By Frank Salvato
web posted July 3, 2006
Recently, a friend of mine forwarded fundraising emails that were circulated by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and its senatorial counterpart. As is the standard for most political parties trying to raise money, they featured pleas from their more prominent members, in this case former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore. What was not typical – at least for those who care about the truth – is that they contained unsubstantiated allegations, provably false accusations and misleading statements that were designed to feed the fires of divisiveness and fear while filling their coffers with cash.
In his letter to prospective donors, Clinton propagated the Democratic talking point that the Republicans were "[leading] this country in the wrong direction," even in the face of the best housing market, the lowest unemployment rates, the highest home ownership and the best performing and most solidly based economy in decades. He went on to intimate that if Americans elected Democrats in November they would be, "ensuring retirement security for our seniors, taking climate change seriously and finding new energy solutions, stopping partisanship and reaching across the religious and cultural divides of this world."
They don't call him "Slick Willy" for just one reason.
The fact of the matter is Democrats could have given all of these things to the American people if they would have opted for good government and doing the work of the people instead of playing the politically destructive obstructionist game throughout the tenure of George W. Bush. But, acting like pouting three-year olds who need to have their way, they have never been able to grasp the reality of how the American people voted in 2000 and 2004, opting instead to stick their collective fingers in their ears, refusing to be mature enough to do the people's work.
Congressional Democrats could have moved forward with reforming Social Security and all they would have had to do was claim victory in President Franklin Roosevelt's original plan, which included a crucial third part establishing a privately invested annuity. Instead they put party politics and their hatred for President Bush ahead of not only a sound program for the American people, but a strategic win for their own party. In doing so they demonstrated stunningly poor leadership and missed a golden opportunity for Democrats to score huge political points with the American people.
Democratic leadership also had the opportunity to "stop partisanship" by simply disengaging from their political strategy of "No!" There is a clear difference between honest and reasoned debate on the critical issues facing our government and a politically opportune strategy of obstructionism. Positioning – or spinning – a negative response so that it sounds theoretically legitimate doesn't always mean that it is legitimate. In our imperfect society, functional outcomes to difficult issues are reached when the two major political parties agree on a best practice compromise instead of when they strive for ideological purity. Democrats have proven beyond any doubt that they would rather stall government than to compromise on their "progressive" ideology.
Al Gore, the "inventor of the Internet," Google senior advisor and producer of a failing propaganda film aimed at scaring the American public over the junk science of global warming, states in his letter of support for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee that he has, "never seen leaders that act with the contempt for the truth as [he has] witnessed in George Bush's administration." He goes on to say, "The evidence now makes it hard to avoid the conclusion that George Bush has repeatedly and insistently broken the law and the corrupt Republican Congress has shirked its constitutional duty to hold him to account."
Interesting that no one with any credibility from the Democratic Party in a position to do so has initiated an impeachment of the president for "insistently breaking the law," or that a special prosecutor hasn't been seated to investigate the president's "crimes." In fact, it is interesting to note that the only special prosecutor to be seated to look at activity inside the White House found absolutely nothing to bring to the judicial system but a charge against "Scooter Libby" that is looking increasingly as though it will go nowhere.
Even the mantra, "Bush lied," is being exposed for the deceit it offers the American people. With the National Ground Intelligence Center report revealing that stockpiles of chemical weapons shells containing sarin and mustard agent were recently found in Iraq, and that it is very likely more will be found in the future, it is indisputable that WMD did existed and do exist in Iraq. Those who believe otherwise are either delusional, habitual liars, hell-bent ideologues or perhaps all three.
While Democratic spin doctors, the mainstream media and those whose reputations have a vested interest in the disparagement of the news race to devalue the significance of the find by commenting on the potency of the agents or that they remain from Hussein's pre-1991 stockpile, it doesn't change the fact that they do indeed exist and that they do indeed – no matter how degraded their potential – pose a threat to human beings.
I won't even weigh heavily on the fact that the first reason given for going into Iraq was the genocide that Hussein was perpetrating against his own people. The fact that the "Progressive-Left" cherry-picked the WMD issue out of multiple reasons given – WMD being the last – is proving laughable in the end with the validation of their existence and the incredible successes that were the Iraqi elections.
Even the National Security Agency programs that track known terrorist operations, both domestically and abroad, have been validated as above board by members of the FISA court, the very court "Progressive-Liberals" demand sanction such activity. The fact that they have been repeatedly exposed by a traitorous mainstream media and leaked by those who should be hung for treason, serves as an example of the "Progressive-Left's" unbridled hatred for the president and their complete disregard of the well-being of the American people as a whole.
The bottom-line is this; congressional Democrats and their supporting political organizations could have helped to move this country forward, for the good of the people, but they didn't. They could have aided in successfully executing the war against radical Islamist terrorism in an effort to bring it to a more immediate conclusion, but they didn't. They could have helped to heal this country after the hard-fought and contentious elections of 2000 and 2004, but they didn't. They could have put the good of the country ahead of their political ambitions, but they didn't.
And now they want your money so they can, "move the country in the right direction." Yeah, right. And Al Gore invented the Internet.
Frank Salvato is the managing editor for The New Media Journal. He serves at the Executive Director of the Basics Project, a non-profit, non-partisan, 501(C)(3) research and education initiative. His pieces are regularly featured in over 100 publications both nationally and internationally. He has appeared on The O'Reilly Factor, and is a regular guest on The Right Balance with Greg Allen on the Accent Radio Network, as well as an occasional guest on numerous radio shows coast to coast. He recently partnered in producing the first-ever symposium on the threat of radical Islamist terrorism in Washington, DC. His pieces have been recognized by the Japan Center for Conflict. He can be contacted at oped@newmediajournal.us Copyright © 2006 Frank Salvato
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