Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Trapped in Your Own Brilliance
Cap'n Ed lambasts Tom Shales' Washington Post review of the RNC to date for the sheer smugness evidenced. I couldn't agree more, but see it as just another symptom of the same illness the Democrats have long suffered. Just let Shales' own words speak for him:
That one word, "but", sums up the problem the Democrats just can't get past. We saw the exact same use of that word in Howell Raines’ editorial on the intelligence of the candidates, where he basically said "everybody knows Kerry is more intelligent, but Bush has had some significant successes".
The Democrats have convinced themselves of their complete intellectual, moral and philosophical superiority and it is such an ingrained paradigm of their very political existence that they are completely blinded to any possibility that they might be wrong about any of their assumptions. This is so much the case that anything contradicting the doctrine is explained as an anomaly, an exception, a "but". After all, Bush's successes couldnt' possibly be an indication of intelligence since we already know he's an idiot. A black Republican has to be an oddity because it's common knowledge that Republicans are racists. An elected Republican that is supportive of gays or women or any other "traditional" Democrat constituency is just an odd ball because those people are homophobes, sexist and bigotted to the core. Everybody knows that!
The Republican party, for all its stereotype of old-boy stodginess, not only has members that are less than hard on the part line, but, like Guiliani and Schwarzenegger and countless others, embraces and celebrates them. I feel this "new blood" and a willingness to revisit, discuss and explore a true variety of opinions is what has made the Republican party more popular of late, and until the Democrats realize this they will be left holding their "buts" and wondering why they are watching the Republicans be sworn in.
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"People [i.e. We] don't commonly associate adjectives like 'cool' and 'hip' with the Republican Party, but ... the GOP [is] more media-hip and glitzy than the Democrats" |
That one word, "but", sums up the problem the Democrats just can't get past. We saw the exact same use of that word in Howell Raines’ editorial on the intelligence of the candidates, where he basically said "everybody knows Kerry is more intelligent, but Bush has had some significant successes".
The Democrats have convinced themselves of their complete intellectual, moral and philosophical superiority and it is such an ingrained paradigm of their very political existence that they are completely blinded to any possibility that they might be wrong about any of their assumptions. This is so much the case that anything contradicting the doctrine is explained as an anomaly, an exception, a "but". After all, Bush's successes couldnt' possibly be an indication of intelligence since we already know he's an idiot. A black Republican has to be an oddity because it's common knowledge that Republicans are racists. An elected Republican that is supportive of gays or women or any other "traditional" Democrat constituency is just an odd ball because those people are homophobes, sexist and bigotted to the core. Everybody knows that!
The Republican party, for all its stereotype of old-boy stodginess, not only has members that are less than hard on the part line, but, like Guiliani and Schwarzenegger and countless others, embraces and celebrates them. I feel this "new blood" and a willingness to revisit, discuss and explore a true variety of opinions is what has made the Republican party more popular of late, and until the Democrats realize this they will be left holding their "buts" and wondering why they are watching the Republicans be sworn in.
