The Bush Revolution

The Bush Revolution
by Ted Lang, Associate Editor

November 8, 2002

Columnist Ted Lang The unbelievable has happened! In spite of Hollywood and the mainstream establishment media, the midterm elections have been absolutely devastating for the Democratic Party.

Many explanations for this "Bush Revolution" are offered. First, it must be understood that in the annals of American politics, nothing like this has happened since the twin phenomenon of the two Roosevelt administrations. FDR's sweep in a regular election year was of course attributable to his popularity as the greatest wartime president in history; and Teddy held the record for off-year election gains. But this midterm election is an historic benchmark and likely to be so for decades to come.

The unlikelihood of such a Republican victory became even more so after the New Jersey Supreme Court broke the 51-day rule of law and assisted in appointing Frank Lautenberg to the US Senate. Democrats and Lautenberg offered their standard agreed-upon response, which offered that the court was made up of both Democrats and Republicans, and Chief Justice Poritz was former Republican Governor Whitman's appointee. But that, of course, is not the point; all seven justices are liberals.

This set the stage for a similar manipulation for Walter Mondale in Minnesota, culminating in the crass pagan celebration substituted for the solemn decorum required honoring the late Paul Wellstone. The Wellstone Carnival did more to turn off the American people than did anything else, and this assessment was confirmed by President Bush himself when he admonished Republicans not to gloat in the aura of victory.

And a supreme victory it was, for the most glaring issue was control of the Senate. A Democratic victory was a sure bet. But that Wellstone thing, the "in-your-face" taunts conveying the message that "we-can-do-anything-we-want" and "you-can't-stop-us," really scared the American voter. Combine this with the president's popularity and the transparent approach employed by Democrats in attacking him strictly along partisan lines and accentuating negativism, and the recipe for disaster was complete.

Democrats were in the process of pulling every political "dirty trick" in the book. Even barely literate Barbra Streisand, incapable of spelling Gephardt's name, put in her red two cents. She lead Hollywood in lambasting Bush as did Maureen Dowd and The New York Times ever since his election. The media and Hollywood have made their hatred of Bush and Republicans very plain for all voters to see. Legitimate challenges to his Iraq first strike policy could easily have been made, but such criticism was dismissed as standard Republican bashing. In effect, Democrats shot themselves in the foot.

It's called arrogance. They were certain of victory, similar to the third quarter euphoria of the New York Jets professional football team, who always seem to forget about the fourth quarter, or Yogi Berra's postulate: "It ain't over till it's over."

The liberal judiciary nonsense of abolishing God, abolishing the Pledge of Allegiance, and the politically correct extremism reputedly allowing seemingly apparent bomb-carrying Arabs through airport security while strip searching 80 year-old grandmas, didn't sit well with the electorate either. Neither did that photo of Bill Clinton yukking it up at the Wellstone bash. Voters began to realize that no meaningful election benefits would accrue to them as a result of Bush's election because the party of judicial lawbreakers and manipulators was in the driver's seat, and only offering obstructionism instead of meaningful alternatives to what they professed to oppose.

President George Bush has pulled it off. He has in effect gotten carte blanche from the American people, and now completely controls American government. About the only accurate comment made by DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe is that all of America's future rests exclusively on the capabilities of the Republican Party, and that Democrats wouldn't be around to blame anymore if things went south. Sounds like sour grapes, and it probably is. But no truer statement has probably ever been uttered in the history of American politics. And it was uttered by a Democrat. ***

In addition to his work at The American Partisan, Ted Lang is a government analyst and a political freelance writer. He has written for numerous websites such as USA Daily, where he is a columnist, The Patriotist, Sierra Times, as well as New Jersey newspapers. Lang holds a BA in political science and an MBA.

Photo of Columnist Ted Lang courtesy of the author