As we launch our Conservative
Renaissance, we are blessed. By the Democrats and their media
masterminds. By doing what comes naturally (and compulsively) they
refuel our engines and goad our pit crews and drivers to greater
speeds. The 527 Media won’t let the libs pretend to be moderates,
and the environment created by their internal conflicts will be one
in which the Conservative Coalition can regain itself. We should
thank them. For starters, thank you, New York Times.
Former Clinton White House chief of staff Leon Panetta wrote
some commonplace pablum on Sunday, declaiming the Democrats need to
govern, and for the White House and Congress to earn each other’s
trust. And, as one of the Fabulous Baker Boys, Panetta tut-tutted
the horrible circumstances in Iraq and — achieving a written
lip-quiver — hoped the Baker-Hamilton soon-to-be-proclaimed new
strategy would allow us to get out of Iraq without leaving too big
a disaster behind. (The “too bad a disaster” criterion is measured
by how much can be blamed on Dubya, Dick and Don.) That’s plenty
bad enough. And if the FBBs — as it seems they will — recommend a
phased withdrawal from Iraq and negotiating with Iran and Syria,
they’ll be papering over strategic defeat. But that story is for
another day. The rest of story — forgive me, Mr. Harvey — is what
accompanied the Panetta column.
The NYT editors can’t help themselves, even though
Panetta’s column is entitled “Govern, Don’t Gloat.” Two days after
the 231st birthday of the Marine Corps, a day after Veterans’ Day,
they couldn’t resist attaching this Paul Weston cartoon to the Panetta column.
It’s a parody of the flag-raising on Iwo Jima. Yup, a parody of the
most compelling and inspiring combat photo of all time, honoring
some of our bravest warriors. It shows Democrats, not Marines,
raising the Democratic Party’s version of the American flag (their
donkey replacing the field of white stars on blue), crowning the
achievement of their successful assault on the evil imperialistic
forces that had held Capitol Hill. Think about it, conservatives.
Our Marines will, and we — like they — will take it to heart.
This is a metaphor for the mess in which the Dems find
themselves.
The 527 Media — those political activists such as the
NYT who pose as newsmen while producing campaign ads for
liberals — think they should get the credit for winning the
election, and they’re mostly right. They want — in return — high
drama on your wide screens and front pages, serious-looking
Democrats chairing Congressional investigative hearings to rival
Watergate, shaming Dubya, Dick and Don before the public. Oh, but
Don isn’t going to be around for the show.
The Big Dog’s resignation comes so suddenly after the election
that some questions arise. Unserious questions raised by Republican
whiners (permit me this one redundancy) ask about the timing of the
announcement. More importantly, was he asked to leave, or did Mr.
Rumsfeld look ahead and not like what he saw? Did he say to the
president something along the lines of, “Look, boss, if the
Republicans hold Congress I’ll stay another year or so. But if they
lose, I’m outta here. If I’m not going to be able to get anything
done because I have to spend all my time taking abuse from these
Congressional putzes so they can strut for the media, why should I
stay?” (A darker possibility is that, after a few published hints
about the Fabulous Baker Boys’ recommendations, Dubya asked Don if
he’d go along, and got a negative. So the prez got someone who
would.) But the combinations and divisions among the press and the
Dems will create enormous opportunities for us to re-form around
our core principles.
One of our basic principles was lost somewhere around 1968. We
conservatives believe in freedom of the press. But with that
freedom comes responsibility. Since Vietnam’s height, we’ve become
used to liberal bias in the media. Now, in effect, there’s media
bias among the liberals. The libs don’t have any ideas (at least
none that Mr. Bush hasn’t already adopted as his own, such as
amnesty for illegals) so the media have become the brain of the
Democrats. And what the media want the media will get. It’ll be up
to us to expose who is manipulating whom, and to fight against
their legislative shenanigans.
Pelosi’s Animal House will oblige the media. Instead of the
fresh young faces of Otter, Boone, Bluto and Hoover, we have the
same old lib faces. Rat — Henry Waxman — has already said he’s
looking forward to letting the good times roll (for the TV cameras)
because his committee has jurisdiction over the whole government.
Jurisdiction has never been a worry for Vulture, John Dingell,
whose anti-defense approach to life terrorized the Pentagon in the
late '80s and early '90s and will again as soon as he regains the
chair at Energy and Commerce. As someone who has testified in one
of Vulture’s subcommittees under subpoena, I can tell you they make
it as personal and nasty as they can, and are masters of
manufacturing media moments. And anyone who thinks Nancy can
control Wanker — soon-to-be Judiciary Committee chairman John
Conyers — they have a nasty surprise coming on the NSA terrorist
surveillance program and probably hearings on whether impeachment
of the president is in order. Even with Rat, Vulture, and Wanker on
the loose, the party’s just beginning. When the press wants serious
damage, and film clips for 2008 campaign commercials, they’ll turn
to the Senate.
In Senate hearings — beginning with the Gates confirmation
hearings — Senate Dems will face the Democrats’ dilemma head-on.
They want to pretend to be moderates, but they have to pay off the
special interest group that got them elected. And that special
interest — the 527 Media — will demand they pursue the lib agenda
with enough vehemence to satisfy the ABC-CBS-NBC-NYT-WaPo Axis of
Weasels. And so the Senate Dems will. And Republicans looking to
2008 will help them.
Every time we see a conservative judge rejected by Leaky Leahy’s
Judiciary Committee, we should remember that the liberals demand
control of the judiciary because it delivers for them that which
they can’t win at the ballot box. Every time we see Carl Levin
convene another hearing on Iraq, castigate Abu Ghraib, and imply
that Guantanamo Bay is the same, we have to remember that
conservatives want to win the war and liberals only want to
retreat, to give terrorist prisoners the same rights and
protections U.S. citizens have in criminal proceedings. Every time
Babsy Boxer holds a hearing to demand ratification of the UN’s
Global Warming Treaty, we have to fight the UN-oriented globaloney.
And every time another leak appears in the New York Times,
shouldn’t we demand investigation of Jay Rockefeller and Alcee
Hastings?
And every time we see these escapades, we have to remember our
conservative principles. When John McCain, Graham, Hagel and their
ilk join in these antics, we have to remember they aren’t a part of
our coalition: they aren’t conservatives. When the Dems ask the IRS
to investigate church groups for political activities, we should be
ready to point out the hypocrisy in their attacking churches while
ignoring unions that engage in politics instead of working for
their members. When the Dems attack conservative talk radio, trying
to revive the “fairness doctrine,” when they try to impose
restrictions on conservative bloggers and on college groups that
promote conservatives on campus, we should all — neos, paleos,
cultural conservatives, and Endgame Cons — rejoice and unite in
the fight against them. It’s up to us folks. And we are more than
equal to the challenge.
TAS contributing editor Jed Babbin is the author
of Inside the Asylum: Why the UN and Old Europe Are
Worse Than You Think (Regnery, 2004) and, with Edward
Timperlake, Showdown: Why China Wants War With the United
States (Regnery, 2006).
