Matthew Continetti (H/T Instapundit) says in print what I – and probably a lot of the VRWC – have been thinking:
The Democratic response to dissent is a lot like their governing style: partisan, arrogant, and self-righteous. In recent weeks, various Democratic factotums have lectured the public about “extreme” rhetoric, insinuating that the Tea Party takes its cues from The Turner Diaries. Some liberals suffer from a pathological inability to refer to the Tea Party by its name, preferring a crude and infantile sexual epithet. The folks waving signs and holding peaceful rallies have been insulted as fakes, wackos, ignoramuses, racists, nihilists, and hicks suffering from status anxiety. But when a poll revealed the Tea Party movement is better educated and wealthier than the electorate at large, a prominent Washington Post columnist summarily dismissed the movement as the “populism of the privileged.” The lines of attack change, but the message is always the same: Go home. Shut up. Let us do what we want.
There’s a word for this sort of overbearing, priggish intimidation: bullying. And like a lot of bullying, the Democrats’ behavior seems to stem from deep-seated insecurities. Maybe the Democrats are not as confident in government as they appear. Maybe they worry about the massive deficits and the hemorrhaging public debt. Maybe they read the same polls we do, the ones showing the public shifting right, Republicans leading the generic ballot, Republican-leaning independents returning to the GOP, congressional approval and support for incumbents at record lows, and the conservative base in a state of wild enthusiasm.
And, do you know something? They’re right to be insecure. I have been on the receiving end of two electoral drubbings, for two electoral cycles straight; and I was on the giving end of one in 2004. So I know what one feels like, from either side; and the Democrats are setting themselves up for an epic version of same*. And I can more or less guarantee that the folks that will be elected in November are going to be distinctly uninterested in playing nice with the political party that will have spent the last four years at that point blaming us for their failures. Which are numerous, systematic, and quite comprehensive.
Put another way? Matthew finishes:
Maybe the bully party, in other words, is simply acting out.
And maybe we don’t give a tinker’s dam.
Moe Lane
*This would be the point where a person writing about this situation feels almost obligated to cover their bases with a ‘Of course, the situation can still change’ – but it is now less than six months to Election Day, so one wonders when – or if – the Democrats were going to get started with repairing their situation.
Crossposted to Moe Lane.
Moe Lane
Steve Maley
KnightsofMalta
Dan Spencer
Dan McLaughlin
We just need to keep voting them into irrelevancy.
bannedtroll Monday, May 3rd at 9:05AM EST (link)You can only spin an electoral wipeout so much. If we do right by the Constitution and individual liberty, there’s no reason the democrat party should be anything but a permanent minority party.
I’m a banned Democrat who came here to promote the idea that Republicans are racists for disliking Barack Obama.
But spin they shall.
dirkbelig Monday, May 3rd at 10:48AM EST (link)After 2006, we were told that the Stupid Party’s “Culture of Corruption” led to its loss of Congress.
In 2008, we were told that in electing The One and even more Dems meant that the Stupid Party was finally consigned to the ash heap of history; a rump party for Southern racists to populate in permanent minority status. A new Red Dawn for Amerika had come.
However, after less than a year of one party rule, the American people began to revolt against the crony fascism being imposed by the Axis of Weasels – Obozo/Pelosi/Reid – and as the writing on the wall has become clearer that even with the incompetent management of Michael “Notorious G.O.P.” Steele and the national Stupid Party Mandarins, they were going to be tossed out on their behinds, they jammed the hammer down on enshrining as much fascism as possible into law.
Now, if it was the Stupid Party about to get broomed, we’d be told by the Treason Media that it was due to corrupt politicians getting their comeuppance. But, because it’s the Dems getting the hook, the spin has started that a cabal of dangerous Jeebus-freak white racists are stealing the country away from its rightful rulers and this just won’t do. Nevermind that many of the mushy middle independents who voted for the “cool black dude” because it’d allow them to bolster their “not a racist” cred or because “the old guy picked that stupid woman” are now revulsed by the explosion of debt and governmental reach; no, it’s RAAAAAAAACISM to blame for declining Dem fortunes.
I fully expect for the ghost of Peter Jennings to appear on ABC News to scold us for the tantrum we’re about to have against our more learned elders of progressivism. Bring it, Canuckian!
“This would be a great job if it weren’t for the ****ing customers.” – Randal Graves, “Clerks”
While reading this, I was reminded of a couple of excerpts:
LaborUnionReport (Diary) Monday, May 3rd at 9:21AM EST (link)From Rand…this being one of them.
Galt’s Speech, For the New Intellectual, 163.
Seems fitting.
“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine December 23, 1776
In any compromise between food and poison, it is only death that can win. In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit.-Ayn Rand
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Rand knew the filth of the collectivist soul.
johnt Monday, May 3rd at 9:54AM EST (link)But try telling that to “moderate” Republicans.
“a man’s admiration for absolute government is proportinate to the contempt he feels for those around him”. Tocqueville
Believe me at the local level we are targeting "moderate" R's too
peg_c (Diary) Monday, May 3rd at 11:11AM EST (link)We’ve already started. They are squealing like girlymen and dissing the Tea Party movement every bit as much as the lefties are. We tea partiers are going to run right over them. Let them keep on dissing and underestimating us.
As for the big enemy, the Left, they are strapped in and going full-throttle to their doom, incapable of putting on the brakes much less making any kind of right turn. Won’t happen. This is just going to get more evident as we get closer to November.
