I’ve said in the past that Congressional liberals would backtrack in their strong anti-war sentiment following a successful military intervention to liberate Iraq. Not to my surprise, they, especially Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., were quick to prove me correct.
As it turns out, Tom Daschle has completely backtracked on his anti-war position and for good reason: The Washington Times recently reported former U.S. Rep. John Thune, R-S.D., is leading Daschle in recent polls for the South Dakota 2004 Senate race, despite the fact Thune has yet to announce his candidacy. Daschle is up for re-election in South Dakota, a state President Bush carried heavily in 2000.
“I’m saddened; saddened that this president failed so miserably at diplomacy that we’re now forced to war,” Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said March 17.
“In 21 days we eliminated somebody who for 20 years has repressed and tortured his own people and posed a serious security risk,” Daschle said last week, contradicting himself in a press conference, giving President Bush “great credit” for the success of the Iraq war.
Daschle’s absolute reversal of his opposition to war fits a larger pattern Democrats have followed in recent years. I noticed Democratic policies are not rooted in convictions, ideology, conscience or personal beliefs; rather, Democratic policies are based on public opinion. Daschle spoke so passionately against war on March 17, but seeing he is trailing John Thune in a recent poll, Daschle reversed himself, proving he has no credibility on defense.
Daschle’s reversal also shows the extent to which he and other Democrats will lie and distort their beliefs, personal histories and records in any way to advance themselves politically.
Need more examples?
In a March 2002 address to the International Association of Firefighters, presidential candidate, Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., quoted his father, saying, “The reason there’s food on the table and the reason you got clothes on your back and the reason that there’s a roof over your head — even though it’s pretty modest — is because I’m represented by a labor union that can collectively bargain so that I can get fair wages for my hard work.”
But in an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Don Gephardt, Congressman Gephardt’s brother, said, “My father was in the Teamsters, but that’s because he had to get a job. I don’t recall him talking much about the union, how great it was. He prided himself on being a Republican. He hated Harry Truman. He had the feeling you had to make it on your own, that any kind of welfare program would just raise taxes.”
There you have it. Dick Gephardt disgracing his father’s memory on the chance he might gain a few votes in labor unions.
Need another example? Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., has been telling people, especially women’s groups, his first speech in the Senate was in support of the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision.
But on May 1, the Boston Globe reported: “Senator John F. Kerry said yesterday that he will stop declaring that his first speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate highlighted his support for the Roe v. Wade decision on abortion rights, a recollection he has learned is not true.”
Senator Kerry has paraded around the country, telling women’s groups a blatant lie. I find it ironic Kerry’s first Senate speech was really a criticism of defense weapons (21 MX Missiles) that helped Ronald Reagan win the Cold War against the Soviets.
These Democrats have for too long gotten away with telling blatantly false personal histories and absolute lies, and the liberal-leaning media, with the exception of its few conservative outlets, does nothing to correct it. If George Bush were to lie as Kerry, Daschle or Gephardt does, he would be called on it immediately. Tomorrow I fully expect to see another lie or half-truth perpetrated by a prominent Democrat on behalf of a party that is bankrupt of ideas and out of control.