Dems devoid of vision & leadership

By Dave Petteys (dpetteys@comcast.net) Throughout American history, strong leadership has saved the country: Washington at Valley Forge, Lincoln in the dark days of the Civil War. These leaders had a conviction of the right thing to do and stuck to it! But what about present leadership in the Democratic Party?

Representative Pelosi and Senator Reid continually say “The American people have spoken” as their signal to declare defeat in Iraq. They appear to dwell on the short term domestic political aspects, and seem completely unaware of the effect such a step would have on American standing in the world. What would Hugo Chavez, or the leaders of Iran, China, Russia and North Korea think and do if we shamefully abandon Iraq? Would American guarantees to any ally be worth the paper it’s printed on after this?

Evidently, the Democratic Party cannot tell the difference between right and wrong, good or evil: only what’s popular. This is why the Democrats are in such a moral quandary: the vote determines truth! But if you’d voted in the middle ages as to whether the earth was flat or not, what would the vote have been? And if Washington had taken a poll of his miserable troops in Valley Forge, would the American Revolution have succeeded? And do you not get mutually exclusive results relying on a focus group to determine your action? Does not everyone want more government services yet lower taxes? A stronger military but no draft?

The Democratic Party apparently has no vision for America: only polls and focus groups. “And with no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18).

Newt nails it

By Brian Ochsner (baochsner@aol.com) I agree with Newt Gingrich – it’s important for conservatives to stay in the political battle. But to regain the state and national majorities, every conservative Republican candidate, consultant and campaign manager should watch this video on Iraq by the former Speaker and this video with his analysis of GOP lessons to learn.

And more importantly, act to the letter on his advice (especially Newt’s take on negative campaign ads, which matches mine).

These are the most clear, accurate and realistic explanations for the Democratic landslide in 2006, where the Republican Party and America are today, and what lies ahead in the future. Even with all his personal problems and faults, Newt is still arguably the best historian and most far-sighted visionary in the GOP today. Republicans at all levels of campaigns and elected office will ignore Newt’s wisdom at their own peril.

Call to Action: much at stake in final days

Will legislative Dems go along with Gov. Ritter's property tax increase in these final days of the 2007 session? Will the raid on petition rights, HCR-1001, succeed? Will the Governor sign a stack of bills on fringy social issues belying his moderate campaign promises? Your voice could make the difference. Click here for our action links and contact directory -- and please do your part!

Edwards for the defense: clueless

By Dave Petteys (dpetteys@comcast.net) John Edwards’ response to the question in this week's debate, “What would you do if the nation were attacked?” was quite revealing: He said in effect “I would determine where the intelligence breakdown was, and find where the Homeland Security had failed, and punish those responsible.” Note that it didn’t even cross Mr. Edwards' mind to strike back at the enemies: only to find scapegoats and crucify them! Very much a lawyer’s response.

Obviously, Mr. Edwards doesn’t understand the nature of the problem. On one hand our Wahabbist enemies together with Iranian sponsored terrorist organizations such as HAMAS are hatching plots of ways to kill us. On the other hand, they are lobbying with Mr. Edwards’ Democratic Party itself to tie the hands of our defenders by cutting back on the Patriot Act and shutting down the monitoring of terrorist communications in the interests of “Civil Rights”. This guarantees that very soon, one of the terrorist plots will go undetected and succeed. And when a plot does succeed, Mr. Edwards is standing by to crucify the valiant men and women who, as we speak, are frantically trying to defend us.

Mr. Edwards doesn’t understand that our defenders have to be right 100% of the time, but our enemies only have to slip through the net once! Mr. Edwards’ approach is reminiscent of congressional meddling and micromanaging during the Civil War: Jacobean hearings would excoriate experienced Officers after each military reversal, placing the blame everywhere except on Congress itself.

In my humble opinion, Mr. Edwards’ legal mind renders him incapable of defending this country, disqualifying him to be a Commander in Chief.

Mesmeric power of 'white racism'

A black American reflects on the Imus affair By Joseph C. Phillips (joseph@josephcphillips.com)

When I was a boy, my father charged me with cleaning up a mess in the bathroom. Thoroughly disgusted, I tried every way I knew how to avoid touching anything. The delay angered my father until finally in exasperation, he hollered, “You are going to touch much worse than that in your life!” He was correct. I have in my life touched much worse. The lesson learned was in all things we must keep our perspective.

Following an off-color joke about the Rutgers women’s basketball team that fell terribly flat, radio host Don Imus was fired from his program at MSNBC and a short time later was also released from his contract with CBS radio. One need not like Don Imus or approve of what he said in order to wonder if perhaps the punishment and the accompanying hysteria didn’t exceed the crime. On the other hand, we are living in a nation whose moral equilibrium has been turned topsy-turvy. And the culprit is not hip hop music or the hypocrisy of the post civil rights establishment. The moral offense that supersedes all other considerations is white racism and the guilt and victimhood that accompany it.

A woman in Seattle is caught on video tape in a drunken, profanity laced tirade in which she calls an Arab convenience store clerk “un-American” and “Gandhi.” She then grabs him by the throat committing a battery. Once sober and facing charges, she releases a statement assuring the witnessing public that she is not a racist. No matter that she is a sloppy drunk, with a mouth like a sailor and a batterer, she must make it clear that she is not a racist.

A sitting United States senator must defend himself against charges that 20 years ago he used the N word. Imus hasn’t changed his act in 15 years. For Leslie Moonves, CBS CEO, to feign surprise at the content of the Imus in the Morning program strains credulity. What did change is the now very public possibility of being tagged with the label of racist.

The exploitation of that fear is what is known as the race hustle and few are as adept at it as the reverends Sharpton and Jackson. But hey, don’t hate the player, hate the game! Both men are free to pass judgment on issues of race in spite of their own transgressions because their blackness makes them immune to charges of white racism. This immunity along with the amazing ability to be in front of every microphone in sight is the only source of their power.

A nation blind to race and focused on character and virtue is frightening to men like Sharpton and Jackson. The only virtue they possess is their rather deft wielding of the sword of white racism. Disaster for Sharpton and Jackson would have been if the Rutgers team had issued a statement along the lines of, “We don’t know who this clown is, but we are not going to allow his ugliness to distract from the beautiful women we are and the positive things we are doing.” But the power of white racism was too strong and they were lulled into victim hood replete with emotional hand wringing, claims of lives scarred and seasons ruined and appearances on Oprah.

They will in their lives experience much worse.

This sword, of course, cuts both ways. The Teflon that shields the race hustler offers similar protection to the rap artist. The real irony is the very thing that accuses whites is the same thing that makes the identical language in much of the popular culture intractable. As deplorable as we may find the language, our protestations gain little traction because they do not carry with them the weight of white racism. The black community cannot bring to bear the same deadly weapon on members of its own community. That is the real sad and unfortunate realization of this entire affair.

For our own sake, the conversation that will happen following the fall of Don Imus must at some point include the end of white racism. At some point, we must find a way to assuage our guilt over America’s original sin without destroying the foundations of our culture and falling further into the multi-cultural abyss. That is not an argument in favor of incivility or ugliness. It is, however, a plea for some perspective. ----------------------------- Denver native Joseph C. Phillips is a Hollywood actor, a syndicated columnist, a regular on Backbone radio, and the author of He Talk Like a White Boy, available wherever books are sold.