Posted by
Gamecock on Saturday, October 13, 2007 11:04:38 PM
Little did I know when I escaped the fires of Hell that is the intellectually and morally bankrupt Vile organization known as the Democratic Party in 2000, how much the, new to me, yet Grand Ole Party needed me.
The latest example of why is analyzed in haystack's Living With The Left. 'Stack's subject is a column by Charles Krauthammer, a conservative thinker whose columns were instrumental in my conservative epiphany and whom I respect so much that I refer to him as "The Master."
But, alas, Charles is not immune to beltway disease and its hallucinatory side effects, as per recent history, the relative importance of character vs. "positioning", and what it means to "survive."
I should admit that The Master does state early on that Hillary would only be better than "her Democratic rivals." This is akin to saying that if one is to be tortured, it’s better to be tortured for only five minutes than for ten. That said, Charles still does much whistling past the graveyard.
Literally. Especially the graves of those Americans and others that are dead today because of the "pragmatism" of Clintonism.
To get to the point, Charles engages in some ill-founded hope when he de-claims as per Mrs. Bill Clinton:
Her liberalism is redeemed by her ambition; her ideology subordinate to her political needs.
Yes, Charles, her POLITICAL needs. See poll numbers. See risk aversion. See unwilling to fight a war longer than 72 hours. Her pragmatism stops there, not as to what's bet for the country. It’s what is best for Hillary. And given that her election would be interpreted by her as a repudiation of a strong America abroad (despite the fact that it has kept us safe since 911), she can be counted on to appease enemies.
NO ENEMY OF THE UNITED STATES WOULD HAVE ANY REASON TO FEAR HER. THE PAPER TIGER WOULD BE RESURRECTED.
The bigger point he goes on to make here is that we have lived with this before (Bill) and while none of us could ever bring ourselves to vote for her, we'll certainly be no worse off for losing to her all the same...given the actions of the GOP over the last 7 years.
We couldn't be worse off if Hillary and a Dem congress were in power the last 7 years? Is you crazy man?!!
Would Gore's attorney general have rounded up the 900+ visa overstays from Arab and Muslim countries soon after 911, thus pre-empting the planned follow up attacks? Would a Democrat president have been 1/10th as aggressive as Bush in the war on terror at home and abroad?
Not NO, but HELL NO!
And as to this "we've lived with this before," crap. Yes, we "lived" with and "survived" Buchanan, Johnson, Harding, LBJ and Carter. What does that mean? The ground is still here and we call it America? Is all we want to do is "survive."?
Meaningless drivel.
On Iraq, for example, she talks like someone who knows she may soon be commander in chief and will need room to maneuver in order to achieve whatever success might be possible.
What you mean Charles is that she continually lies. The enemy has figured the Dems' "talk" out. They know its all talk, unless we mean a cruise missile killing a night watchman.
On Iran, Clinton has been pilloried from the left for supporting a completely anodyne resolution designating Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. This would trigger serious economic sanctions that would greatly complicate its ability to operate.
Whoopee, some sanctions. Been there.
And look what Clinton unveiled this week: a modestly government-subsidized, personal retirement account. True, it is yet another big-government middle-class entitlement. Yes, she ignores the looming Social Security crisis. On the other hand, establishing a universal, portable, personal retirement account (though without the government subsidy) is something conservatives have long and devoutly sought.
Yes, Charles, and the last time a Clinton made a similar promise (see middle class tax cut), we didn't get it until a republican was elected and gave it to us eight years later.
Character, Charles. She has none. Don't be fooled by what comes out of the mouth. We have a history.
Even Clinton's response to a debate question on torture -- "As a matter of policy it cannot be American policy, period" -- is elegantly phrased to imply an implacable opposition to torture, and yet leave open the possibility that in extreme circumstances a president would do what she had to do, i.e., authorize torture, regardless of the express policy.
I do believe Hillary would torture people. I see the effects on her husband, the bimbo eruptions she intimidated, and the military officials she wouldn't let don their uniforms in the East Wing.
Clinton rarely falters. Always careful, always calibrated, always leaving room for expediency over ideology. That's Clintonism, of both marital flavors. Gender sensitivity prevents me from calling her the consummate needle-threader. Consider her instead Columbus' match as the Great Navigator.
Rarely falters Charles? Again, is you crazy?
She is walking talking falter.
The Disciplined Campaign or Are you Smarter than a 2nd Grader?
haystack says:
The idea of 4 or 8 more years of a White House full of Clintons may be hard to accept, but facing the prospect and understanding what it's going to be like might just be enough to get the GOP factions in line to keep it from being so.
True, 'Stack, but Charles doesn't do that in his column. What Charles does is play down what she is due to hope in pragmatism.
'Stack continues:
Thus far, none in the field have done anything of significance to make that happen. Until one of them stands up to rein in all this angst and frustration with the party, Krauthammer's premonitions just might come to pass.
What could one do now to keep it from being so?
We will nominate Fred Thompson. There will be a campaign in which we lay out the stark differences with Hillary. Rather than swallow her "positioning", we will run ads of her actually speaking and show her actual votes, and see if we all want a Gallup poll driven positioner in chief during a time of war.
I'm betting that we won't, since we never have.
It is Hillary that needed to be doing something the last 7-15 years to make her election a viable possibility by not embracing McGovernism.
She didn't.
People, just because people in DC say 2008 will be a "bad environment" and that we can't win, doesn't make it so. I've been thru all these yakyak cycles before.
You see, things will actually happen between now and Nov. 2008, including, incredibly, a presidential campaign.
And the first thing that just happened is this call to arms column.
Can't never could do nothing!
Conservatism wins every time it’s tried.
Mike Gamecock DeVine @ The Charlotte Observer
"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson
The HinzSight Report
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Race 4 2008
http://www.win-the-war.com/