The Moose offers some summer thoughts before taking a brief break from the blog. The problem for the Democrats is not on the domestic front. Besides the old reliable of tax cuts, the GOP is largely devoid of new domestic ideas. It is an exhausted volcano. As E.J Dionne pointed out, the Republican Congress engaged in an orgy of opportunism this week in its pathetic exercise of attempting to both raise the minimum wage and kill the estate tax, "Rarely has our system produced a more naked exercise in opportunism than this measure. Most conservatives oppose the minimum wage on principle as a form of government meddling in the marketplace. But moderate Republicans in jeopardy this fall desperately wanted an increase in the minimum wage. "So the seemingly ingenious Republican leadership, which dearly wants deep cuts in the estate tax, proposed offering nickels and dimes to the working class to secure billions for the rich. Fortunately, though not surprisingly, the bill failed." Sometimes there is a higher calling than partisanship. The country desperately needs the type of centrist leadership that Joe Lieberman has provided throughout his career. Unlike the Liliputians, Joe puts country first. While other notable politicians have flipped-flopped for political expediency, Joe has bravely sailed against the wind . As some have noted, the Moose has directed much of his ire lately toward the lefties. There is a need for a serious, centrist Democratic Party. However, just as some on the right corrupted the GOP back in the nineties, some on the left are now driving the Democrats to the extreme on national security. It is particularly disgusting witnessing the left's ambiguity or hostility toward's Israel's war of self defense. However, their attitude toward Israel should not be surprising - their discomfort with a nation fighting a war of self defense is obvious. The reaction to this conflict reveals one of the great myths of the left - that they are only opposed to the Iraq war but they are otherwise tough on the war against terror. Their attitude toward the use of force mirrors that of the French Foreign Ministry. So where does this situation leave the Moose? He is an economic progressive, cultural tradionalist and a hawk - a mammal without a party who continues to graze in the political center.
A few years back the Moose broke with the Republican Party on a range of issues dealing with economic justice. His reasons for leaving the GOP are explained here.
As the Moose indicated, just because he became a heretic on the right, he certainly did not join the left. At another time he would be in the mainstream of the Democratic Party. Alas, that Scoop Jackson wing today is miniscule.
Almost a decade ago, the Moose witnessed the seeds of corruption being planted on Republican soil. And now the GOP is paying the price - its grip on power is tenuous .
Note - The Moose will be recharging his antlers and will return to this space in a couple of weeks.
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Thursday, August 03, 2006
The Moose suggests that Ned might be judged by the company he keeps.
The Lamont candidacy is a creation of the internet. Sure, the Iraq war is the primary litmus test issue. But let's get real - Limousine Lamont would probably be sunning himself in the Hamptons if it wasn't for the nutroots. They fueled and sustained his candidacy. Lamont is their progeny.
And so, by the nutroots he should be judged. Today's Washington Post,
"The bitter Democratic Senate primary in Connecticut erupted in fresh controversy Wednesday over a doctored photo of Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) in blackface that was posted by a blogger who has been an influential promoter of challenger Ned Lamont.
"Lieberman angrily demanded that Lamont denounce the action and sever all ties with Jane Hamsher, the founder of the Web log Firedoglake, who posted the photo on another blog, HuffingtonPost.com. She travels with the campaign along with other bloggers. She is not on the campaign staff but has actively promoted Lamont's candidacy and helped raise money for him through her blog."
Only a few weeks ago, Lamont featured the kingpin keyboarder in a campaign ad (the same one who once made the infamous "screw 'em" comments about the American victims of terrorism). Yet, suddenly Lamont's mind has gone blank about his familiarity with the nutroots,
"Lamont brushed past reporters Wednesday night in Bridgeport, saying: "I don't know anything about the blogs. I'm not responsible for those. I have no comment on them."
And this from the Hartford Courant, (hat-tip - Byron York)
"Lamont arrived with an entourage: His wife, Annie; their campaign driver, Marc Bradley; a blogger, Jane Hamsher; and Bill Hillsman, the creator of his offbeat ads, one of which was played weeks earlier on `The Colbert Report.'"
The Lamont campaign has made much of the inadvertent hug of Joe by President Bush. Well, turnabout is fair play. The embrace of Ned by the vile bloggers tell us much about Lamont. As much as he claims that he is in the middle of the political spectrum, Lamont has embraced the outer reaches of the vulgar left in pursuit of his ambitions.
This incident should be instructive to the national Democratic Party. Enough of the pandering and the capitulating to the nutroots. The embrace of the left blogosphere will come back to haunt the party.
Count on it. -- | Email
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Wednesday, August 02, 2006
With apologies to Joe Hill, the Moose dreamed he saw George Meany last night.
Well, not really - but the Moose misses the old American labor movement. When the Moose was young, he was fond of George Meany's AFL-CIO (along with Brother Al Shanker). It was where the Moose was and is at.
What the Moose means by this Meany reference was that there once was a time when there was a major institution in America and in the Democratic Party that was progressive on economic issues and was tough on national security. George Meany stood up to the corporate tycoons, communist tyrants and quasi-pacifist liberals.
George Meany represented the sensibility of socially conservative, hawkish, blue collar working men and women. Over the last thirty years, many of those working folks left the Democratic Party as it moved to the left on social and foreign policy issues. They became Reagan Democrats.
