From Old Europe to New Delhi

Indians are celebrating President Bush's re-election.

In this era of global change, one of the underlying dynamics is the shift of power away from Old Europe towards the Asian continent. C. Raja Mohan writes about some of the developments in this area and how India has become a quiet global partner of the US during the tenure of the Bush administration. A country with almost as many people as China, India is an emerging global power and will be critical in shaping the western end of the Pacific rim, where power will reside in the 21st century and perhaps beyond.

The Social Security Crisis

Without reform, it will destroy itself.

The Wall Street Journal tells us about the crisis in Social Security and how demographics will doom the current system. People in my generation will be lucky to get anything at all from this government dinosaur. My advice to you is to start saving now, and as much as you can, because you'll not get much, if anything, from the government later. And really, why should we be impressed by a wimpy 2 percent return anyway?

Here's One Use Of U.S. Power Jacques Can't Stop

"American influence" is the great white whale of the 21st century.

Daniel Henninger gives us some examples from around the world that show how American technology in the form of the Internet, blogs and text-messaging cell phones are producing a wave of free speech in places where it had been a rarity before. Now people are using this American technology to influence events in their own countries in ways which were just not possible even ten years ago. Today, if nations that are authoritarian want to keep up with the technology Americans are inventing, they must also import the freedom of speech that goes along with it or be left behind.

Where Are They Now?

Four years after leaving the White House, Hillary Clinton plots her return.

And in a related story, Peggy Noonan looks at Hillary Clinton's future run for the White House. Hillary is indeed more pragmatic and realistic than much of the Democratic base of moonbat leftists. Hillary is herself a dedicated leftist, but she is smart enough to know that if she is perceived as a member of the black-helicopter crowd, she has no chance of winning in 2008. Thus she is re-positioning herself as a "tough moderate" so she can run to the center four years from

It's Policy, Not Poetry

Democrats puzzle over how to "manipulate symbols." Why not start by taking a stand for Christmas?

Peggy Noonan writes about the Democrat's perception regarding the "manipulation of symbols" they believe to be the core of Republican success in this, and past, elections. It is a tribute, of course, to how dense they have become that they even think this possible. And it also points out yet again, just how stupid they think the American people in fly-over-country are that they can be, and should be, manipulated thus. But the fact is that Republicans won in this election because everyone who voted for them understands just what the party stands for. There is no deep, dark secret plan. Quite the contrary; Republicans have certain well known ideas and principles and they want others to understand and agree with them. There is no mystery about these positions and anyone to follows politics knows what Republicans say about them.

But Democrats have become so deluded in their paranoid fantasy that they think there is some "secret code" being used by the President in his speeches which will call up the Black Helicopters in the very next moment to take away all those who live in the blue states. If you visit the web sites where Democrats hang out, you will find all manner of loony moonbat conspiracy theories to explain Republican victory in the recent election. The "manipulation of symbols" view is a variant of the "we need new advertising slogans" theory being put forward in some Democratic circles as a way to deal with their loss. In this view, it is only packaging that counts and Democratic ideas and philosophy play no part in their defeat. If only their commercials and brochures were made correctly, with the correct version of their "message" they then would find the electoral victory they seek. But Americans can and do see the difference between packaging and principle. And no matter how good the packaging may be, if the product is a dud, it will not sell.

How Daschle Got Blogged

And how online journalism is transforming politics.

John Fund brings us this interesting look at the further development of blogging and how it is influencing election and political coverage by The Elite Media Monoculture. In this case, he examines how the bloggers helped to shape the news coverage in South Dakota and thus the defeat of Senator Tom Daschle. Local papers such as The Sioux Falls Argus Leader were doing what they have become used to doing; bringing their readers the predictable leftist slant on the news whilst leaving out parts of the debate which would be inconvenient to the liberal mindset. Bloggers in South Dakota responded by putting together their own sites which brought alternative news and opinions to the voters, allowing them to see both sides of the debate for the first time in a national election. The old media responded with the usual defensive evasions which have become standard as a way to write off the new media competition, but to no avail. The new media is here to stay boys; better get used to it.

Heritage Foundation Report

Clinton years gutted the military

There has been quite a kerfuffle over the recent remarks by Donald Rumsfeld regarding the level of military hardware we have for Iraq. The Elite Media Monoculture provided a loaded question to a soldier designed to make the Secretary of Defense look bad, and thus to make President Bush look bad. These facts are well known. But the question of how well we are funding our military and how well supplied they are is still legitimate. And to understand where we are in that regard, we must also understand where we have been. And where we were in the 90's was with a liberal Democratic administration which was dedicated to gutting our military to fund social re-distribution schemes. It will take years to undo the damage done by President Clinton and his lovely wife Bruno. In the meantime, Americans everywhere are paying for Democratic arrogance. Some with their lives. Read the Heritage Foundation Report and see for yourself.

Cracked Icons

Why the Left has lost credibility.

Victor Davis Hanson gives us a laundry list of all the leftist hypocrisy with which we have become familiar. The left's stock in trade has been their holier-than-thou posturing along with their ideology of socialist utopianism. But in recent years the thin varnish of moralizing has developed quite a few cracks. And in this essay VDH shows us a few examples of just how that moralizing actually works out in practice if you are in a position to profit from the suffering of others while gathering more and more power and money to yourself.

Dems to Hollywood: The End

Scot Lehigh argues in this Boston Globe story, that the Democrats are too involved with the Hollywood elites to relate with the people in the red states. That conclusion is true as far as it goes, but the problem for Lehigh is the same one Democrats have been having since the election. As this article makes clear, they think that somehow, against all evidence to the contrary, they can win the next time by simply re-packaging the same old product. For them it is all about marketing and good advertising, as if how an argument is presented is more important than what is actually being said. And the product that the Democrats keep trying to sell us in ever changing packages is the same old big government socialism to which they have been tied for the last 60 years. But the shine has long worn off of that ideology. The world has moved on while the Democrats cling to the ideas of the past. When will they see the light?

The Education of Dan Rather

From the golden age of network TV to the end of its hegemony.

Peggy Noonan looks back on the career of disgraced CBS anchor Dan Rather and asks where he went so wrong. Perhaps Mr. Rather can consider the question during his upcoming retirement.

Kofi Annan Must Go

It's time for the secretary-general to resign.

Senator Norm Coleman calls for the resignation of Kofi Annan from the UN. Personally, I would like to see the whole corrupt seething mess of anti-Americanism kicked out of the country for good. It does not serve American interests for us to continue funding an organization which now exists only for the purpose of advancing the plans of tyrants and dictators while spending hard-earned US taxpayer dollars for every anti-American cause one can imagine. There is no moral reason whatsoever for us to support such an organization. It is time for them to go. Perhaps they will welcome them in Belgium.

Look Who Isn't Talking

A filmmaker is murdered, and Hollywood loudmouths say nothing.

One of the reasons that I, and many other people, don't go to the theatre to see most of today's films is because of the overwhelming kulturesmog of political correctness which has infected Hollywood over the years. While some decent films still get made, they tend to be the exception rather that the rule. Bridget Johnson takes a look at politically correct Hollywood in the context of the recent murder of Theo van Gogh and asks why we get only a deafening silence? And it is political correctness which is the explanation. But things may be changing. As audiences stay away from theatres in droves and box office numbers are down, a new generation of filmmakers who are less in thrall to the whims of the Angry Left and their culture of conformity is gaining ground. If a new Hollywood gets a chance, it will produce films which provide an alternative for audiences who have become tired of the same old "evil Republicans, evil Military, good liberal" propaganda with which we have all become so familiar. Imagine hearing stories which actually take ideas seriously and have some respect for the concepts of good and evil that most of us recognize. Why, they might even start selling tickets again.

