Shaun Kenney | Politics and Religion in Virginia's Public Square


Sunday, August 01, 2004 Novak on Why the Dems Will Lose in 2004 A brilliant (and I'm not just saying that because I agree with it) column by Michael Novak in the National Review, not only for it's commentary, but for the most precise and accurate description of Democrats in the minority that I have read in awhile: For Democrats, losing is much worse than for Republicans. For Democrats, the purpose of democracy is to milk government for ever more abundant benefits. Republicans in principle believe in limited government, and thus in a certain way they do even better out of power than when they must exercise it. Democrats without power suffer much more. Democrats go listless, purposeless. In a minority, Democrats are fairly useless creatures. In victory, they cultivate grand visions of benefits to be shaken from government largesse; defeat, however, freezes the core of their being. Democratic defeat defies the natural order. For them, history halts. What had been an onward rushing tide swirls round and round, becoming still. Very true indeed. In fact, Novak continues with six reasons why the Democrats are going to lose in 2004: 1. No one — neither his colleagues nor his wife nor his supporters nor he himself — has anything good to say about John Kerry except that he served bravely in Vietnam. The nearly 30 years since then have generated few boasts on his part, few commendations from others, few successes anyone can seem to remember. 2. The Democratic elite sitting in convention cannot present themselves as they are to the American people, but must stifle their deepest feelings, be silent about their most passionate aims, and hide their turbulent loathing of George Bush Republicans (lest it frighten independents with its ferocity). The Democratic elite is saying as little as possible about same-sex marriage. And guns. And very little about abortion. And not a word about total withdrawal of American troops from Iraq — quite the opposite. Democratic elites do not want the people to know what they really think. On that ground, they fear they will lose. 3. Democrats must hide from the public what they truly think about evangelicals, fundamentalists, and Catholics. They express these thoughts mostly among themselves. 4. John Kerry looks sillier in the pale blue NASA rabbit suit than Michael Dukakis did in a tank. 5. The months of April, May, and June were so heavy with bad news for George Bush — the huge Sorosian expenditures on anti-Bush ads came at him in torrents — and still he held even with Kerry in the polls. It is hard not to believe that there will be at least a slight change in the roaring winds. When it comes (and the change is already underway), it is bound to push Bush's sails steadily ahead as the weeks roll on. 6. The worst lies told by the Democrats about Bush — those of Joe Wilson, Michael Moore, and others, saying that Bush lied about Iraq — have already been proven wrong by the 9/11 Commission (which was supposed to blow Bush out of the water just before the election, but ended up destroying his worst calumniators). These lies were also proven wrong by the British inquiry. Even the Kerry Convention in Boston ended up taking the Bush strategic line in Iraq, except for one thing: Kerry is wistful about the probability of persuading France and Germany to bear some burden on behalf of liberty in Iraq. Good luck! God knows, Bush and Colin Powell tried. Caluminators. What a great word! Novak is of course dead on in his criticism of the Democrats. It's interesting to note that after the Democratic Convention, most of the national pundits run the gambit from decrying the lack of vision (if you are a liberal) to the verge of writing Kerry's epitaph (if you are more conservative). Of course, one cannot discount the efforts of both time and terrorism. There's plenty of wild cards out there, not to mention states that are in play for the Dems that should not be (e.g. Virginia and Missouri). But in terms of raw marcostrategy, Bush is holding all the right cards. . . or at the very least, better cards than Kerry is at the moment. posted by Shaun Kenney \| 8/01/2004 10:15:00 PM \| 0 comments 0 Comments: Post a Comment Home
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