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December 27, 2005

Some Democrats Are Growing Brains

It would seem that some Democrat politicians and think tanks are finally waking up to the fact that their party's practice of playing politics over homeland security is damaging them in the eyes of the voting public, who perceive the fanatical leftist rantings of Harry Reid and his ilk as a sure sign that the Republicans are much more suited to defend the United States against the threat of terrorism than are the Democrats.

Some centrist Democrats say attacks by their party leaders on the Bush administration's eavesdropping on suspected terrorist conversations will further weaken the party's credibility on national security. That concern arises from recent moves by liberal Democrats to block the extension of parts of the USA Patriot Act in the Senate and denunciations of President Bush amid concerns that these initiatives could violate the civil liberties of innocent Americans. "I think when you suggest that civil liberties are just as much at risk today as the country is from terrorism, you've gone too far if you leave that impression. I don't believe that's true," said Michael O'Hanlon, a national-security analyst at the Brookings Institution who advises Democrats on defense issues.

As a conservative Republican myself, I am both angered at the obstructive policies of those on the left who place our nation and its citizens in grave danger in the name of their hatred for President Bush and their partisan political agendas, and amused at the way they sabotage their own chances of political success in the process.

Their endeavors at running a far-fetched civil liberties scenario(the government eavesdrops on international telephone calls by al-Qaeda connections in the U.S., the liberals try and make out that they're spying on every citizen, like the agencies of "Big Brother" do in Orwell's 1984) in an effort to discredit Bush and compromise vital national defense programs are as sick as they are suicidal. It is quite obvious that their intention is to dismantle our protective operations to the point that one or more terrorist attacks on U.S. soil are able to be successfully executed, Americans die and then they can accuse Bush of failing to secure the country against terrorism.

In my opinion, the very fact that such people hold office is a sad reflection on the intelligence of the Democrats who voted them in.

"I get nervous when I see the Democrats playing this [civil liberties] issue out too far. They had better be careful about the politics of it," said Mr. O'Hanlon, who says the Patriot Act is "good legislation."
These Democrats say attacks on anti-terrorist intelligence programs will deepen mistrust of their ability to protect the nation's security, a weakness that led in part to the defeat of Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, last year.
"The Republicans still hold the advantage on every national-security issue we tested," said Mark Penn, a Democratic pollster and former adviser to President Clinton, who co-authored a Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) memo on the party's national-security weaknesses.
Nervousness among Democrats intensified earlier this month after Democrats led a filibuster against the Patriot Act that threatened to block the measure, followed by a victory cry from Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, who declared at a party rally, "We killed the Patriot Act."

Right, Harry, you're also killing your party's chances of regaining their former majority status on Capital Hill for another few years. On behalf of Republicans everywhere, I thank you. Keep running your mouth.

As for those Democrats who are wising up, you would do well to start acting like Americans again and rally 'round your President in time of war. To say "he's not my President" is to renounce or otherwise deny your American citizenship, because, whether you like it or not, he is the President of the United States.

Lastly,

White House deputy press secretary Trent Duffy yesterday discounted the scope of the eavesdropping operation.
"This is a limited program," he told reporters in Crawford, Texas, where Mr. Bush is vacationing at his ranch.
"This is not about monitoring phone calls designed to arrange Little League practice or what to bring to a potluck dinner. These are designed to monitor calls from very bad people to very bad people who have a history of blowing up commuter trains, weddings and churches."

Posted by Seth at December 27, 2005 10:09 PM