Bush the Insurgent

A president who won't kowtow to DC's establishment.

Fred Barnes describes how George W. Bush remains an outsider in Washinton, even though he holds the most powerful office in the land. And that is just the way the President likes it. The establishment is in a tizzy of course, because the President won't even make an effort to reward their self-aggrandizement and wounded egos. They must feel superior and important and if the most important and powerful person in Washinton doesn't water them with attention, they quickly begin to wilt. Looks like a dry four years looming ahead.

The Re-Emergence of Big Band Jazz?

Duke Ellington would be delighted.

Nat Hentoff writes about one of my favorite kinds of music; Jazz. It's a form of music which is still around today, although listened to far less than in the old days. Still, it's nice to know that there are still dedicated musicians who love the form and are keeping it alive and kicking.

The Grassroots Can Save Democrats

Howard Dean paved the way to future victories.

Here is an article from Joe Trippi in which he suggests ways to get the Democratic party out of its death spiral and back in the game. Unfortunately for him, he gets everything wrong in this essay. If the Democrats follow his lead they will continue to lose elections just as they have been. Personally, I would not mind the Dems being a minority party for the next fifty years or so, and I suspect that they will be regardless of Mr. Trippi's advice. But it is worth noting just how wrong Mr. Trippi is and that most of the hard left would probably agree with his views.

Democrats can't keep ignoring their base. Running to the middle and then asking our base to make sure to vote isn't a plan.

I see no evidence that the Democrats did this. On the contrary, they pulled so far to the left that we have never seen such a virulent and hate-filled campaign. When you have rock-star film propagandist Michael Moore sitting in the box next to Jimmy Peanut Carter, you are not playing to the middle of America. And we all know that the hard left is the base of the Democratic party.

Democrats must reconnect with the energy of our grass roots. One of the failures of the DLC was that its ideas never helped us build a grass-roots donor base. As a result, Democrats held a lead over Republicans in only one fundraising category before this election cycle: contributions over one million dollars. That shows how far the party had strayed from grassroots fundraising before the Dean campaign. We must build a base of at least seven million small donors by 2006.

I don't think money is really the issue here. The Democrats may not have as many small donors as the Republicans, but they have plenty of cash and this year they spent plenty. Democratic 527's alone outspent Republicans by a substantial amount. And big labor, big Hollywood and big media are all in the pocket of the Democrats, so they are certainly not starving. The problem for the Democrats is not how much money they have, but rather how they spend it and on what. In other words, you have to know why you want to spend money. Hating George Bush is not enough. We all know that the hard left hates George Bush. Spending more money on telling us about it does not get you more votes.

In a world in which companies like Wal-Mart pay substandard wages with no real benefits, our party has got to find innovative ways to support organized labor's growth.

The real problem for the Democrats is found here. They just don't get the concept of capitalism, which is America's economic system. Until they do, they will be out of touch with a majority of the country, including lots of middle American Democrats who work for a living and actually like places like Wal-Mart. We just don't think that businesses and corporations are our enemies. And some of us actually like them because they provide jobs and cool products that we want.

The Democratic Party has to be the vehicle that empowers the American people to change our failed political system. We all know the damn thing is broken. Democrats should lead the way by placing stricter money restrictions on candidates than the toothless Federal Election Commission does. A party funded by contributions from the people can do this.

Alert to Democrats. Didn't Mr. Trippi just complain about the lack of small donors? Yet here he seems oblivious to the fact that lots of millionaires are giving their cash to the Democrats. And let's get over the idea that "our political system is broken" can we? The Democrats only say this when they are losing. If they had won the election, do we really think that Mr. Trippi would say this? Of course he wouldn't. It is the Republicans who are the party of the small donor, because they connect with the regular folks; the ones in those red fly-over states that Democrats think are so stupid.

Finally, what is the purpose the party strives for today? What are our goals for the nation? You couldn't tell from the election. ... But the time has come to develop bold ideas and challenge people to sacrifice for the common good.

Well here we have the heart of the problem. We do know what the Democrats stand for and that is exactly why they are losing and will continue to lose and rightly so. The Democrats basic philosophy of government is the failed idea of big government socialism. No matter how they try to dress it up as something else, the tattered remnants of that old 19th century idea still show through. That is the meaning of Mr. Trippi's call for "sacrifice." What he means is that he and his party want even more of our money, time and energy to advance their goal of power and to provide free handouts to whoever they decide is most deserving of them. Note that those who actually do the producing are automatically not deserving in the world of Mr. Joe Trippi and his party. Those who do the producing are expected to produce almost automatically, as though they had no choice in the matter.

This is the heart of the Democrat's problem. They view us, the regular people, as cash cows whom they can milk whenever they please for whatever cause they deem noble whether we like it or not. And until they discover that we are not cows, but individual who have a right to life, liberty and our own property, and that money spent by us on government is a favor from us and not a right, they will remain a party lost in the wilderness. And they will deserve it.

High Bias

It's time to bring some intellectual diversity to America's colleges and universities.

John Fund asks why there is so little intellectual diversity on campus and what we can do about it. There are several interesting solutions floating around including The Academic Bill of Rights as well as different voucher plans which would bring back market forces to the university and force it to respond better to the needs of the students and parents who pay the bills. Certainly there is little doubt that a school which offers only one side of a debate is not doing the job of properly educating its students. And one might also ad that a school which is obsessed with the liberal view of politics is a place where really interesting ideas are going to be few and far between.

The Real Humanists

Revolution from Afghanistan to Iraq.

Victor Davis Hanson brings us another great essay from The National Review. In this article we take a look at the doubting elites at home and abroad who have been both critical, and consistently wrong, about the war against Islamofascism and its ultimate effects. The strategery of the Bush administration is as radical as it is simple. Bring democracy and freedom to those places in the Middle East which foster terrorism and you undermine the entire terrorist enterprise. For terrorism is a function of brutal dictatorships which divert the attention of their own populations from their failure to construct successful, modern societies. Thus the Bush administration fights to pull the foundation from under the terrorist's feet and replace it with some degree of freedom and liberty. Because as history shows, free nations are far less of a threat to their neighbors than dictatorships. And because terrorist groups cannot thrive without state support.

The Killers

The Dutch hit crisis point.

Michael Ledeen also weighs in on the crisis facing the Dutch, as well as the rest of Old Europe concerning the rise of Islamofascism and its most recent consequence; the brutal murder of Theo van Gogh. Will Old Europe come to its senses before it's too late, or will it continue to slide into decay, decadence and a new totalitarianism, this time with religious roots? Only time will tell, but it is worth noting that the killing of van Gogh has caused a powerful backlash among many regular Dutch folk and Muslims have quietly gone into hiding, at least for the moment. But a long term solution will require more than just a spur of the moment emotional outburst. The problem of Islamofascism will have to be dealt with in a serious way by the people and governments of Old Europe if they are to survive the coming storm.

I’m Loving It

Krugman’s post-election meltdown — and more!

Donald Luskin brings out the Krugman Truth Squad and has a bit of fun with the despair of leftists everywhere in the face of a Bush victory. Not only is Mr. Krugman taking two months off to faint on the sofa, but the machinery of leftist agitprop is now begging for more money to keep up the incessant moanfest which failed to win them the election. And it is surely icing on the cake to watch all of the Hollywood celebrities writhe in agony over their failure and the fact that they now have to move to France to get away from the boobs in Fly-Over-Country.

