Risky Misreading of Democrat Turmoil
By Christopher Adamo (04/03/08)
Rush Limbaugh is enjoying the ensuing success of his “Operation Chaos,” his ongoing effort to weaken the political prospects of the Democrats by prolonging party infighting between the Hillary and Obama camps. But despite Limbaugh’s exuberance, the Democrat Party is alive and well, and could under the right circumstances, resuscitate itself very quickly.
Sadly, many of the conditions necessary for such a scenario result from the collaboration of inexcusably gullible Republican “moderates.” Willfully ignorant of past experience, they are again buying into the inane notion that partial concession to fundamentally flawed liberal principle is a worthwhile tactic by which to improve the political climate.
The latest such effort involves the hoax of man-made “global warming,” which has become one of the most effective pillars of the liberal/Democrat political machine. Having sought for years to establish some moral credibility amid its hideous advocacy of human abortion, along with every other tainted tenet of the counterculture, the liberal establishment finally lit upon the “global warming” panic as a means of casting itself as the noble protector of humanity.
Predictably, many among the morally rudderless and perennially naive who claimed in the past to support conservative principles, are now signing on to this bogus bandwagon. Thus they enable and empower a political movement that is antithetical to virtually every facet of their once professed conservatism.
A new advertising campaign promoted by the green “prophet” himself, former Vice-President Al Gore, includes such noted “conservatives” of bygone years as Newt Gingrich and Pat Robertson. But while the former Republican House Speaker and Christian Coalition President believe they are acting in the best interests of the planet, in reality they are merely becoming pawns of the left.
Nor will their capitulation on such a defining issue actually lend any credibility to it in the long run. Rather, they will merely succeed in bolstering the political fortunes of a thoroughly self-serving party at the cost of any remaining standing they ever had within conservative America.
In many respects, both have already mired themselves in just this manner, reaping dismal results that should have forewarned them against trying again.
After winning GOP control of the House of Representatives in 1994 with his visionary “Contract With America,” Newt Gingrich gained an incredible opportunity to drive a stake through the heart of liberalism by doing battle with the Democrat Party that, as a result of the Clinton effect, had fallen into complete disrepute. Yet instead of forging ahead with a boldly conservative agenda, Gingrich watered down his message with such insipid measures as “block grants” after coming under fire from the media and the Democrats, ultimately granting the notion that the goals of liberalism were inherently “good” for the American people.
Having conceded a defining principle of the issue, he was thereafter left with little other than a vain hope of merely making the nanny state more efficient. In the end, Gingrich lost credibility as a leader and left the Congress, while liberalism and its many squalid programs survives and flourishes to this day.
Similarly, Pat Robertson attempted to ingratiate himself to the GOP establishment last year by endorsing the presidential candidacy of Rudy Giuliani. But rather than gaining any credence for Giuliani among staunch conservatives, Robertson merely showed himself to be morally ambiguous for his tacit endorsement of Giuliani’s pro-abortion, pro-gay philosophy. Robertson’s support ultimately did nothing for Giuliani, though it destroyed any prospects for him to ever again be a standard bearer among Conservative Christians.
The end result of this latest attempt by Robertson and Gingrich to build bridges with the environmental extremists will be equally pitiable. Neither will gain any standing among the liberal political class that uncategorically hates them. And both will further alienate the conservatives with whom they should have remained kindred.
It is a bitter lesson that committed conservatives have long understood, but Republican political players refuse to recognize. And it represents the abyss through which John McCain must successfully navigate if he is to have any hope of achieving victory this November. Thus far however, he shows no inclination of even acknowledging it as a political liability.
Despite the seemingly devastated current condition of the Democrat Party, it would only take about two weeks for the party to reassemble itself once its nominee is firmly determined. At that point, the entire character of the evening news will change. Expect no more stories of Reverend Wright, Hillary’s flowery fabrications, or any subject that poses even a slight risk to the Democrats.
In contrast, John McCain can count on a degree of scrutiny that far exceeds anything he has ever experienced. Let him make one false move or “misstatement” during that period, and the nightly news anchors will talk of nothing else until election day.
McCain’s sole hope of enduring this completely predictable tsunami is one that he abhors. Were he to have cultivated loyal support among conservatives over the past few years, they would be on hand to strenuously counter any fraudulent antics from liberals in the media or among the Democrats. But John McCain believes instead that he can build a coalition of disenchanted “moderates” from both parties.
Hence he seeks among other misguided decisions to garner supporters among the “global warming” crowd, which only proves to the masses that the Democrats and their big government “solutions” to this concocted “crisis” have been right all along. This, along with his criticism of the Guantanamo Bay terrorist detainment camp, essentially legitimizes the Democrat Party in its entirety. And when the Clinton/Obama contest is settled, a dazzling public relations effort will rapidly restore the standing of the Democrat candidate.
At that point, unless John McCain’s momentum is built upon something more substantive than his current house of cards, the seemingly commanding lead he presently enjoys may evaporate overnight.
Only true conservatism, proffered consistently, honorably, and unabashedly, will demonstrate sufficient contrast from the ideology of the liberals to propel its standard bearer across the finish line. If the GOP is to have any hope of victory this November, it must loudly deliver this message to the McCain camp, assuming that it is not already too late to do so.
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