There may be as many as 3 million in D.C. on 9/12 – plans are already being made. According to what I heard yesterday at a meeting of the Orange and Sullivan Counties Tea Party group here in NY, there were according to D.C. cops and authorities ***1.7 MILLION*** of us there last 9/12, not the 50 – 70 thousand that the state-run media and all the lefty trolls claimed there were. Those of us who were there KNEW it was a million or more (anything past that is difficult to see or discern unless you’re in the air). At this point, I believe for every one of us, there are 10 – 20 people feeling the exact same way and determined to vote the thugs and tyrants out, including the moderate Republicans!!
Government cannot be the solution when government is the problem.
And no, we tea partiers are not just partying
peg_c (Diary) Monday, May 3rd at 11:14AM EST (link)We are meeting, planning, volunteering for local and U.S. conservative Republican candidates, holding public events, and sharing ideas and strategy. Some of us want to run for precinct and/or committee seats to get electoral power at the ground level. That is where we have to start rooting out rot.
Government cannot be the solution when government is the problem.
You are right
fairtaxguy (Diary) Monday, May 3rd at 12:33PM EST (link)I have already volunteered for precinct captain and will be campaigning for conservative candidates. We will never surrender.
I learn more here than anywhere I have been on the net. About politics, I mean.
American Oligarchy
Viator Monday, May 3rd at 11:11AM EST (link)“To paraphrase something Clinton aide David Dreyer said many years ago, Republicans have done Lord Acton one better—they’ve been corrupted by power they don’t even have.”
“Democratic Senate Finance chairman Chris Dodd, in Johnson’s view, is not negotiating with Republicans in order to peel off one or two senators and get the toughest bill possible; he is aiming for the weakest possible bill that will be palatable to the public, and is negotiating in order to pin the blame for its weakness on Republicans. ”
http://www.weeklystandard.com/print/articles/american-oligarchy
Exactly, it appears to be the same with the Healthcare Reform bill
Leopard1996 (Diary) Monday, May 3rd at 12:48PM EST (link)If they can’t get everything they want, they will settle for something that can be manipulated to collapse what they were trying to regulate so that they can point to the other side and state, “See, if we didn’t have to placate them, the law that we wanted would have prevented this collapse.” The same thing is appears to be happening with this Financial reform bill. “Since we cannot get the 50 billion bailout fund, we will write a law that is weak and then blame the Republicans stating that we had to make it weaker to attempt to placate them, or if any Republican votes for it, the failure was a bi-partisan thing”.
“The accumluated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout, “Save Us!”….and I’ll look down and whisper, “No”…The Watchmen
Bully party ? normal people still don't get it.
johnt Monday, May 3rd at 11:18AM EST (link)It’s way beyond that.
An insight into what these freaks are may be gleaned from the 1st para, last two sentences of Contenitti’s article. Once again, and it never stops, a 180 degree reversal, Tea Party, from being poor and ignorant to being fat cats. It is an exceedingly dangerous person who holds to nothing, who reverses himself on the drop of a dime, who has only one constant, power & force.
Other then that, empty, nasty creatures.
“a man’s admiration for absolute government is proportinate to the contempt he feels for those around him”. Tocqueville
johnt -- I agree most don't get it
earlgrey (Diary) Monday, May 3rd at 11:33AM EST (link)I thought they would by now. I come to Red State for inspiration, because it is one of the few places I can find it. I don’t even check the approval ratings anymore. Of course it doesn’t mean we can give up, but it does make things hard sometimes. Thanks to Moe, Neil, Aaron, Erick, Caleb, Dan and the many others at Red State that keep us going.
Absolute truths according to progressives
lineholder (Diary) Monday, May 3rd at 11:39AM EST (link)This is a partial list.
1) Perception is ALWAYS reality
They want perception of themselves to be good and perception of anyone who doesn’t agree with them to be bad. This lets them deceive themselves into believing what a “good” thing they are doing and to pat themselves on the back for what a “good” person they are for doing a “good” thing. Its a form of self-deceit that is as old as mankind.
2) The end ALWAYS justifies the means.
Who care if the means is dishonest, deceitful, corrupt, immoral, or manipulative to the point that it generates a force of oppression in the lives of other human beings? As long as it allows them to accomplish and achieve a goal that they perceive as being a “good” thing, they don’t care about the moral or ethical implications and they don’t care about consequences, intended or otherwise.
Spin volume
toadold Monday, May 3rd at 11:46AM EST (link)As the MSM loses reader/viewers to alt. media they spin harder.
Of course by spinning harder their bias becomes more noticeable and they lose more readers/viewers. They are trapped in a vicious spin cycle and will soon be hung out to dry……..sorry couldn’t resist the metaphors.
When will the Democrats get started with repairing their situation?
indyjohn Monday, May 3rd at 12:17PM EST (link)Repair what? As far as Axelrod, Emanuel, and Obama are concerned, their program is on track. Their train is going full throttle and they won’t reduce speed for any reason. They will stop only when the voters throw up a roadblock that causes the train to derail.
With Obama and his inner circle, we are dealing with individuals who possess pathological hubris. They will continue to believe that they can win until political power is forcibly taken from their hands. Unfortunately, this is when they will become even more dangerous.
But what is liberty without wisdom, and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint.
Edmund Burke