With the decline of the labor movement, the Democratic Party is left without a major institution that provides a ballast keeping it in the vital center of American politics. Instead, the McGovernites with modems, left wing donors and the Moveon type activists are filling the void. In his day, Meany feared that the party would be dominated by those with social and foreign policy agendas that were anathema to his blue collar members.
No doubt, if George Meany was around today, he would be fighting both for an increase in the minimum wage and supporting the war against Jihadist totalitarianism. Alas, Brother Meany is not coming back.
Brother Meany would also recognize the Lamont candidacy for what it is - the heirs to the McGovernites who drove the party to the left on national security issues. Just as he fought the destructive McGovernites years ago, he would no doubt be fighting for Lieberman today. Meany would recognize the nutroots as an insurgency propelled by ultra-liberal, highly educated, secular doves who will drive away more traditionalist voters who used to be attracted to the Democrats' economic agenda.
So, what are the grass roots institutions that will provide the counter-balance against the nutroots and the left in the Democratic Party? On the ideas front, the DLC and the Third Way play a critical role in generating innovative centrist proposals. Because of the collapse of the GOP, the short term prospects of the Democrats are promising. However, without a counter-balance to the left activists and the nutroots, the outlook for '08 is far more ambiguous.
Democrats have replaced special interest domination with single issue dominance. And that issue is national security. While the Iraq war is unpopular, so was the Vietnam conflict and the Democrat's opposition to that war fed the perception for decades that the party was weak on national security.
In the forties, the great challenge to liberalism was Henry Wallace. In the seventies, progressivism was weakened by the McGovernites. And in this decade, the nutroots, MoveOn and the rest of the activist left threaten to undermine progressivism for the long haul. The great conceit of the nutroots and the activists is that they represent something new - rather, for the last half century, the Democratic Party has been engaged in an internal debate between the left and the vital center.
Those who forget history... -- | Email
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Tuesday, August 01, 2006
The Moose avers that a premature peace will result in a permanent war.
Anyone who remembers the 1967 Middle East war recalls the voice of Abba Eban who was Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations. With the Soviets and their allies decrying Israel's war of self-defense, Abba Eban memorably articulated the moral distinctions between the aggressor and the victim. His eloquence made him an extraordinary effective advocate in the world forum.
One is reminded of Abba Eban when one hears the current Israeli Ambassador's presentation of Israel's position at the UN and on various media outlets. Ambassador Dan Gillerman continues the Eban tradition of speaking truth to Turtle Bay.
Read and appreciate Ambassador's address from Sunday in response to the tragedy at Qana,
"Today, we say that we are truly sorry for the people of Lebanon and for the people who were killed. I have never heard Hizbullah say that they are sorry for a single Israeli - woman, child, elderly person, civilian or innocent -— who has been killed. Never. Why? Because they target us specifically. That is their declared aim, and that is what we are fighting. And while for us every dead Lebanese child is a horrible mistake and a tragedy, for them every dead Israeli child is a victory and a cause for celebration...
"We need to create a culture in which the children who were hurt in Qana would have been at school today rather than huddled together as hostages for Hizbullah -— a culture in which the children of Qiryat Shemona would have gone to school today instead of being scared and huddling in bomb shelters because of Katyusha rockets. We need to change the culture of hatred. We need to teach our children about hope."
Until the Hizbollah Islamo-fascists are defeated, there will be no hope for the children of Israel and Lebanon. Those who would press a cease-fire on Israel are neither serving the purpose of peace or hope. Until the conditions are created for a Lebanon without a Hizbolla military presence, a cease-fire will only be a pause before Hizbolla resumes the violence with greater force. And Hizbolla has no reservations about continuing to force civilians and children to serve as human shields.
Israel must prevail because a message must also be sent to Tehran and Damascus that there will be no reward for aggression. A defeat for Israel will only embolden the Iran to achieve their nuclear ambitions. And then, the Middle East will be even more unsafe for the innocent.
It is clear that Hizbolla are a much more formidable force than expected. After all, for six years the Lebanese government and the UN have looked the other way while Hizbolla as amassed a huge sophisticated arsenal with the help of their buddies in Syria and Iran. But, it is far too early to write this war off as an Israeli miscalculation. Prime Minister Olmert appears determined to see this through.
Fortunately, America has been steadfast in standing with Israel. The bi-partisan American leadership has been a beacon of moral clarity. Congressional Democrats and Republicans have put partisanship aside to support the war to defeat the terrorists who have also murdered scores of Americans. Senator Schumer, the Chairman of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee ,
"I have no criticism of the president on this issue because I think he is doing the right thing," Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told CNN. "I know some in the world have called for an immediate cease-fire. But that says Hezbollah has a gun to Israel's head; let's let them continue to keep the gun there, which they can use at will. It's just not fair to Israel."
(In contrast to the bi-partisan support of Members of Congress, the nutroots have been either silent, agnostic or hostile to Israel. The otherwise highly opinionated keyboarder kingpins have lost their voice on this issue. This is very curious. Are they hiding their views in fear of revealing their ideological predilections? Moreover, it would be nice if these bloggers expressed more disgust and concern about the Jew-hating Ahmadinejad than the Jew-hating Gibson. After all, Ahmadinejad is the Jew-hating holocaust denier who is attempting to get nukes.)
The awful tragedy of war makes moral distinctions difficult. But, there are worse things than a just war. History teaches us that a phony premature "peace" that capitulates to evil is only a prelude to a much greater horror. -- | Email
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