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by Larry Elder
What to do when you encounter someone who instinctively, pathologically hates President George W. Bush? Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean clearly spoke for many when he said, "I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for ..." Consider, for example, the following anti-Iraq war letter I received, and my attempt to engage the sender in dialogue.
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Part of a letter from a Bush hater:
"Dear Mr. Elder: ... How you can support an illegal war waged specifically to line the pockets of rich American Republicans, a war that has killed at least a half a million innocent Iraqis and now well over 2,000 volunteer soldiers, and has made us the most hated people in the world, is beyond my comprehension. I travel the world extensively, and let me tell you that the U.S.A. is completely out of step with the rest of the planet Earth. ...
Part of Mr. Elder's answer to the writer:
"You claim that 'there have never been any real numbers given by the American press.' I didn't realize that the 'American press' was expected to 'give' these 'real numbers.' If you mean the government has never offered any Iraqi casualty figures, that is not true. This month the Pentagon, in a report to Congress, estimated the number of Iraqis dead at 26,000."

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interesting... the "tit for tat" shows that there are always misconceptions that can be clarified. things rarely are as clear cut as they are made out to be here on TN.
IMHO, the really interesting thing was the title of the article. pandemic is a powerful word and the implications of using that word in conjunction with bush hatred is even more telling. this title seems to lend credibility to (and reduce the humor in) a joke i've seen:
"we're making enemies faster that we can kill them..."

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In reality, there is a Bush hatred pandemic... between the political Left, the Left media, Leftie Hollywood, etc., and all the little people who believe the propaganda
Dec 8, 2005
by Emmett Tyrrell
WASHINGTON -- The president is out on the hustings. He is exhorting steadfastness on the war. He is booming the economy. He will be getting hoarse quite soon. The reason is simple. He is trying to reason with the unreasonable.
On the matter of the war his opponents' rejection of reason is demented. There is no alternative to facing down the terrorists and the nihilists in the Middle East. They attacked us here and will do so again and again unless they are defeated -- and for many of them that means death. They have transcended the kamikaze pilots of World War II to become a kamikaze movement. There is no alternative to defeating them.
On the matter of the economy the president's opponents not only reject reason, they reject an abundance of evidence that the economy is vigorous and on course to healthy growth. On the war his opponents gin up a host of spurious arguments and faulty data. On the economy the data is overwhelmingly against them, and as for spurious arguments they have very few. This economy is in a period of growth, and there is no alternative argument to growth save for those made by the diehard disciples of the late Prof. Thomas Malthus (1766-1834), prophet of scarcity and no growth.
Yet gloom over the economy is pumping from every smoke stack of the Kultursmog. During the 2004 presidential election, when the economy had already been growing strongly for a year, 36 percent of the citizenry had been persuaded that the economy was in recession. Now a year later, with growth nearing 4 percent for the past ten quarters, 43 percent of the citizenry believe we are in recession. Unemployment has dropped from 5.5 percent to 5 percent. In the past 16 months 3.5 million jobs have been created. Stocks are on the way up. The Fed has taken strong measures to squelch inflation and seems to be succeeding with no damage to healthy growth. Still with practically every economic announcement the coughing, wheezing voices of the Kultursmog predict economic danger.
Brian S. Wesbury, one of the most infallible students of today's economy, laments in the Wall Street Journal: "During a quarter century of analyzing and forecasting the economy, I have never seen anything like this. No matter what happens, no matter what data are released, no matter which way markets move, a pall of pessimism hangs over the economy." Whereupon he cites the auspicious data and their gloomy explications: Bond yield up? Housing market imperiled! On Monday, housing market weakens? The housing bubble is about to burst! On Tuesday, the housing data strengthens? Bad news, the Fed will raise interest rates!
How do we explain the unreasoning response to all this good news? How do we prevent the president from growing hoarse in defending a perfectly defensible economic vigor? Allow me to offer this explanation. Republicans in power worry Democrats. If the Democrats presided over an economy as robust as this, there would be no apprehension in the Kultursmog. That brings us to the heart of the matter. The media are not dominated by liberals. They are dominated by Democrats.
Actually there are no true liberals out there nowadays. For many decades those who were pleased to call themselves liberals in America were civil libertarians of various degrees of libertarianism who believed in state management of the economy and in inflicting moralism into every disagreement. When President Bill Clinton said "the era of big government is over" he was merely acknowledging the confusion into which American liberalism had collapsed. A liberal today is merely a Democrat.
Democrats, certainly all who identify themselves deeply as Democrats, worry about George W. Bush in the White House. In this they are sincere. Bush frightens them. Of course, Ronald Reagan frightened them, too. In fact, it is instructive to note that the very same things that worried them about Reagan worry them about Bush. Both are seen as stupid, overly religious, overly patriotic, simple. The concern our Democrats have about the economy is heartfelt. I do not think anything can be done to cheer them up. Certainly improvement in the economy is not going to cheer them up. What could be done? If growth were to rise from 4 percent (third-quarter growth has just been revised up from 3.8 percent to 4.3 percent) to 5 percent they would only fret about inflation or perhaps the rape of the environment. And do not try to cheer them up with a hearty Merry Christmas. They suffer some bugaboo about that too. The best course is to avoid all serious discussion with them. Talk to them about the New Deal or the New Frontier. Remind them that Chelsea Clinton is almost old enough to run for president, and she has never been accused by an Independent Counsel of lying.
Note: The facts speak for themselves, but they don't speak to the Left. Now flame away, there's no need for me to counter.

