is just that: one man's opinion. Let's
not grant him immortality and ignore real and present dangers we face today. If we're
going to throw around quotes from eons ago to justify lack of action, maybe another will
cause us to think differently: "He who does not learn from history is doomed to
repeat it." Author unknown
Dwight Baker is an engineer for
a NASA contractor at the Johnson Space Center. |
