October 29, 2005
Democrats Have Reason to Be Afraid
By Amy
White
Halloween is a few days away, but the Democratic Party leadership
is already busy trying to spook America about why Harriet Miers
withdrew her nomination for the Supreme Court.
Harry Reid,
the Senate Democratic Leader, tried to look grim when he took
the floor of the Senate on Thursday. “The radical right
wing of the Republican Party killed the Harriet Miers nomination.
Apparently, Ms. Meirs did not satisfy those who want to pack the
Supreme Court with rigid ideologues.”
Nevermind
that the so-called “radical right” is the Republican
Party. Reid shamelessly pretends that dangerous “radicals”
like George Will and Charles Krauthammer are on a murderous rampage,
“killing” the nomination of that nice lady from Texas
who simply wanted to sit on the Supreme Court without the benefit
of knowing constitutional law.
As the man
who had suggested Ms. Miers – but then refused to support
her outright – Reid also warned, “President Bush should
not reward the bad behavior of his right base.” The “bad
behavior,” it appears, includes writing letters, making
phone calls, and organizing like-minded citizens. But for Democrats,
democracy is just plain scary.
Senator Edward
Kennedy of Massachusetts was more restrained. “The fact
that the White House and Senate Republicans were not willing to
stand up for principle and fairness against the extremists in
their midst should be disturbing to all Americans,” he claimed.
As usual, however, Kennedy’s “extremists” are
unconventional ones - attorneys from the Federalist Society, mothers
in Concerned Women for America and editorial writers at the National
Review.
“But
now we have all seen that fringe of our society at its worst,”
Kennedy continued, “and we know that their agenda is not
the nation’s agenda.” In Democratic circles, this
is what millions of conservative Americans casting their vote
for conservative candidates to pursue conservative causes are:
a lunatic fringe. Despite representing the minority political
party, Kennedy labors under the delusion that only their agenda
is the nation’s agenda. Obviously, Karl Rove isn’t
the only reason they aren’t winning elections: contempt
for the electorate never has gone over well.
John Kerry,
who served in the military, was the natural choice to rebuke the
Commander in Chief for his lack of courage. “The President
has allowed right-wing interest groups to decide the fate of his
Supreme Court nominee rather than stand up to his ultra conservative
base,” he announced. Assumedly, insisting Harriet Miers
continue to embarrass herself would be the “stand up”
thing to do in Kerry’s book.
But the once
and future presidential hopeful was hopeful of this, “It’s
a telling statement about the instability and ideological confusion
facing the White House and the Republican Party.”
He hopes,
however, in vain. The Harriet Miers nomination has proven so successful
in invigorating conservatives that at least one pundit muttered
conspiracy theories. But no conspiracy is required to make voters
hold their elected representatives’ feet to the rhetorical
fire.
The White
House has real horrors to manage - casualty counts, hurricane
devastation and threats of a pandemic. They have political horrors,
as well – bungled nominations, high-level indictments and
sinking poll numbers. The Republican President wearies, the Republican
Congress spends freely but the Republican rank holds firm, and
demands the Supreme Court be restrained.
For this
reason, a conservative judicial nominee will win the open seat,
one way or the other. Conservatives have demanded George W. Bush
reverse himself and by so doing, have declared their independence.
They have also put Republican Senators on notice that if they
fail to fight for a conservative on the bench, conservatives will
fail to fight for them at the ballot box. In case there was any
doubt, the Republican Party now understands they do not own conservatives
– conservatives own them.
The Democrats
may not be afraid….but they should be.
Amy
White is a regular contributor to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