Bush's Secular Triumph

Christopher Hitchens points out that while the left is whining and moaning about religious conservatives, George Bush has done more for the forces of secularism by fighting the war against Islamofascism than all of the members of the left combined. After all, he says, what are the Islamic radicals if not an out of control religious cult bent on the murder and enslavement of millions? And if we have liberated both Iraq and Afghanistan from brutal tyrants, why does the left not celebrate rather than sulk in misery?

The Next Supreme Court and the War on Terror

Henry Mark Holzer is Professor Emeritus at Brooklyn Law School, and in this essay argues that appointments to the Supreme court will be vital for the fight against the Islamofascists. The Democrats have been doing everything they can to prevent conservative judges from being appointed because they know this, and because it would mean the end of their program of leftist judicial activism used to circumvent the legislature. The liberal agenda has been put in place primarily by leftist courts ignoring the will of the people.Now that Republicans are in a position to reverse this program, they should not be shy about saying so and providing the reasons why in a clear and forceful manner. The future of the republic depends in large part on undoing the damage to the courts caused by the left.

Oriana Fallaci on Eurabia

Bat Ye’or provides much praise for Italian writer Oriana Fallaci in this article from Front Page Magazine. Fallaci's new book looks at the problems Old Europe is having, and is going to have, as it deals with the return of fascism, this time in the shape of Islamic radicalism. As always, Fallaci is recommended reading.

Death of a “Blasphemer”

In this essay, Robert Spencer argues that the left's views on multiculturalism and secularism in Old Europe, and America, are on a collision course. The murder of Theo van Gogh, a decedent of the famous painter Vincent van Gogh, has awakened a sense of dread in Europe which may finally get them to notice the growing danger of Islamofascism in their lands. The influx of Muslim immigrants who have no desire to integrate into western cultures and who are often hostile to them represents a grave threat for the future of free society.

Western society values freedom of expression. But this is exactly what Islamic radicals are against. And when a famous artist can be murdered in the street for religious reasons, the multicultural game is up. The left will now have to choose between their claims of support for free speech, and their support for the "underdog" in the guise of Islamic radicals.

Good Riddance

What a pathetic vessel in which to have placed liberalism's hopes!

Marty Peretz runs down the reasons for the failure of the Kerry campaign to catch on with the American voters in the heartland. And the reasons should be pretty obvious. Aside from the fact that the Great Socialist Utopia doesn't sell well in Fly-Over-Country, is the simple fact that Senator Kerry was a weak candidate. And the sad fact for Democrats is that he was the best they had to offer.

Don’t Believe the Hype (2004 Remix)

The “youth vote” fails to materialize — yet again.

Jonah Goldberg points out that the "youth vote" failed to turn out once again for the Democrats. Some young people did vote of course, but their numbers were no greater than they have been in elections past. That was bad news for the Deaniacs who were very vocal about how they were going to change everything. But the "youth vote" never seems to show up no matter how many Madonna commercials are run on MTV. Why the Democrats continue to believe in the "youth vote" is a mystery.

The Liberal Crack-Up

Years ago author and publisher R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. wrote a book titled "The Liberal Crack Up" in which he predicted the demise of the Democratic party and the resons for its eventual failure. In this essay, he revisits those arguments and reminds us why he was right and the left was so wrong about the future. And that future has come to pass just as Mr. Tyrrell and many others thought it would. The logical end of liberalism is a dead end with no way out, as the Democrats are just now finding out. This election was a disaster for them, whether they admit it or not. Only the courts are currently left to them, at least as far as govenment is concerned, and shortly they will lose them as well. From there it is only a matter of time until their last holdouts in media and education are also finished. And they will go down screeching all the way.

The Republican FDR

Ralph R. Reiland writes about the economic implications of George Bush's second term, and they are large indeed. For sixty years we have lived with FDR's "New Deal", which created a tax and spend government which now takes a huge portion of the national income and spends it on beltway paperwork, or re-distributes it to groups with political pull, mostly those on the left, or wastes it in pork-barrel projects. President Bush means to change as much of this as he can and privatizing some of the functions of government, including retirement investment, seems like an idea whose time has come. An ownership society would be wealthier and more productive than one waiting for government handouts. And it would also help to speed the destruction of the Democrats who need a population which is dependent on them for political favors and government money. Owners don't need handouts.

Looking in the Mirror

Christopher Orlet contrasts liberal intellectuals with conservative ones. Of course, liberals don't really believe that there are such people as conservative intellectuals. Liberals think that they are the only ones who can read and write and thus that they have some sort of natural monopoly on ideas. Imagine their surprise when they find out that this is not true and that those of us in red states actually have libraries and read them from time to time.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. takes a look at two things that will keep the Democrats out of power for a very, very long time and they have far more to do with outlook than with policy. The Democrats now are the party of the hard left, as we have all seen this election cycle. And there are two things which they believe with certainty: that conservatives are both bigots and morons. And since much of the country identifies itself with conservative values, it logically follows that this is what Democrats think of Fly-Over-Country. John Kerry tried hard to hide this view from the public, but the Michael Moores' and Janeane Garofalos' of the party were plenty loud enough to "get the message out." And believe me, we heard the message loud and clear. So until the left lets go of the Democratic party or until the Democrats grow a spine and kick them out and re-think their ideas, they are doomed to wander in the desert of political power for a long, long time.

2004's Biggest Losers

How Dan Rather and the media's kings lost their crowns.

In this article from The Wall Street Journal, Daniel Henninger outlines how The Elite Media Monoculture was the big loser in this election. And rightly so, if one looks at the facts. Everyone knows that the media is biased and has been for years. But in this election cycle the media went whole hog for one party, effectively becoming a Democratic party house organ. This change of rules did not go unnoticed by the public at large. And with the CBS fabrication scandal and the attempt to falsify stories about "missing" explosives, the mainstream media has lost all credibility with the public, which is now turning to other, more reliable sources of information.

Bad News for Democrats

Hollywood activists vow to keep it up.

The overpaid and pampered mavens of Hollywood's leftist elite have bad news for the Democratic party; they are going to keep right on complaining loudly about how they hate America, Republicans, Red States and George W. Bush. Some of them may even do commercials about the evils of shopping at Sam's Club.

Life After Daschle

Will a 55-seat majority be enough to end Senate obstructionism?

Kimberley Strassel gives us a run down on what we can expect in the Senate now that Republicans have increased their majority while removing obstructionist Democrats such as Tom Daschle.

Generation Gap

Blue Democrats lost red America back in 1965.

In this article Daniel Henninger looks at the way the 60's baby boomer generation changed the Democratic party and made it the haven of losers and angry psychopaths. Until the boomer generation passes away, the Democrats will be doomed to irrelevance and minority status.

Blue State Blues

This week we were treated to yet more whining and complaining by the left in the wake of the election which carried George W. Bush to victory along with the people in Fly-Over-Country. The results from this election should have been as clear to the left as a two by four to the side of the head. But it would seem that they are not learning from their mistakes. We have all heard by now that the moonbat websites are talking about secession and “JesusLand” as if they were about to fight another civil war. And perhaps in their minds they might think such a thing will happen and is even possible. But the left is losing power and credibility along with their sanity and are no longer willing, if they ever were, to see the dead end at the road they have chosen. There will be no civil war, although we are in for a long cultural battle yet to come in which, I believe, the left will ultimately be defeated as a cultural force. And they have already lost significant ground in this election. They have had their moment on the stage and their influence is now on the wane. It is only a matter of time until they are rendered truly irrelevant.

