April 3, 2003
NANCY PELOSI, THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING:
Democrats Still Divided Over War (Fox News, April 03, 2003)While the liberal wing of the Democratic Party hasn't been shy about opposing the war in Iraq, others within the party have begun to question whether that stance is politically wise.Democrats all say they back the U.S.-led coalition troops, but that's not the same as backing the war. On Thursday, as the war entered week three, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., exposed how deep the rift in her party is, making an unapologetic renewal of her opposition to war.
"I said then and I say now that I was not convinced that the use of force at this time was the best way to disarm Iraq," Pelosi said.
Pelosi is not alone. Several of the presidential candidates and many in Congress oppose the war and even criticize fellow Democrats who support it.
But with polls suggesting that as much as 80 percent of the public strongly backs military action in Iraq, some Democrats are increasingly worried that the anti-war sentiment will backfire against the party.
"If a minority of our party can create doubts among the American people about our ability and our willingness to defend the country and keep it safe, we will be in trouble as a party, period," said Al From, president of the moderate Democratic Leadership Council.
On the other hand, the Democrats have a hammerlock on that twenty percent that oppose the war. Posted by Orrin Judd at April 3, 2003 10:24 PM
Not if Nader runs again. Go Ralphie.
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Hate the phrase but here goes, "they just don't get it."
I'm beginning to think that the problem with the American left is the inability to make distinctions. The ability to make distinctions is confused, possibly, with being "discriminating", a word that has taken on all kinds of baggage for some.
During the cold war, especially the latter phases, there was an ongoing attempt by the Left at equivocation concerning the opposing camps. Why? Where does the mind-set come from?
One possibility might have been the belief that the American Idea was not really that exciting . After all, it never promised the heaven on earth that Marx spoke about.In fact it acknowledged the fallen nature of man and the dangers of concentrating power in the central state.
The left has always been enchanted with the idea that all will be right once they have all the power. The very system devised by the founders prevents them from gaining that kind of power. Frankly, I think they resent it.
Now the West finds itself in a confrontation with the latest and, hopefully, last totalitarian ideology and the American Left still can't figure it out.
It's kind of incongruous but the Left has always been hard on those with religious sensibilities domestically. Radical Islam has procalimed themselves to be our enemies and the best the Left has been able to do in terms of criticism is to describe anyone who disagrees with their domestic social agenda as the American Taliban.
Hopefully, the American people are tiring of the sophistry.