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Sure there is. Secure our boarders and collaborate with countries to hunt down and stop the terrorists. This doesn’t have to be a quagmire of a war in which the stated goal is lost.


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That is a good assumption but an assumption none the less. There are self defense measures as well as partnerships with other countries that stand to be more effective than declaring war on every country of the middle east.


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United World of America (W.A.S.P. or reasonable alternatives only)?


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Every president claims credit when the economy is prosperous, but independent experts long have agreed that presidents have little influence over short-term economic conditions. As for Dubya’s plan to make his tax cuts permanent, experts have warned that making his income-tax cuts permanent could injure the economy.
Mark Zandi, chief economist for the West Chester economic forecasting and consulting company Moody's Economy.com, said: "The policies - the tax cuts - were timely after 9/11. But if the trend line continues, I think fiscal policies will be a drag on growth following the President's term because of the prospects of very huge budget deficits."


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Nothing I love more than broad generalizations


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Subtle jab


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When religion and politics come together things like the dark ages and burnings at the stake occur. Toss a simpleton into the fray and it gets double worrisome.


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Yeah, lets hear about the “Christian Nation” and majority rule. Since those two are “true” the Golden Rule gets to go right out the window. Having faith in the heart and home is not enough when you have a “Manifest Destiny”. Now your faith can be reaffirmed on every street corner. Are self righteousness and intolerance “Christian Values” to be celebrated during the holidays?


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You can do better than this. I mean you can write better points than this. I don’t know who this hack is but argumentative generalizations that are short on substance just will not cut it?

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Never will happen.
Look at spain and Italy. They bowed to the terrorist .
The lefts love for evil dicators and terrorists will always ensure we will be attacked.

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I don't think he has a bad bone in his body. I don't think he would ever break a law. It's just that he isn't doing his job well. He won't secure the borders. Budget and trade deficits running wild. When it comes to trade, he allows China to use America as a door mat, i.e., while were busy fighting a war, China is picking our pockets. Reagan isolated the Soviet Union to effect change. Now with GWB, the whole thing has flip-flopped. Now, were financing the military build-up of a "Communist country" on a gamble that they will embrace Democracy. It's crazy.
If nothing else, remember this: Several times, in public, Rumsfeld has expressed his concerns about the approach GWB is taking with China. So far, he's been ignored.

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I agree that anyone who takes in boarders should provide some kind of security for them...


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I believe that is what we are doing now...
I know that you probably feel that the French and The Germans should be involved, but they did get an invitation. We can't force them to come along if they don't want to...

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Please elaborate..

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