It’s sad in a way; at least for them.

I selected the tag line for this site, “The View From Fly Over Country” for a good reason and it sums up my motivation for keeping this blog up, even if I don’t post every day and even though it has relatively few readers. There are, after all, thousands and thousands of blogs, many of which are vastly more well known than this one. But that is not the reason I keep this one going. I do so because, like many other bloggers from this side of the political spectrum, I do not wish to remain silent in the face of the continuous assault on the very ideas on which America was founded. And let’s be clear about what those are. The left opposes individualism and individual rights, the objective rule of law, private property, free and open markets and the concept of limited government with all that it implies. And of course they oppose any attempt to defend America from those who would gladly destroy it and everything it stands for. The concept of America as a nation of free individuals is diametrically opposed to everything the left stands for. And what do they stand for when we sweep away all of the spin and hysteria? In a word, socialism.

The dream of The Great Socialist Utopia is the foundation on which the left was built and on which it continues to stand. For the last century, the left has maintained the dream that society could be re-ordered and re-fashioned into that utopian vision described by various 19th and 20th century writers and philosophers. But the dream of socialism brought with it a very high price tag in human lives and misery. Millions have died all around the world in the pursuit of that goal. When socialism is put into practice as its adherents desire, the results are suffering, death and misery on a scale not seen before in human history. Gulags, torture chambers, failed economies, stagnation and war are the fruit which socialism ultimately bears for those who are tempted by its false promise of heaven on Earth.

The left has never come to terms with this fact. Nor do they appear likely to do so even after the failure of their candidate and their party yet again. The desperation which we are seeing, and which will no doubt become ever more hysterical until the day it finally fades into silence, is the long, agonizing death scream of their ideology; Marxism. For while there will always be thugs and dictators who long for power over the lives of others, there will be no moral authority from the left to give them cover for their deeds when they try to brutalize imprisoned populations in countries that still resist human rights and economic progress. The long trend of history is in the direction of more and more freedom for people around the globe as the ideas of the free society are spread more and more widely. The left however has avoided any real introspection which might allow them to see this trend and their electoral failure for what it is. Instead they offer us two views to ‘explain’ why they lost this election, as well as others in the past, both of which are designed to prevent them from taking responsibility for their loss and which blame the American people, rather than themselves.

The first we will call the argument from stupidity and the second, the argument from malevolence.

The argument from stupidity says that the people in Fly-Over-Country are basically a bunch of dumb, uneducated knuckle dragging hicks who don’t know any better than to vote for Republicans. The arguments are all too familiar and all too common. But the argument is a circular one. The results of the election are offered as proof of the stupidity of the red states while at the same time the left claims Republicans, like George Bush, are encouraging ignorance and stupidity in the population. Well, either the red states started out stupid, or they didn't. But they can't be both stupid and not stupid at the same time, which is what the left is really claiming. Just like they want to claim that Bush is a retard and an evil genius as the situation requires. As always, the left ignores the laws of logic when making their claims.

Now they are arguing that all of the talent in the nation resides in the blue states while the red states are living off of the effort of the elites in the land of Kedwards. But they offer little evidence of this either. Just more assertions without merit. And as a matter of common sense, one would have to recognize that talent exists everywhere in the country, not just in Manhattan and Los Angeles. Indeed, much of the manufacturing base of the country can now be found in the south, the very same states that voted for Bush in such large numbers. And many business are leaving the blue states for obvious reasons related to high taxes and a hostile business climate. So if the blue state folks are so smart, why can't they keep the productive classes in their states? No answer is given by the angry left.

The argument from malevolence says that the people in Fly-Over-Country are a bunch of racist, bigoted, greedy, selfish homophobic, religiously fanatic angry white males who would just as soon run you over with their pickup trucks as spit on you, if they even noticed anyone else but themselves. But if the left really believed this, why would they not be leaving in droves to other more hospitable countries? There are plenty of places around the globe which still offer the attempt at the socialist paradise, such as France for instance. But the lefties never seem to act on their complaints; they just complain more. One can conclude from this dichotomy between words and actions that the left is as hypocritical as ever, saying one thing while doing another. What they want is to be free to blame America as much as they can, while still living the good life which America affords. No leftist really believes, deep, deep down, that evil Republicans are waiting just around the corner to accost them; they just want you to believe it when they say it.

Of course both of these arguments avoid the obvious third reason for the continuing demise of the left and their loss in this year’s election; the people in Fly-Over-Country don’t agree with them. And that is the real message of this election. Democrats just can't bring themselves to face the fact that their view of the world and America's place in it does not sell in the American heartland. It is a product which no one wants to buy and a view which no person with any common sense believes. And the elites can't get us to buy it no matter how hard they try. The left no longer has the power to sway the public. The left threw everything they had at the Republicans and George Bush this year, and the result was a big fat zero for the elites. How it must sting them when they realize that their money, influence and power are just so much haze to be washed away by the bright morning sun as it rises over Bush country.

The Moral Minority

Can Hillary Clinton make the Democratic Party normal again?

This article from The Wall Street Journal is not so much about Hillary Clinton as it is about the forces which the Democrats have unleashed within their party and how those forces have brought them defeat after defeat. Who are today's Democratic party representatives? They are big labor, big money millionaires like George Soros, big trial lawyers, big Hollywood stars and big media elites. In other words, people who are not much like you and me. Democrats used to be the party of the little guy. Now the little guy is the servant cleaning Teresa's bathroom in one of her five mansions or the driver taking Julia Roberts to her next chartered jet flight to Paris. Out of touch doesn't begin to cover the problem for the Democrats. And while we're on the subject, it doesn't help to call the people who you need to vote for you a bunch of idiots and morons. That is not, as we say in the graphics business, good marketing.

'He's Got Two of 'Em'

Why I can't stop being happy about the election result.

In this article from The Wall Street Journal, Peggy Noonan writes about her experience in sharing a moment of victory with other Republicans at a Club for Growth symposium. And don't we all deserve a moment of reflection on what has transpired? This was undoubtedly one of the most important elections in my lifetime. It will perhaps be remembered along with the election in 1980 of Ronald Reagan which lead to the end of the cold war and the defeat of communism. In this election the American people chose to finally let go of the faded dreams of the liberals and try conservative ideas for the future. In economics and foreign policy, the two most vital issues in this election, we now have a mandate for conservative ideas. And this bodes well for the future, for it means that Americans have a realistic view of the world in which we live and can see it for what it is regardless of how many lies they are told by the Elite Media Monoculture.

American Exceptionalism

The message of Tuesday’s verdict.

In this essay, Victor Davis Hanson takes a look at how the American electorate voted and what messages it sends to those who fought so hard to eject George W. Bush from the White House. And indeed, there were many, many losers who are now asking themselves what happened. For many of these people are very surprised indeed at the outcome. How could those yokels in Fly-Over-Country be so stupid as to vote for that cowboy? And how is it that all of the money, time, effort and publicity from Hollywood, the UN, academia, Old Europe and The Elite Media Monoculture failed to achieve the desired result?

Certainly the elites all around the blue states, and elsewhere, did everything they could and spent as much as they had in order to defeat the President. But in the end, it mattered not at all and the American people voted in record numbers to keep George Bush right where he is for another four years. The dejection coming from academia, newsrooms and other left-wing hang-outs is palpable. The bitterness which one sees from the leaders of the left and the Democratic party is sad, pathetic and completely predictable, given just how far over the cliff they have gone in the last four years. It is a wonder they are not throwing themselves off of bridges and under buses all across the country.

