Grow Up!

The Democrat Party is a good example of why parents should not beat their children. All one learns from a beating is how much pain you can withstand and said person does not actually change the behavior. The Democrat Party was walloped in the last election in every conceivable way. This is beyond President Bush and Senator Kerry. The Democrat Party lost more seats in the House and the Senate. It would seem from recent remarks made by prominent members of the Democrat Party that they, like beaten children don’t learn from the punishment. They just keep up the same behavior continually testing the limits and the patience of the American people.

When I first started this blog I offered suggestions to the Democrat Party about how they could address their image and reconstruct their overall message to the voting public. In that column I endorsed Howard Dead for DNC chair. Dean at least appears to understand what needs to be done. "We cannot win by being Republican light," Dean said, repeating a line that helped make him a darling of the left in the early presidential race. "We've tried it, and it does not work." Damn right it doesn’t work. We’ve already got Republican light; his name is Senator John McCain.

Creating a clear picture of what the Democrat Party is and what its goals should be, instead of letting Rush Limbaugh do it for them is a step in the right direction. However, much of the voter backlash that occurred a few months ago against the Democrats was a reaction to the ultra-negative and counterproductive message they incessantly screamed from every mountaintop. The good folks in Iraq just conducted the first free election in their history and all the major players in the Democrat Party have to say is:

Ted Kennedy: "The best way to demonstrate to the Iraqi people that we have no long-term designs on their country is for the administration to withdraw some troops now."

Long-term designs? Ah yes, Kennedy thinks we are imperialists in the 1492 sense of the word. That will a go a long way in winning heartland votes.

John Kerry: "It's hard to say that something is legitimate when a whole portion of the country can't vote and doesn't vote."

Yes I see, and will the Senator be asking for a recount from the Civil War, when whole portions of our states didn’t vote either?

Then you have the unofficial spokesperson for the Democrat Party, radio talk show host Randy Rhodes, who says, “The Iraqi elections were a sham…we disenfranchised entire portions of the country…we’ve created the groundwork for civil war!”

None of this worked when they tried this during the election, why exactly do they think it’s going to reach people now?

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi offered a pre-buttal to President Bush’s pending State of the Union Address. Her remarks were the same sort of rhetorical tripe that we heard John Kerry spew on his way to losing the 2004 election. Here is one of my favorite lines:

"Democrats are committed to a prosperity that includes many more Americans in the economic success of our country. By creating 10 million new jobs, we will advance economic security for America's families.”

John Kerry said exactly that during the campaign and nobody believed in then either. Has anyone in the Democrat Party ever actually read “The Limits to Growth”? These people create this pie-in-the-sky world where they can magically create jobs from nothing in a free market economy. A free market economy, mind you, that is increasingly becoming globalized and with that globalization comes competition. We may be the only Super-Power left but we are not the only big dog in the economic yard anymore. And even if we were, draining the coffers to create 10 million federally subsidized jobs is not the answer. Like bridges and tunnels to Manhattan Island, there can never be enough to take care of everyone.

I have a question for the leaders of today’s Democrat Party, how does this help your cause? How does condemning the election in Iraq or making promises you know you can’t keep or being so negative you sound ridiculous, help your party reclaim it’s power in Washington. Fear, Anger and hatred works well if you want to join the dark side of the force but it doesn’t exactly inspire the masses to listen to your point of view.

I think if Howard Dean can keep the anti-war hate-speech down to a dull roar then he will be a fine leader of the DNC. However, nothing he does will matter if the superstars of the party can’t seem to separate themselves from their hatred of President Bush. It’s one thing for bohemians and college kids to hate the man, their children after all, but these are educated, sitting senators and congressmen. I expect better from them.

In short, I will give the Democrat Party the same advice I used to give the ex-drug dealers whom were addicted to marijuana at my last job, “Grow Up!”