WEDNESDAY 11/5/03

THE MEMO

An interesting little memo prepared by the Democratic staff of the Senate Intelligence Committee has surfaced in Washington.  The memo shows that the Democrats intended to use the Intelligence Committee as a political tool in next year's presidential elections.

The memo suggests that Democrats should "prepare to launch an investigation when it becomes clear we have exhausted the opportunity to usefully collaborate with the majority.  We can pull the trigger on an independent investigation of the administration's use of intelligence at any time -- but we can only do so once ... the best time would probably be next year."

Democrats, of course, are trying to downplay the importance of this memo.  They are claiming that it was never adopted, it was prepared by a low-level staffer and is, therefore, of no importance.  Yeah, right.

This memo clearly shows that the Democrats intended to go along with the committee hearings on intelligence until the time was right for them to step forth with their demands for an independent investigation.  There was never any intention to work with the majority Republicans to find out the true story behind intelligence failures in the Middle East.  Just wait until the time is right, then pull that trigger on an independent investigation.  And why would next year probably be the best time?  Because it's a presidential election year, of course. 

Lesson:  The Democrats intended to use the Senate Intelligence Committee as a 2004 campaign tool.  Hopefully you aren't surprised.

COMING TO HOWARD DEAN'S DEFENSE

Howard Dean has created a firestorm of criticism by saying that he "wanted to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks."   The other Democratic candidates are climbing all over themselves to condemn Dean for the remarks.  Senator John Edwards, who can't seem to get any attention for his failing campaign, is demanding an apology.  One black in the audience of last night's "Rock the vote" debate said that he was "extremely offended."  Poor guy, he's offended.  Let's send him a get-over-it bouquet. 

What did Dean say?  He said that he wanted guys with Confederate flags on their trucks to vote for him.  He was saying that he wanted these people to resist the temptation to join the ever-growing Republican vote in the south and to come back to the Democratic Party.  What is Dean supposed to say?  Would everybody be happier if he had said "I don't want one single person with a Confederate Flag on their truck voting for me next year."  Yeah ... that's the way to win an election, isn't it?  Tell people you don't want their votes.

Dean's true mistake here was that he mentioned the Confederate Flag in anything other than derisive terms.  He forgot to mind his PC Ps and Qs.

ATTRACTING YOUNG DEMOCRATS

I just happened to catch some Democratic Party consultant on CNN yesterday talking about how young voters could be attracted to the Democratic Party.  He felt that economic security was the key. 

Yup .. there it is again.  The magic "S" word ... Security.  You don't hear Democrats trying to attract young voters with an appeal to liberty and freedom.  No ... the appeal is to security.  Security ... the word that has all but replaced freedom in the hearts and minds of so many Americans. 

Oh .. I could easily make this segment hundreds of words long, even thousands.  It's easy to get on a roll with this one.

"Do I want to be free to plan for my own retirement?  Well, does that mean that I am going to suffer if I don't plan responsibly and well?  OK, then.  The answer is no.  I don't want to be free to plan for my own retirement.  I want the government to do it for me."

Face it .. the Democrats know exactly what they're doing here.  They know that young people have been and are being taught that government-provided security is so much more important to their well-being than economic liberty.

You cannot love freedom and seek government-provided economic security from your government.  You chose either one or the other. 

FOR DEMOCRATS ... NOT MUCH TO CELEBRATE

The lost governorships in Mississippi and Kentucky ... legislative seats elsewhere.  Not much to celebrate at all.  In fact, you can tell what a bad night for Democrats it was by tracking the movements of Democratic Chairman Terry McAuliffe.  There he was, in Philadelphia, celebrating the reelection of a mayor who apparently is under investigation by the FBI. 

AL SHARPTON IS CONCERNED ABOUT PEOPLE DYING SENSELESSLY

During the show today we'll go over the transcript of last night's "Rock the Vote" bit on CNN.  It shouldn't be too hard to find absurdities and outrages.  I do want to point out one thing that Al Sharpton said last night.  I saw it on a CNN clip this morning during my regular time spent with Carol Costello.  Al Sharpton was saying that he didn't want American troops dying "senselessly" in Iraq.  Well, isn't that special?  I want to know just when Al Sharpton developed this aversion to people dying senselessly.  Did Sharpton start to decry senseless deaths before or after December 8, 1995 when four people were shot  and seven people were burned to death in a fire set by a Sharpton lieutenant at Freddy's Fashion Mart in Harlem after a weeks-long Sharpton-led protest?  Sharpton's dislike of senseless deaths must have been developed since then ... since he has never made such a statement about the seven people who died that day. 

I also noticed that two candidates, Dennis Kucinich and Weasley Clark got the dark turtleneck memos.  Howard Dean seemed to be the only one who got the no-coat and rolled-up sleeves memo, though John Kerry, who, by the way, served in Viet Nam, adopted the no-coat look when the debate got started. 

YOUR TAX MONEY AT WORK

You work your buns off for 40 hours or more every week.  When you're not working you're sitting at the dining room table trying to figure out how you are going to get the bills paid and still have some money to put aside for your child's college education.  You take a look at your paycheck and see that deduction for federal income tax.  You also see the deduction for Medicare tax.  That money would sure come in handy for your own personal needs, wouldn't it ... but you may need Medicare when you get older, so you just let that 2.25% slide. 

The next weekend a friend comes up with tickets for a local college football game.  While you're sitting in the stands you notice a blimp flying overhead.  On the side of the blimp you see the words "1-800-MEDICARE"  You think that perhaps this is a bit odd.  You wonder why they are advertising Medicare in the skies over a college football game. 

When you get home you decide to find out just who put that blimp up there.  Just curious, I guess. You then find out that the federal government spent $600,000 on that blimp.  It's part of a $30 million advertising campaign to make Medicare better known to seniors.

A blimp!  $600,000 for a blimp!  $600,000 while you're struggling to make ends meet and trying to figure out a way to get your kid into college.  Somewhere some bureaucrats and politicians decided that it was more important for the federal government to have that money to spend on a blimp than it was to allow the people who actually earned that money to keep it and use it to cover their own family expenses and needs.

What is it going to take to send you to the battlefront in the fight to cut back on the size of government?  What is it going to take to convince you that politicians are out of control with their spending?  Is a blimp enough?

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Linda Chavez weighs in on CBS's flight to the hills over their now-abandoned mini-series about Ronald Reagan.

Right now the economy is growing, and people seem to be pretty happy with this.  So ... now might be a good time to review the economic policies of the tax-and-spend Democratic candidates.

Not a bad election day for Republicans.  They take the Governor's office in Kentucky for the first time in 32 years, and as of right now they look pretty good in Mississippi. 

Monday and Tuesday we featured part one and part two of The Washington Times excerpts of Zell Miller's Book "A National Party No More:  The Conscience of a Conservative Democrat." Here's the final segment.

Here's some union news for today.  Refuse the join the union and the union will threaten to have you fired.  Don't you just love unions?

I've been gathering information and studies about "living wage" laws.  They're all the rage right now.  The Atlanta city council is considering one, and I think Orlando has even enacted one, and many many other cities are considering this stupid law.  Thomas Sowell says that the "living wage" would kill jobs.  To Thomas Sowell I say, so what?  It will buy votes ... and that's why politicians like it.

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