In the end, a clear majority of the American people sent a clear message to the elites. The message is that the views and values of the leftist Democrats are not those of middle America and will not win votes in the red states. And America is moving more and more in a conservative direction. The country is far more red than blue, if one looks at the county by county map of this election as well as some of the recent elections of the past. The era of Democratic dominance is over and a new era has dawned. The leftist dream of a Socialist Utopian America is dead and gone and the baby boomers who came of age during the 60's, such as John "war criminal" Kerry, and who tried so hard to make that utopia happen, will never see it come to pass. The trends are all in the other direction; the direction of free markets, a strong defense of the country and a resurgence of the basic ideas on which the country was founded in the first place.

To Old Europe the message is, "run your countries as you like, but stay out of American elections, we don't need you as much as you need us. French and German obstruction will not be rewarded." The message to the UN is similar. A debating society of dictators will not get to run our foreign policy and no Massachusetts leftist war protester will get to have lunch and go windsurfing at taxpayer expense while getting to bad mouth America to the rest of the world. The message to The Elite Media Monoculture is that your day is over. The Alternative Media is now on the lookout for perfidy wherever it may rear its ugly head as it did time after time in this election. Try as they might, Dan Rather, The New York Times and the rest of the dinosaur media will not be able to pull the kind of thing that they have in the past. The days of monopoly are over forever. We in the blogsphere will now be watching: Like A Hawk.

And finally, the regular people in Fly-Over-Country delivered a stinging rebuke to the self-appointed guardians of culture in Hollywood and the entertainment media. The message is, "Shut up and sing."

Why Americans Hate Democrats—A Dialogue

The unteachable ignorance of the red states.

Is it not always amusing to see a self-deluded left try so very hard, once again, to explain away their continuing failure by blaming others? Jane Smiley at Slate tries to do so by arguing with all the expected reasons for yet another failure to grab power. As always, the left never, ever takes responsibility for what happens to them. And the excuses are so very predictable; the electorate are a bunch of dumb Neanderthals, we didn't get our message out, the Rethuglicans are just too mean and we are too nice, etc.)

Yawn

Here is the real truth of the matter lefties, so listen up:

The difference between the left and the right exists because of two different sets of ideas about how the world works, and thus how to operate a government in that world. Democrats operate on one set of ideas; Republicans operate on another. Those two sets of ideas are mutually exclusive. They cannot both be right at the same time.

When Americans vote Republican, they are saying that Republicans have a better set of ideas than the Democrats. And Americans are not dumb morons, as you all seem to think. They look at the evidence and they can see for themselves just what happens when you put Leftist Democrat ideas into practical action. And the results are invariably disastrous. That is why you keep losing, and why you will continue to lose.

Until you discard the dead weight of Marxist ideology which is found at the root of your party, you will never win another election in this country again, and you will deserve the minority status you have earned. Your party will now be out of power for at least a generation, because that is how long it takes to rebuild from minority party status. Ask a Republican who remembers the campaign of Barry Goldwater.

You can now look forward to at least twenty years of introspection in which you will be able to ask yourselves why Americans don't vote for you anymore. And perhaps if you are honest enough with yourselves, you might just start to question the ideas which have blinded you for so long.

So go to the library and pick up some books by authors who espouse the ideas of liberty, free markets and pro-western philosophy if you want to learn a few new ideas for the future. You might actually be surprised by the results. And you might begin to understand why you will have to wander in the wilderness for years to come, and how to find your way back to reality where the rest of us all live.

Good luck; you're going to need it.

The Great Relearning

Let it begin.

Bill Bennett points out that cultural and ethical issues played a big part in the election and that this is yet another area that Democrats have had difficulty understanding. I guess they just thought they could buy some judges and push their agenda down the rest of our throats whether we liked it or not. Now, it will be a long time before any liberal judges are appointed by a liberal President. And look for some interesting judicial appointments by Bush after January. Many good candidates have been waiting because of Tom Daschle. Now that the election is over, I expect to see some movement on that front.

A Political Gettysburg

The Dems try to win, against the odds.

Robert Moran writes that the Democrats threw everything they had into this race and have come up against the hard, cold reality of defeat. And not just a small one either. Gains in the House, Senate and in states around the country are very bad news for the Democrats. But they still don't get it. Already they are looking to their favorite excuses to explain their loss. And what it usually comes down to is that all of us are just too stupid to appreciate their desire to control every single aspect of our lives. But then, one might point out that it is not the most intelligent strategy to insult and demean the regular people for three years and then expect them to turn around and vote for your billionaire candidate. Of course as a conservative, I come to this conclusion as a result of simple common sense. I don't need an army of lawyers to tell me the obvious.

Targeted Gloating

YEEEEEEEE-HAAAAAAAAA!

John Derbyshire engages in a bit of directed gloating. Not at John Kerry or John Edwards mind you, but rather at some of the self-satisfied elites who still don't get it and are stewing in their caldrons of rage and hate. For instance, I just tuned into AirMoonbat Radio for a bit and heard Janeane Garofalo refer to those of us here in fly-over-country as a bunch of Archie Bunkers. Well Janeane, fuck you and the broom you rode in on. You are a pathetic waste of skin and your kind are as doomed to irrelevance as the dinosaurs. Your radio network is the leper colony of The Elite Media Monoculture, and that is saying something. Have a nice rest of your life and kiss your career goodbye because you have blown it out the window. Way to go.

The Power of Will

Winning still matters.

Victor Davis Hanson reminds us that in war, certain things do not change. The Islamofascists cannot win against us on the battlefield, thus they fight us where they think we are vulnerable; in the playground of The Elite Media Monoculture and in the haunts of the radical left. Just as in the days of Vietnam, we have a fifth column in this country which is actively engaged in the attempt to see the defeat of America and the west in this fight against barbarism. And just as in those days, the fight is to be found on television, radio and in the newspapers.

But unlike yesterday, the fight is also taking place in the chatrooms, blogs and message boards of the Internet as well as the e-mail messages which regular folk send back and forth across cyberspace. This time around, the playing field is a bit more even and those on the side of freedom can get their message out as well. And the message is that we can win, we should win, and that we have every moral right to win. With luck, the American voters will agree.

K-12 Anti-Americanism

Larry Elder demolishes the child's view of economics and throws in some much needed moral clarity in this short essay at FrontPageMagazine. Is America rich because it takes wealth from other nations? Only in Marxist fantasy land. In the real world all wealth has to be created. Nature does not provide more than raw materials, and even then you have to process those to get started on the road to a developing economy. The real reason America is rich is because we have something which many other countries have lacked. We have a free market economy, rule of law and private property rights. If you want to see economic growth, these are the things you need to have in place.

The Middle East has tons of oil, a valuable resource. But it remains one of the poorest parts of the world. The reason is that the Arab nations lack the freedoms named above. And slave populations do not become rich, especially when half of them cannot read and where creativity and innovation are punished by culture and law. In the Middle East, property rights and rule of law don't exist. Thus they remain at the level of a third world culture, except for the very few rulers at the top. The rest of the population remains mired in poverty. It is freedom and law which create the groundwork for a society such as ours in which progress is the rule rather than the exception. What poor nations need to import is the concept of democratic capitalism and individual rights.

