Too Clean?

Susan Estrich whines that Democrats - the party of Begala and Carvile - need to start playing dirty:

What their records suggest is not only a serious problem with alcoholism, which Bush but not Cheney has acknowledged, but also an even more serious problem of judgment. Could Dick Cheney get a license to drive a school bus with his record of drunken driving? (I can see the ad now.) A job at a nuclear power plant? Is any alcoholic ever really cured? So why put him in the most stressful job in the world, with a war going south, a thousand Americans already dead and control of weapons capable of destroying the world at his fingertips.

It has been said that in the worst of times, Kissinger gave orders to the military not to obey Nixon if he ordered a first strike. What if Bush were to fall off the wagon? Then what? Has America really faced the fact that we have an alcoholic as our president?

In the meantime, Kevin Drum moans:

or all the hatred of Bush among liberals, we still aren't as dedicated to our cause as conservatives are to theirs. After all, they're dedicated enough to figure that fighting fair is just a sign of weakness. For better or worse, we're not quite there yet.

I dunno. Maybe the Dems' problem is an excessively rosy self-image.

Professor Bainbridge starts the catalog:

• A Democrat Congressman says the Bush administration is taking America "into a snake pit of fascism."
  
• Getting former astronaut and Democrat Senator John Glenn to trot out the Hitler comparison.
• Three liberal protestors tried to disrupt Bush's convention speech (funny, I didn't see any conservatives trying to disrupt Kerry's speech to the DNC convention).
• Liberal protestors who tie up city streets and inconvenience people just so they can satisfy their narcissistic jones.
• A featured speaker at a NOW rally says Bush "savagely raped " women "over and over."
• Zillionaires like George Soros trying to buy the election for Kerry through the 527 loophole, of which Democrats have made far greater use than the GOP.
• Unions using members' dues to fund political activities that almost uniformly support Democrats.
• When a state police union bucks the tide by considering supporting Bush, Democrat legislators threaten retaliation.
• Democrat operatives working overtime to keep Ralph Nader off the ballot, thus besmirching the very name of their party.
• The Democrat's media allies planning a 60 Minutes smear of Bush's National Guard service.
• Kitty Kelley's book smearing Bush that will be released as a last-minute October surprise.
• Michael Moore's fantasies turned into a feature-length campaign ad.
• Bruce Springsteen getting around campaign finance laws by organizing an anti-Bush concert.
• Free advertising for the left at nearly every Hollywood awards show where one or more acceptance speechs attack Bush.
• The incredible media bias towards Democrats, which Newsweek editor Evan Thomas says is worth "maybe 15 points" for Kerry.

If this is fighting fair, I'd hate to see what happens when the left decides to be unfair by their own lights.

Steve Taylor adds:

What I find especially remarkable is that the “attacks” that have some Democrats frothing are not based on some personal likening of John Kerry to brutal dictators, but rather to his Senate record and the fact that he has a habit of being on more than one side of an issue. If chanting “flip flop” hurts Kerry’s feelings, then perhaps he isn’t cut out for the high-pressure job of President of the United States.

The main area that I can understand the anger on the part of the Democrats is that of the Swift Boat ads (at least the first one). The attack on the medals is harsh and difficult to prove, and is a clear attack on Kerry’s charater and veracity without the needed clear-cut evidence needed to back such charges. Now, the second commercial is factually accurate, so if the Kerry campaign can’t handle the truth, well, you know the line.

Taylor also has a laundry list:

• Al Gore accussed the President of “betraying this country” (rather strong words, since the penalty for treason is death–and what could be worse for a President to do than to betray the country?).
• Senator Kennedy called the war a fraud “made up in Texas” and fraud.
• Judge Calabresi of the 2nd Circuit likened Bush to both Hitler and Mussolini (he did later apologize).
• Andrew Greeley likened the Bush administration to Hitler’s in the 1930s.
• Of course, there’s the MoveOn.org ad comparing Bush to Hitler.
• Here’s a long list of ‘Bush = Hitler’ Allusions.
• Update: Here’re two more: Michael Moore refered to Bush as a “deserter” in front of Wes Clark withou repudiation from Clark.
• Update: DNC National Chair Terry McAuliffe accussed the Presient of being “AWOL” during his Air National Guard Service.

There are more - many more - of course:

• The left's last-minute dropping of a decades-old DWI charge, which may have cost the President a clear victory (if the polls leading up the election are to be believed).
• Bloated demi-human homunculus Larry Flynt's eternal threat to bring tons of dirt on Bush to the campaign, whatever that means.
• Locally, the incidents where thugs roughed up Republican activists last weekend at the MN State Fair. Quick - where are the Republicans roughing up the Democrats? Show us.
• The Democrats' eternal claim that Republican policies will throw old people into the street and close kids' schools (or the one we heard at the fair - that the GOP wants to gut the Americans with Disabities Act)
• The Democrat-controlled apparatus at the schools and the government employee unions essentially using their jobs as forums to spread scare stories about Republican budget policies to children and recipients of government services.
• Or this
• Or this, or this.
• Or this

The Dems are lying to themselves if they think they're the oppressed lilywhite crusaders for justice..

Posted by Mitch at September 6, 2004 03:09 AM | TrackBack