Embarassments of the idiots
I was originally going to write this post up about the failure of the Democratic party (again) to have an effect upon American politics, but I'm glad I waited, for a few reasons. With the ongoings in France and other global issues sprouting up, I was able to get more info as things emerged from the woodworks. So, I shall cry "Havoc!" and let out the dogs of war.
I'll start things off with the current state of the Democratic party. As far as political strategizing goes, they effectively tried to tie their stature into the end result of the Valerie Plame investigation. And when all it turned up was Scooter Libby- and for reasons that had nothing to do with the investigation in the first place- the Dems have no ammo to work with on this political scorecard. To be honest, they should have known that they'd get nothing out of the Valerie Plame case- but the need to pander to their base was too great (and too tempting a fundraising ploy) and a great deal of Democrats probably believed their own BS about it, as well. Otherwise they'd have seen that Patrick Fitzgerald's office was telling everyone that A) Cheney's not involved and B) Rove's only ancilliarily involved, on the same level as Libby is. I guess they missed the part of the press conference that Fitzgerald had, where he said that the investigation was NOT about the Iraqi war.
But that's what the Dems were hoping. They were hoping that it'd deal directly with the intelligence issues that lead to the war, and that they could bash Bush with "no WMDs! Bush lied, people died!" meme they have. So, Fitzgerald effectively gave them nothing but some sour candy when they expected an Aston Martin. And on top of that, the media tried to cover for the Dems, by trying to frame the whole Libby indictment as another WaterGate. Earth to the media....America spent the next two days asking "who the hell is Scooter Libby? This just feels overblown." So a convoluted investigation is about to wrap up in which the Dems get nothing. Oh, and to make matters worse for the Dems, Bush nominates a new candidate for the Supreme Court: Samuel Alito. Yes, that was the sound of Harry Reid screaming, when Bush announced Alito.
What that meant is that the Republican party reunited as a whole in supporting Bush, and many have expressed their thanks that Bush stood by his 2 term pledge to push for supreme court justices that were conservative. And it also meant that Bush nominated someone who's in the mold of John Roberts, with impeccable credentials and a very strong paper trail of 15 years of judicial service. The Dems knew that Bush was going to jump big time in the polls, and for once they were right (Bush regained at least 5-7% points just by nominating Alito). So, with the Fitzgerald investigation fizzling for them, and Bush nominating Alito, what do the Dems do? Simple! They pull a trick out of their hats that no astute political player would ever do: they tell the world that they have absolutely nothing on the agenda, other than to have one hissy fit after another.
Harry Reid forced a one night shutdown of the Senate ostensibly over the prewar intelligence issues earlier in the week. That was the first time that's ever been done (it's been done by both parties, jointly, but never by one party). If you want to find a quicker way to piss the majority GOP party off, I don't know if you can find it. Pure and simple, the plan was to try to shift the "debate" to something that the Dems could manufacture a "debate" about in which they look great and wonderful against whatever straw man they prop up. Firstly, the GOP leadership called them on it, and secondly, it even confused the media. Nothing came out of it, other than the Dems whining about their talking points, and coming off as totally manufactured in a bad way. I think many Dems were even embarassed by the naked display of crappy politics.
The bottom line is that you DON'T tell the public and the other party, in a bold manner, that you have nothing to add to the political discourse. That's what the Dems just did. They told the GOP and America that they had hitched their ride on the Fitzgerald investigation, and were pissed that they didn't get what they wanted. And, they had no contingency plans in case the investigation didn't give them what they wanted. They could have quickly shifted the topic to something else- anything else- but they didn't. They're STILL marching to that beat, folks. And they're getting nowhere with it, fast. What they did with the Senate shutdown was an ill advised stunt, which generated at the most a 24 hour publicity window for them, and then the news went back to Alito, Bush, et al.
Oh, and ANWR just passed yesterday. That big bugaboo of the enviro-left for years and years is now on it's way to becoming fact. And this doesn't even factor in the foriegn issues that have fallen into Bush and the GOP's lap, either. Oh, and Mayor Bloomberg (who's technically a Republican) is about to win a landslide election against Freddie Ferrer in New York City, the likes of which the city has never seen. Even Democrats in the middle of one of the bluest states in the Union are voting for Bloomie. And the Dems have nothing to add to any of this. Nothing.