The Shadow Party

Here is a fascinating and lengthy article on what authors David Horowitz and Richard Poe call "The Shadow Party." What is this shadow party? It is the network of 527 groups which have sprung up in the wake of the new campaign finance laws and which are funded with millions of dollars from people like George Soros and his multi-millionaire friends in the media, unions and high-tech business. This shadow party is well organized and very well funded and is the moving force behind the Democrats lurch to the hard left.

Of course special interest groups have been around for years and have had some influence over the Democratic party before. But now these groups are controlling a very large portion of the money which the Democrats need in order to run the party and their campaigns. The new campaign finance laws have effectively handed the major control of the Democratic party over to the hard left, which is in turn being bankrolled by Soros and company. This article is good reading to see some of the important interconnections between these groups and where they may lead in the future.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Kerry’s Dilemma

Or, how to lose an election.

Victor Davis Hanson gives us his six reasons why he thinks John "war criminal" Kerry is going to lose this election. And some of the reasons he gives ought to have been obvious even to the Democratic left. But as we have seen this election season, the left has lost its collective mind and is consumed with rage and hate. It is thus unable to evaluate the situation in a calm and rational manner. If they had nominated someone like Gephart or Lieberman they might have had a chance to win. Instead they went even further down the "blame America first" road, first with Howard Dean and Wesley Clark, and now with the former war protester and medal thrower John Kerry. This is not a party which is sane any more. And they are going to pay for it at the polls in just about a week.

“Conflicts-of-Interest-R-Us”

Kofi Annan uses the Iraqi people’s money to investigate the Oil-for-Food fiasco.

Claudia Rosett reports that the investigation into the UN's "Oil for Palaces" scandal will now be paid for by the very same money which the UN stole from the Iraqi people. Kofi Annan decided this all by himself, without asking the Iraqi government if they wanted any of their stolen goods back. I guess he just elected himself to be king or something. Or perhaps his family members, who were also on the take, are still trying to get their hands on even more funds. In any case, there can be little doubt about the corruption which is now the standard operating procedure over at the UN and what we can expect from this investigation. I, for one, will be very surprised if anything of value comes out of it.

“The Age of Liberty”

President Bush is making the world safe for democracy.

Paul Kengor writes in the National Review about something really simple; something really basic. So simple and basic that it is apparently beyond the comprehension of the moonbats on the left. It is that democratic states tend to live in peace with their fellow democracies. Wars are started, in general, by those nations which do not have democratic institutions and in which the great mass of the people have no voice. Look at the Middle East today and you find not one real democratic nation. And at the same time, one cannot help but notice that today's wars and conflicts are taking place in exactly those nations which have rejected the trend towards democratic capitalism.

Thus the war on terror is not just a fight against this or that terrorist group. The President has a much wider vision of how the world must change if it is to defeat the prospect of terrorism in the 21st century. And that solution is to bring liberty to those nations that do not have it and which have been so deeply involved in the terrorist agenda. It is just too bad that the left does not want to understand these facts. And if they do understand and still refuse to face them anyway, then it is an even blacker mark against them, for it means that the left would condemn much of the world to servitude in order to protect their own power.

Shame, Shame, Shame

Many of you just don’t care about this war.

Jonah Goldberg pokes a few holes in the self-righteous bubble of leftist hypocrisy. The left has been all over the map when it comes to complaining about the conduct of our foreign policy, but too often their complaints contradict each other as well as the available evidence. What we are seeing is clearly a vain attempt to say and do anything which will get George Bush out of the white house with no regard for facts, evidence and logic, and Goldberg has great fun in pointing it out.

The Therapeutic Choice

A war for our lives, or a nuisance to our lifestyle?

In this essay by Victor Davis Hanson we observe the disconnected world view of the liberal elites who just can't bring themselves to understand that there is true, genuine evil in the world and that it is a threat to the lives we lead and the foundations which make them possible. Those of us in Fly-Over-Country get the message, but somehow it has not been delivered to the rich and pampered elites who live in New York, Washington and Hollywood. There is no one so blind as a leftist who "knows" he is correct.

Unholy Alliance

Here we have two part interview with author David Horowitz who has written a new book, "Unholy Alliance, Radical Islam and the American Left." Horowitz was once part of the left himself and a publisher of the radical magazine "Ramparts" so he is more than a bit familiar with the strategies and tactics of the left. In this interview he talks about his book and what he thinks of the left's new love affair with radical Islam and the motivations behind it. As always, Horowitz is well worth reading because of his unique insight into the warped world of the radical left.

Part One

Part Two

La République des Bananes

Kofi Annan tries to explain away France and Russia's Oil for Food wrongdoing.

Claudia Rosett has been doing stand up work on the Oil for Palaces scandal at the UN. Here she brings us another article which looks at the way in which the tendency of the UN to house banana republics which are rife with corruption lends itself to exactly this kind of problem. When the rule of law is absent, as it is in so many countries around the world, how can we expect them to abide by agreements which civilized countries require? The simple fact of the matter is that some countries, like some individuals, are more honest than others. And honesty is one of the most important criteria one uses when deciding how much responsibility another can be allowed to wield. The UN has proved that responsibility and honesty are things which it does not have.

Wild and Crazy Guy

John Kerry and his billionaire wife pay lower taxes than you do.

Isn't it interesting to know that the rich and powerful liberal establishment is unwavering in their desire to get us all to pay higher taxes, yet somehow they always forget to pay the same rates as the rest of us shlubs? Now, why does that always seem to happen?

New Jobs; It's Bush's Fault

Sorry about the light posting this week folks, but I have been busy training for a new job in the graphics field for one of the biggest names out there. And no, I'm not saying which company, because as we have seen this election season, the Democrats have lost all control and might try anything to stop a successful Republican. But the fact remains that the economy is improving and creating new jobs at a steady pace. Could it be better? Probably. But it could also have been much worse; like if Gore had been President. If he had been, you would never have had those tax cuts which get business going and lead to economic growth.

That's right; it's Bush fault that the economy has produced even more employment this month and your most humble author has benefited from those dastardly tax cuts for the rich. And this company is training a bunch of new hires, not just this author, but lots of others and is even planning to hire more in the coming weeks and months if what I hear is true. So buck up you leftists out there. In time even you may be able to get a job in the new economic boom, assuming that you really want one instead of sitting on your rear end while dreaming up conspiracy theories about Bush-Hitler.

The Myth of 'Squandered Sympathy'

European elites were anti-American long before the liberation of Iraq.

John Rosenthal pens this extensive essay in which he looks at the rampant anti-Americanism which, contrary to the view of leftist moonbats, existed prior to the attacks of 9-11. In France and Germany in particular the intelligentsia has been vocal and strident in their hate of all things American and their envy and resentment of American power, both military and economic. The argument from Old Europe was the one which the left would later pick up and repeat endlessly; that America got what was coming to it. Recommended reading.

Change Is Inevitably Not Popular

Why many Americans hesitate to embrace the Bush revolution.

Daniel Henninger writes about a subject which should be the subtext of this election cycle, the continuing process of globalization. The process of globalization, which means the spread of free markets and competition around the world and the rising standard of living which follows from that, is a force which affects us all. And to deal with it effectively means adapting to this new economic reality and thus leaving behind much of the economic policy thinking of the past. The time of "The New Deal" is over and a new era has dawned. The ways of the past will not help us in the new global environment. To survive and thrive in this new economic world, America must have more flexibility, lower taxes, less regulation and a business-friendly environment at home. But these are the things we will not get from the Democrats who are still tied to the welfare-state past, trial lawyers and big unions. A vote for Bush is a vote for the future that the Democrats don't yet want to acknowledge as the new reality. But that reality is not going to go away just because John Kerry and the Democrats refuse to see it.

