This is kind of related to my post yesterday, faulting the president for not challenging inaccurate media reports critical of his record.
Normally, I don’t review books until I’ve finished them. But, this morning, while reading Surrender is Not an Option, I came across something which really gets at why Republican poll numbers have tumbled in the president’s second term. But, first, one quick point, I have planned a joint review of Bolton’s book and Norman Podhoretz’s World War IV as each addresses some essential aspects of the War on Terror. I’m assuming, of course, that the second half of Bolton’s book will be as strong as the first.
When talking about his ill-fated confirmation hearings, Ambassador Bolton notes the dishonesty of the Democratic charges against him, nearly all of them created out of whole cloth. On one day, April 19, 2005, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee “faced an unrelenting barrage of criticism from Biden, Dodd, and Kerry, lasting for over an hour, while the Republicans sat and listened.” They just sat and listened while then-Committee Chairman Richard Lugar gave in to Democrats’ demands to keep delaying a vote on confirming that highly qualified diplomat.
As Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman put it:
The Democrats came in loaded for bear, and we just sit there and get discouraged. Our silence was taken as acquiescence in their charges, and we just looked awful.
But, Republicans wouldn’t have looked so awful had they responded to the Democrats’ attack, pointing out that their bile had little (or no) basis in fact.
Makes Senator McCain’s efforts on behalf of this good man stand out all the more. While most Republicans refused to stand up to Democratic misrepresentations about a conservative nominee, the Arizona Senator fought for his confirmation.
Why is it that so many Republicans remain so reluctant to stand up to Democrats who misrepresent our ideas and insult our leaders? The American people might have a better opinion of the GOP if our leaders took more time to defend the party and its ideals.
Because… they want the *approval* of said Democrats, and of the liberal media. (If you’re David Brock or Andrew Sullivan, you want sex from Democrats too, and go even farther.)
The desire for liberal/MSM approval has, I think, always been part of McCain’s problem as well. McCain, you rightly point out, offered a noble exception on Bolton, and on the Iraq war in general. What a shame those things were exceptions for him – not the rule.
"Why is it that so many Republicans remain so reluctant to stand up to Democrats….."
Stick with me here. In 2000, Gore won 19 states and Bush won 29. Gore won 580,000 square miles to 2,427,000 square miles for Bush. The counties that Gore carried had 127 million people while the counties carried by Bush had a population of 143 million. The murder rate per 100,000 in counties carried by Gore was 13.2 and the murder rate per 100,000 in counties carried by Bush was 2.1.
Republicans are centered in the areas where people know their neighbors and help one another. We typically send people who are well mannered and thoughtful to represent us. We do not like brassy hucksters and people who pimp the treasury. That is why we turned on Ted Stevens and Larry Craig. The Democrats would have circled the wagons around them. That is why we caved on Tom DeLay. We don’t keep a stable of Richard Daley type slime to unleash on a patently crooked prosecutor.
I broil when I watch a Lugar suck on his soft palate while the dems lob stink bombs. But Lugar was elected by gentle people to represent them with dignity. At any point in time, you can scan the list of democrats in Congress and come up with idiots, crooks and liars. When the occasional Republican idiot, crook or liar turns up, we are the first to jump on his case.
The heartland and the spirit of the heartland believes in honest representation. The democrats believe in winning at any cost. They have no sense of pride. Watch their spinners on the MSM and find one who can be trusted to speak the truth.
Part of the reason we like Bolton is because he is a tough on the UN whorehouse. We kind of like a man who will speak the truth.
Helio: My theory is the typical GOP non-lawyer politician just isn’t prepared or interested in being an ideological strident warrior. But I realize that sounds pretty silly and maybe even naive. Plus I dont know any of them personally so my opinion is only my own trying to figure out why they are so wimpy.
"Why is it that so many Republicans remain so reluctant to stand up to Democrats who misrepresent our ideas and insult our leaders?"
Because taking on Democrats means taking on the liberal media. Their agendas are one and the same. Do you think Republicans who stand up to Democrats’ misrepresentations are going to be fairly portrayed by the same press that has turned the phrase "swift boat" into a verb meaning "to lie"?
Chris Matthews and Brian Williams and the rest go to dinner parties with the likes of Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson for crying out loud. Do you think they want Bolton at State any more than Democrats do? They not only have the same mindset as the career liberal bureaucrats in the state department, they run in the same circles. Not that Republicans would get fair coverage were it any other issue, but I think there is no issue more important to the liberal effetes in the media than being approved of by Europe, and that means a state department that plays an appropriately subserviant role, and that apologizes for America, not one that stands up for Americas interests.
Republicans in congress know, as apparently their constituents don’t, that they aren’t going to get anything close to fair coverage by the liberal media, that anything they say will be misreprented in the most unflattering way and that no matter what Democrats do it will be portrayed in the best possible light.
With the exception of the worst RINOs like the Lincoln Chafees, I really don’t think Republicans are seeking the approval of the media, they are just trying to figure out how the hell they can take on Democrats and the media at the same time when 99% of their constituents learn everything they know about them from that very same media. Some Republicans, in the safest seats, try to stand up to the media, and look wht happens to them…does the word "macaca" ring any bells? Tom Delay also springs to mind. The rest have to pick their fights and tread very carefully when they do. And when they do this we accuse them of kissing the medias ass.
Fighting agaisnt not just Democrats, but the media too is an extraordinarily tough job, next to impossible I would think, and I don’t think we give them anywhere near enough credit.