Check With The Groups
By Gary Aldrich (05/23/03)
There are a growing number of complaints about the conduct of those who oppose President Bush's stance on terrorism. In a recent speech in Illinois, angry students and parents who expected to hear an uplifting graduation speech, were treated instead to an anti-Bush, anti-Iraq war, anti-American scolding by a screechy, petulant New York Times reporter.
The crowd became agitated and unplugged the idiot's microphone after booing him loudly. The college administrator responsible for inviting him with a $5,000 speaking fee refused to admit that the Times reporter was out of line. Citing free speech rights that seem only available to those on the Left, the college president whined about the kind of world we would live in if even the most offensive Hard-Left morons were driven from the podium.
What kind of world would we live in? How about a safer world?
The Times reporter said he was shocked that patriotic Americans objected to his diatribe. He actually expected these mindless drones to just sit there while he degraded the country and the president that they love. Well, they might have done nothing more than wiggled uncomfortably in their seats a mere two years ago, but no more.
Citizens are beginning to stand up for themselves - not just the citizens from the Hard-Left who love Socialism.
In the recent past, and for the past 40 years, the Hard-Left has spoken and acted in offensive and sometimes illegal ways that are forbidden to anybody who's right-of-center. When Hard-Lefties gather to protest, they block streets, throw rocks at cops and otherwise break the law. Rarely are they ever prosecuted.
When folks right-of-center rise in protest, even those on their own side object if they break a rule or two. In recent days talking heads are saying that the New York crowd has a right to protest, but they cannot condone unplugging a microphone. And so, when Conservatives, who are usually self-policing, cross a line and become rude, even if they break no laws, they get a scolding from everyone - even those who say they are on the same side.
When Hard-Left radicals scream obscenities about our president and our country, break laws, and publicly wish that American troops would lose a war against Iraq, they are given a pass by the Democratic leadership - they get perpetual cover. Not a single Democratic leadership voice is raised against them.
But when Trent Lott tried to be funny with a lame comment about southern politics, he was promptly hauled to the lakeshore and dunked by the riotous crowd until he "confessed." Then he was forced to abandon his leadership position in the Republican Party.
When Tom Daschle says he would rather protect federal employee's jobs than cull out deadwood whose collective incompetence and insolence might monkey-wrench homeland security efforts, he's surrounded with a protective screen from his own side. But inexplicably, Daschle is also assisted by those on the Right who are quick to state he's "a patriotic American simply expressing a difference of opinion." What makes Republicans believe that all political opposition is patriotic and pro-American?
A lot of Americans who are right-of-center, as well as God-fearing, flag-waving, hard-working moderate Democrats, are tired of the double standard the Hard-Left enjoys. Moderate Democrats, not beholden to special interest groups, cannot understand the Hard-Left posturing of the Democratic Party. They want to be heard on the issues, and they want to win for a change. But they like President Bush, and they want a strong America. They don't understand their own Democratic leaders anymore, but they don't know how to rid themselves of these captives of the Hard-Left.
To help find some answers, I recently met with one Democratic leader who's known to love his country and wave the flag not because he wants to hide behind it, but because he really believes in the promise of America. This is what he told me:
He agreed with my conclusion that today's Democratic Party has been hijacked by the Hard-Left. He doesn't always agree that the leadership is secretly wishing for a hard Socialism in our country's future, (some are) but he admits that the Democratic leadership is held hostage by what they themselves call, "the groups." The groups are the Hard-Left and left-of-center employee Unions, gender-rights crowd, gun control zealots, environmental extremists, and strident feminists who rule with an iron fist.
The Democratic leaders seem to believe that if they do not cater to the Hard-Lefties, they cannot win national elections. But it's turning out that just the opposite is true - if the Democratic Party continues to oblige these extremists, they will have difficulty winning any hearts at all…except those on the Hard-Left.
One way to correct this imbalance is to begin talking openly about the reality that even if a Democratic leader is not a hard Socialist who could never be - by definition - a patriotic American with a mere difference of opinion, the fact that they may be controlled by the Hard-Left makes them at least "useful idiots," if not "fellow travelers."
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