The Discerning Texan
All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke
-- Edmund Burke
Friday, January 19, 2007
American Nightmare
I wish that I could find one thing to disagree with in Hugh Hewitt’s column yesterday (and his follow-up today), but—alas—I cannot. I really thought that the hiring of Tony Snow was going to turn this thing around, but the fact is unavoidable and unarguable: the Bush Administration has never enjoyed an exemplary record when it came to effectively communicating its message, but its communications since the beginning of the last election cycle have been—quite simply—abysmal.
The problem with this is: we are at war. In a democracy if you cannot sell a war at home, eventually the shrill voices of the leftist “peace movement”, chorused with the mob mentality of the Democratic party and the dinosaur elite media, will grind the whole thing to a screeching halt. The way things are going, it is likely going to take America losing one or more cities or tens of thousands more dead before the country wakes up.This is THE defining moment of our lifetimes and yet the Republican party seems to still be living in the Gerald Ford era. The days of Reagan and Gingrich seem like a distant and alien memory. And the Democrats, well… I think if Hollywood goes up in a mushroom cloud, health care and the minimum wage will somehow seem a bit less important.
I hope the Administration—and the party—is listening to voices like Hewitt. What is needed is to put people like Mark Steyn and Victor Davis Hanson on the front lines of the war for hearts and minds at home. And the President needs to quit worrying about libraries and legacies and winning popularity contests with the Today Show (which it will never succeed in, no matter what it does)—and start worrying about getting out on the stump and selling why we need to WIN. If we cannot turn around public opinion about the need for us to take the fight to Al Qaeda and Iran abroad before they bring the slaughter to our shores, the nightmare will no longer be a dream—it will be reality. The New Dark Ages are nigh, if we do not wake up fast.
The problem with this is: we are at war. In a democracy if you cannot sell a war at home, eventually the shrill voices of the leftist “peace movement”, chorused with the mob mentality of the Democratic party and the dinosaur elite media, will grind the whole thing to a screeching halt. The way things are going, it is likely going to take America losing one or more cities or tens of thousands more dead before the country wakes up.This is THE defining moment of our lifetimes and yet the Republican party seems to still be living in the Gerald Ford era. The days of Reagan and Gingrich seem like a distant and alien memory. And the Democrats, well… I think if Hollywood goes up in a mushroom cloud, health care and the minimum wage will somehow seem a bit less important.
I hope the Administration—and the party—is listening to voices like Hewitt. What is needed is to put people like Mark Steyn and Victor Davis Hanson on the front lines of the war for hearts and minds at home. And the President needs to quit worrying about libraries and legacies and winning popularity contests with the Today Show (which it will never succeed in, no matter what it does)—and start worrying about getting out on the stump and selling why we need to WIN. If we cannot turn around public opinion about the need for us to take the fight to Al Qaeda and Iran abroad before they bring the slaughter to our shores, the nightmare will no longer be a dream—it will be reality. The New Dark Ages are nigh, if we do not wake up fast.
Labels: Al Qaeda, Appeasement, Democrat, Iran, Iraq, Islamic Fascism, Media Bias, Media War, The Left, War strategy