Talk about a giant waste of political space. Somewhere I think Machiavelli is crying.
I'll start things off with the current state of the Democratic party. As far as political strategizing goes, they effectively tried to tie their stature into the end result of the Valerie Plame investigation. And when all it turned up was Scooter Libby- and for reasons that had nothing to do with the investigation in the first place- the Dems have no ammo to work with on this political scorecard. To be honest, they should have known that they'd get nothing out of the Valerie Plame case- but the need to pander to their base was too great (and too tempting a fundraising ploy) and a great deal of Democrats probably believed their own BS about it, as well. Otherwise they'd have seen that Patrick Fitzgerald's office was telling everyone that A) Cheney's not involved and B) Rove's only ancilliarily involved, on the same level as Libby is. I guess they missed the part of the press conference that Fitzgerald had, where he said that the investigation was NOT about the Iraqi war.
But that's what the Dems were hoping. They were hoping that it'd deal directly with the intelligence issues that lead to the war, and that they could bash Bush with "no WMDs! Bush lied, people died!" meme they have. So, Fitzgerald effectively gave them nothing but some sour candy when they expected an Aston Martin. And on top of that, the media tried to cover for the Dems, by trying to frame the whole Libby indictment as another WaterGate. Earth to the media....America spent the next two days asking "who the hell is Scooter Libby? This just feels overblown." So a convoluted investigation is about to wrap up in which the Dems get nothing. Oh, and to make matters worse for the Dems, Bush nominates a new candidate for the Supreme Court: Samuel Alito. Yes, that was the sound of Harry Reid screaming, when Bush announced Alito.
What that meant is that the Republican party reunited as a whole in supporting Bush, and many have expressed their thanks that Bush stood by his 2 term pledge to push for supreme court justices that were conservative. And it also meant that Bush nominated someone who's in the mold of John Roberts, with impeccable credentials and a very strong paper trail of 15 years of judicial service. The Dems knew that Bush was going to jump big time in the polls, and for once they were right (Bush regained at least 5-7% points just by nominating Alito). So, with the Fitzgerald investigation fizzling for them, and Bush nominating Alito, what do the Dems do? Simple! They pull a trick out of their hats that no astute political player would ever do: they tell the world that they have absolutely nothing on the agenda, other than to have one hissy fit after another.
Harry Reid forced a one night shutdown of the Senate ostensibly over the prewar intelligence issues earlier in the week. That was the first time that's ever been done (it's been done by both parties, jointly, but never by one party). If you want to find a quicker way to piss the majority GOP party off, I don't know if you can find it. Pure and simple, the plan was to try to shift the "debate" to something that the Dems could manufacture a "debate" about in which they look great and wonderful against whatever straw man they prop up. Firstly, the GOP leadership called them on it, and secondly, it even confused the media. Nothing came out of it, other than the Dems whining about their talking points, and coming off as totally manufactured in a bad way. I think many Dems were even embarassed by the naked display of crappy politics.
The bottom line is that you DON'T tell the public and the other party, in a bold manner, that you have nothing to add to the political discourse. That's what the Dems just did. They told the GOP and America that they had hitched their ride on the Fitzgerald investigation, and were pissed that they didn't get what they wanted. And, they had no contingency plans in case the investigation didn't give them what they wanted. They could have quickly shifted the topic to something else- anything else- but they didn't. They're STILL marching to that beat, folks. And they're getting nowhere with it, fast. What they did with the Senate shutdown was an ill advised stunt, which generated at the most a 24 hour publicity window for them, and then the news went back to Alito, Bush, et al.
Oh, and ANWR just passed yesterday. That big bugaboo of the enviro-left for years and years is now on it's way to becoming fact. And this doesn't even factor in the foriegn issues that have fallen into Bush and the GOP's lap, either. Oh, and Mayor Bloomberg (who's technically a Republican) is about to win a landslide election against Freddie Ferrer in New York City, the likes of which the city has never seen. Even Democrats in the middle of one of the bluest states in the Union are voting for Bloomie. And the Dems have nothing to add to any of this. Nothing.
Talk about a giant waste of political space. Somewhere I think Machiavelli is crying.
posted by Fafhrd1 | 8:26 AM
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