The Meaninglessness of Meaning

Jacques Derrida is dead, but his baneful ideas live on.

Roger Kimball reflects on the passing of one of the 20th centuries' greatest intellectual frauds, French "intellectual" Jacques Derrida. Mr. Derrida, like one of the characters in "Atlas Shrugged" taught that nothing is anything, and that words are without meaning. Francisco would have laughed and said that everything is something and that words always have meaning even if the writer doesn't know what they are. My advice would be to pass on Mr. Jacques Derrida and pick up a copy of "Atlas" or even "Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology" if you want to know why clear thinking about concepts and meaning is vital to effective and purposeful communication.

Getting Physical

Union thugs target Republicans.

John Fund reports on the continuing efforts of Democrats to engage in intimidation and vote fraud to steal the election. In this article in the Wall Street Journal, we see the tactics of union thugs and leftists criminals using various tactics to increase the votes of dead people who get multiple chances to vote for the Democrat of their choice. As is always the case, the people who are prone to remind us of their moral superiority whenever they get near a microphone are also the ones to urge us to "vote early and often."

America's New Jingoes

Kerry and the left embrace economic isolationism.

George Gilder writes about the difference between the economic vision of conservatives, who understand the mechanisms of the free market, and the advocates of top-down centralized command and control of the Democratic Left. The left is stuck in the 19th century past of economic theories which have been shown to be failures throughout the 20th century in every part of the world where they have been tried. But since the fall of Communism in the late 80's the capitalist supply side revolution has taken hold in much of the world. In the East and in the old Eastern Bloc, capitalism is now the system of choice and economies around the globe are growing by leaps and bounds. The US also has grown much since the Reagan years and now stands at the dawn of a new economic boom. But John Kerry and the Democratic Left want to bring back the policies of the 70's that brought us "stagflation" and the Carter Misery Index. With luck, Americans are smart enough to understand just how much of a disaster that would be.

Fahrenheit 411

Jay D. Homnick points out in this article that nature abhors a vacuum. And The Elite Media Monoculture has certainly become one, if you ask me. But leaving that aside, Mr. Homnick is correct to remind the media of the law of unintended consequences. Because in this case we had a huge untapped market of people who wanted to hear and see news and information without the liberal-left slant or filter. The new media is filling that market and the old elite media is losing audience in droves. The forces of the market cannot be ignored. They operate whether you believe in them or not. Long live the Pajamahadeen.

How the Mighty Have Fallen

Paul Weyrich ruminates on the shrinking relevance of The Elite Media Monoculture and the place of Dan Rather in history.

W., On

Friday was a good night for President Bush.

Rich Lowry also think the President did well. His analysis of the debate is at The National Review.

The Empire Strikes Back

A night of surprises.

Gary Andres argues that the President did well in the second debate, an assessment with which I agree. The President was much more in control and confident than the first debate. Kerry, on the other hand, looked weak and tired and did not come across as inspired. A good overall performance for the Republicans.

Hullabaloo Over Halliburton

The Kerry campaign's Old Democrat tendencies.

Whenever the moonbat left wants to smear free enterprise these days they shout "Halliburton" over and over again. The cry is so common that it is now a college drinking game anytime there is a Presidential debate. And drinks were flowing freely during the Vice-Presidential contest between Dick Cheney and John "Breck Girl" Edwards. But to find out more about the true story, as opposed to the drooling anti-business fantasy of the Democrats, check out this article in The Wall Street Journal.

Sizing Up Iraq

Things are coming to a head in the Middle East.

Victor Davis Hanson brings us another great essay. This time around he looks at the criteria which we should use to determine how we are doing in Iraq and how we should evaluate success. He provides four key points which we should look for in order to know whether we are winning. Good reading.

The Rage of a Once Great Party

I don't think we are going to see a Kerry victory for a variety of reasons. Nor do I think we are going to see a civil war between Democrats and Republicans as some have suggested, although as Nativeborn shows, some Democrats are finally letting out their violent impulses without restraint.

But the truth is that we are in a moment of transition. This is the election where it finally becomes obvious that the Democrats are a party on the decline. There is no other rational explanation for the kind of out of control hate, vitriol, resentment and rage which we are now seeing from the remnants of what was once a great party.

We never saw this kind of thing while the Democrats were secure in their power and position. As long as they ran things, and the Republicans kept their place in the background, every leftist Democrat was happy as a clam.

What has changed is that the Dems have begun to suspect that they are not going to get their power back for a very long time. The years of Clinton were a temporary respite in a downward spiral which continues to this day. And this election has made it clear that if they do not win back their power in the White House and the congress, they will most likely be out of power for a generation or more.

For older baby-boomers who have placed their faith in the leftist illusion of big government, that means that they will be long dead and buried before the Democrats get their hands on the wheels of power again. That is the real fear which sits like a stone in the stomach of every Democrat who sees power slipping away while a conservative Texan sits in the oval office and outwits them at every turn.

It is just too much for them to bear to face both their loss of power as well as the realization that their lifelong dream has failed and they will never see it come to pass. It is no wonder they are out of control.

I think that the decline of the Democrats has been well under way for some time, probably going back to the Carter years. But the Clinton years masked the change because there was no overwhelming reason to be concerned about the leadership of the country.

Sure, both Republicans and Democrats had problems with Clinton, for different reasons, but in retrospect those things seem very small and far away now. The 90's were, as Krauthammer said, "a holiday from history."

During the 90's we knew that the Soviets were no more and we didn't think that we could be threatened by any other major power, at least not without having a good, long warning beforehand. We knew about the Chinese making noises from time to time of course, but there was not a major country which could challenge us on the battlefield. No other country would even send jets up in the air to fight us because they knew that they would be shot out of the sky. And so we were complacent in our knowledge of our own power.

Now, after 9-11, the situation is completely different. We know that we can be attacked, and without an army having to march ashore either. Our mindset has changed because we now see what we did not see before. The Democrats have not adapted to this new reality because they cannot. It just does not fit with their world view. And so they fight and fight to roll back the clock to the days before 9-11 in the vain hope that all of the rest of us will somehow forget.

But of course, we won't. And that is why the Democrats are doomed. They are still living in the past and they refuse to adapt to the new situation. They are dinosaurs at the moment of change. And we all know what happened to them...

There's Nothing More Intolerant Than a Tolerant Liberal

Some Bush supporters say they fear for their property.

As Stanley Kurtz reports, all across the country, tolerant liberals are vandalizing cars, tearing signs out of the hands of defenseless children, punching people in the face and shooting guns into offices. Why are they doing these things? Because the objects of their hate are Bush supporters who have the nerve to say so. Tolerant liberals everywhere have become goons and thugs on the theory that they are morally superior to all the rest of us and thus they have the right to destroy anyone else's property and to beat up anyone that they want to in order to keep Bush-Hitler from being elected in November. Feel the love.

French Resistance

If the French are really our friends, they have a funny way of showing it.

Bin Laden and Marx – Strange Bedfellows

David Stolinsky takes a look at the similarities between Islamofascism and Marxism. And you might be surprised to find out just how many there are.

America, Just Be Yourself

Standing for our principles is more important than being loved.

