Kathleen Parker is no more impressed than I am at Senator Byrd's carping. She likens Sen. Byrd and Rep Waxman to the Taco Bell Chihuahua:
"As one-two punches go, the Byrd-Waxman sally was a bad day for nerds everywhere. Performing a whiney duet of the desperate, they managed to evoke images of skinny boys studying the quarterback's swagger for clues on cool. It's almost as painful to watch them contort in envy as it must have been for them to watch Bush, a stud muffin no matter what his other flaws, arriving on a testosterone bullet to the cheers of 5,000 sailors."
UPDATE: Staying on-topic, don't miss "Cox & Forkum"
Posted by jk at May 12, 2003 02:37 PMJohnGalt's infamous "liberal friends" continually remind me that there is a deep cultural divide in America. Byrd and Waxman are on the opposite side of that divide from America's current President. There are parallels between their reaction to the president now and Republican reactions to our former president, but the issues are substantially different.
Republicans hated Clinton because of his liberal policies, impotence in the face of international terrorism and his outright dishonesty. Democrats hate Bush because of his conservative policies, (eventually) decisive action against international terrorism, and the fact that he can say exactly what he means and the public loves it. He doesn't have to lie, because he doesn't have to "spin" the public that his policies are good for us. [Exception taken for genetic research and abortion. JG]
While the Republican case against Clinton was rooted in proof, hard evidence (stained blue dress) that POTUS had lied to the world on national television (I did not have sex with that woman), the Democrats' ultimate charge is that none of Bush's actions are legitimate because he is not legitimately the president. They continually return to the argument that Bush 41's Supreme Court awarded him the presidency. But this tired argument ignores the fact that to have decided against Bush would have amounted to awarding the presidency to Gore. And furthermore, that such an award would have set a legal precedent for revising election procedures during and even after elections at the personal whim of individual election officials.
Now the Democrats can truly "feel the pain" that Republicans felt during Clinton's two terms. The ill-fitting shoe is now on the left foot. May it always be so. May Barbara Streisand never again sing "Happy Days are Here Again" at a Presidential Gala.
Posted by: johngalt at May 13, 2003 08:37 AMYour point is taken. I remain proud that the President I defend is worth it. Many I know feel they had to defend President Clinton.
I'd hope, however, that we'd have a bi-partisan effort to keep Barbra from singing. Maybe there is a cultural divide after all...
Posted by: jk at May 13, 2003 02:07 PM