The Dangers of a Democrat Senate
By Doug Patton (09/11/06)
On this, the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attack on America, concern over those who will make decisions about our nation’s future, combined with the positive response to my last column (“The Dangers of a Democrat House”), has convinced me to do the same kind of analysis on the United State Senate. While many Americans are disgusted with those currently in leadership positions in the “upper body” of the GOP Congress, we should be downright terrified by the prospect of the Democrats who would replace them if the balance of power shifts in November.
Consider these possibilities:
Harry Reid, D-Nevada — Having succeeded Tom Daschle as the Dems’ whiner-in-chief, Reid is poised to move from minority leader to majority leader should the Democrats regain control. Reid voted “no” on a balanced budget amendment; “yes” on additional funding and stricter sentencing for “hate crimes”; “no” on increased penalties for drug offences; “no” on drilling in ANWR; and “yes” on giving away the store to illegal aliens.
Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, and Barbara Boxer, D-California — As two of Reid’s loyal lieutenants, Assistant Minority Leader Durbin and Chief Deputy Whip Boxer are poised to assume similar roles in the majority. Boxer, one of the most stridently left-wing members of the Senate, fights vehemently for unconscionable “rights” like partial-birth abortion, while the equally liberal Durbin publicly equated our troops in Iraq with “Nazis.”
Robert Byrd, D-West Virginia — In one of the cruelest ironies yet for the American taxpayer, the biggest pork-barrel spender in the history of the Senate could become chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Second choice for this chairmanship could be another of the Senate’s most notorious liberals, Sen. Patrick Leahy of the Peoples Republic of Vermont.
Carl Levin, D-Michigan — Levin is the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and as such would become its chairman in a Democrat Senate. He supported Bill Clinton’s incursions into Kosovo but opposed the use force against Iraq. If he forgoes his right to assume chairmanship of Armed Services, it could be handed Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY. Need I say more?
Joe Biden, D-Delaware — One of the dimmer bulbs in the Senate, Biden thinks he can be elected president in two years, despite the fact that he was caught plagiarizing speeches the last time he ran. His senate votes include a “yes” on establishing a guest worker program for illegal aliens and on giving them a path to citizenship, “yes” on allowing illegals to participate in Social Security; and “no” on limiting welfare for immigrants. Biden would become chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Frank Lautenberg, D-New Jersey — Although Joe Lieberman is currently the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, his loss to in the bitter Connecticut Democratic primary will assure his ouster from the Democratic leadership. This leaves Daniel Akaka of Hawaii or Lautenberg as the most likely Democrats to chair this important committee. Akaka could very well lose his bid for reelection in November, thus leaving Lautenberg, another old-line liberal whose voting record mirrors Biden’s on illegal immigration and who voted against reauthorization of the Patriot Act.
Ted Kennedy, D-Massachusetts — Disgruntled Republicans, of which I am one, who disapproved of the Senate Judiciary Committee being chaired by liberal Republican Arlen Specter, D-PA, must consider the unacceptable alternative. Had Massachusetts’ senior bloviator or his socialist comrade, Pat Leahy, been in charge of this committee when President Bush nominated John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court, the outcome would have been quite different. Kennedy and Leahy are the likely candidates to succeed Specter in a Democrat Senate.
From judicial nominees to international treaties, from homeland security to education, from illegal immigration to taxes, from the sanctity of marriage to the sanctity of human life, Democrats will make things decidedly worse for America. On November 7th, even if your GOP candidate makes you hold your nose to do it, please vote Republican. It’s still important.
© Copyright 2006 by Doug Patton
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