Claudia Rosett advises us Americans to just be true to our own nature and to trust our instincts. Good advice at any time, but even more important than ever in this most dangerous of times. So what if the Euro-Trash hate us? What are they going to do about it; moan us to death? The French can't even get their aircraft carrier to run without the propeller falling off and sinking to the bottom of the Atlantic. We have bigger fish to fry and loads of terrorists to kill. We'll get back to you when the job is done so you can get back to your complaining later. In the meantime, have a burger and some fries and we'll save you a seat at Euro-Disney.

The Producer

Meet Mary Mapes, the crusading journalist behind CBS's current troubles.

John Fund takes an in-depth look at CBS "news" producer Mary Mapes. It turns out that she is not only a leftist zealot who went into journalism to "change the world," but that she is also an apparent hack, having screwed up more than once while never having been properly disciplined for her mistakes. But in the world of The Elite Media Monoculture getting the job done right is not anywhere near as important as having the correct political views, all of which are on the left. And Mary Mapes has them, in spades.

Right War, Right Place, Right Time

Kerry is wrong: Iraq is central to defeating al Qaeda.

Debra Burlingame writes about the choice between John "war criminal" Kerry and President George W. Bush in this article from The Wall Street Journal. While Kerry and the Democrats scream and moan about 'wrong war, wrong place, wrong time,' the rest of us understand that we can't refuse this. The terrorists brought this fight to our shores and if we don't defend ourselves, we will be destroyed by them. It is a pity that Kerry and the left are once again on the wrong side of history. But then, they always are.

Deterrence, Parts 1 and 2

Bill Whittle at Eject, Eject, Eject writes about the problem of deterrence and how the different candidates and parties stack up regarding the future. That would be a future in which Islamofascists shout "Allah Akbar" while pulling the nuclear trigger in lower Manhattan. Do we really want to go there, or do we instead want to kill off the psychotic murdering savages before they get the chance? The Democrats want to shower the killers with carrots. Conservatives want to use bullets. I vote for the bullets myself, because I know of no dead terrorist who has caused further problems for civilization.

You Don't Need A Staged Debate To See the Future

Who do you trust to face down the next nuclear threat?

Daniel Henninger points out that a Kerry administration is philosophically pre-disposed to appeasement. And the issue is not Iraq, but nations such as Iran and North Korea, both of which are racing to build atomic weapons of their own. Will a Kerry administration do anything other than talk about it before it is too late to act? Will the Democrats, who are America's surrender party, take their heads out of the sand long enough to notice that we are a target as long as nutjobs have nukes? I think we all know the answer. And that is why they can't be trusted with the nation's security for the foreseeable future.

The September 10th Mentality

Bush needs to hammer home that Kerry is stuck in the past.

Joel C. Rosenberg writes that John "war criminal" Kerry and the Democrats want to go back to before September 11th as if it never happened. They want to live in the world we knew before that dreadful day; a world in which we were focused on our need for good latte; on the scandals of minor politicians and their aides and the foibles of overpaid and overpampered celebrities. This desire to believe that somehow September 11th does not really matter and that we can go back to the way we were before, is a crucial dividing line between Republicans and Democrats and is the most important issue in this election year, whether the Democrats want to admit it or not.

The American people viscerally understand that the world changed radically on September 11. They understand that we can no longer wait for perfect intelligence but must rather connect the dots as best we can. They understand that our president has to use his best judgment to determine whether we can wait for sanctions, international pressure, or any other means short of war to pan out or strike first without hesitation, albeit with heavy hearts.

What's so dangerous is that Kerry is stuck in the past. He opposed the Vietnam War and is obsessed with reliving that fight. He never understood the global Communist threat. He voted against most of the major weapons systems that Reagan and Bush 41 pushed for to win the Cold War and keep us safe. He voted to cut intelligence funding in the 80s and 90s. He voted against going to war against Iraq in 1991. He never fully understood the threat Saddam Hussein posed to the U.S., the Middle East, Israel, and the free world. We know enough about his past to know that he is highly unlikely to understand the threats we will face in the future.

Keeping the Faith

What would Evelyn do?

Stefan Beck takes a look at one of the seven deadly sins in the context of today's political season. The Democrats, he argues, are consumed by sloth. Not mere laziness or procrastination about paying the electric bill; sloth is a spiritual attitude about the importance of action in the face of difficulty. The Democrats have lost this sense of urgency. To them the death of millions of Iraqi people is nothing if it does not help them to unseat George W. Bush. And indeed, this is the only vision which motivates them. The real truth is that they hate the people fighting for Iraqi and American freedom because they are fighting for something noble. It is the hatred of the good for being the good which is at the root of their sloth. They are the party of despair, surrender and malaise. They have nothing positive to offer, only a stew of despondency and dejection. They whisper in America's ear, "give up, give up, give up."

Moveon Dems

When it started going south for the Left.

Rich Lowry writes in The National Review of the self-inflicted wound of Democratic rage and fury against conservatives, Republicans and most of all George W. Bush. If the Democrats had any sense at all, they would realize how their wallowing in hate and resentment is killing any chance they might have had at the White House. But they are so addicted to their negative emotions that they are unwilling to look at them objectively or to give them up in order to be cured of their madness and come back to reality. And so we can expect the Dems to continue on their path of self-destruction for the foreseeable future, whether they win in November or not. And victory is looking more and more unlikely for them as Bush pulls out a lead point by point. Perhaps we need some sort of 12 step program for them.

Standing Firm

Remote skeptics do not understand the Iraqi desire for freedom.

And here, courtesy of The National Review, is the full text of the speech before congress given by Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. This is also the speech which John "war criminal" Kerry didn't think worth attending and which he found it necessary to insult as soon as he could find a mike into which he could spout. But don't let carrot top Kerry influence you on this subject. If you have not already done so, read the speech and decide for yourself its meaning and value.

The Kerry Syndrome

The Democrat is captured by George W. Bush — and Richard Nixon.

Jonah Goldberg writes that John "war criminal" Kerry is acting and sounding more and more like Nixon. Not the dignified Nixon of later years, but the sweaty paranoid Nixon of the Watergate era. It seems that every few days we hear of a new conspiracy which was cooked up in Texas to ruin the solar system, burn down black churches, bring back the draft and steal your kid's tuition money. The problem is that we are hearing these theories not from the sterno bum on the corner, as we might expect, but from Senator Kerry as part of his official campaign policy of the moment. Next week he will be claiming that Bush has a secret plan to build a theme park on a Central American island and stock it with cloned dinosaurs. If only the lawyers will let him.

The Joy of Hopelessness

Nothing feels so good as getting down and feeling bad.

Denis Boyles reports that John "war criminal" Kerry's UN is performing just as one would expect in exotic far away places. For example, in places like the Congo, UN "peacekeepers" in hot pants hide in their compounds unless they take a short trip to the refugee camps to round up 13 year-olds for sex. Thousands are dying in the conflicts there of course, but at least the French look fashionable while they screw the natives.

No Bang for Dan

The Rather National Guard story, however you look at it, is unimpressive.

Jonah Goldberg points out what the frothing at the mouth left seems not to notice; namely that no one in fly-over-country really cares all that much about what President Bush did in the Air National Guard. President Bush isn't running on his record of thirty years ago, unlike the orange colored French looking candidate who by the way served in Vietnam. No, President Bush is running on his more recent record of the last three years in the White House. Whether Bush wins or not will be based on what Americans think of the events of the last three years and how the President has responded, or in some cases not responded, to those events. John "war criminal" Kerry, on the other hand, does not even seem to be operating in this century, but rather in some far off 60's fantasy vision which has all the relevance of a painted psychedelic schoolbus on its way to Woodstock.