The Other Gingrich Analogy

Posted by: Good Samaritan
on April 25, 2005 @ 09:05 AM EST

A few months ago, the Democrats were idolizing Newt Gingrich. Gingrich in 1992-94, and the Contract with America, were symbols of how a minority party could fight back and win.

But don't forget the other Gingrich analogy. After taking power in 1994, the Republican Congress over-reached and alienated the electorate. Voters punished them by denying them the White house in 1996 and trimming their Congressional majorities in the next three elections. Now it's the Democrats who, despite their minority status, are over-reaching and alienating the electorate. MORE...

The Dems' Gingrich preferred analogy never made much sense. Gingrich moved Republicans to a fighting posture after years of under-reach. He was trying something new. But the Dems already moved to a fighting posture after 2002, and they made sure that the 2004 election was the bitterest in a generation. Now they're still at it:

Democrats were supposed to enter the 109th Congress meek and cowed, demoralized by November's election losses and ready to cut deals with Republicans who threatened further campaigns against "obstructionists." But House and Senate Democrats have turned that conventional wisdom on its head.

They have stymied President Bush's Social Security plan and held fast against judicial nominees they consider unqualified. To protest a GOP rule change, they have kept the House ethics committee from meeting. And they have slowed -- and possibly derailed -- Bush's nomination of John R. Bolton to become ambassador to the United Nations.

I was basically neutral in 1996 and 2000. I welcomed Jeffords' defection in 2001. As late as last year, I would have voted for Lieberman, or maybe even Edwards, just as a sop to the Democrats, to encourage them to rejoin the country and quit mouthing off at the rest of us.

Not anymore. Their solidarity against the decision of the American people is the last straw. I loathe them. Hugh Hewitt's motto-- "Potestas Democraticorum delenda est," the power of the Democrats must be destroyed-- once seemed extreme. Now it's a truism. Some Republicans rejoice in the Democrats' mistakes. Not me. I would greatly prefer to face a worthy opposition party, patriotic, reformist, respectful, humble, committed to the common good, open to constructive compromise and cooperation. America has not been blessed with such an opposition party, so sensible policymaking may have to wait. We'll have to sit back and suffer as the Democrats rack up their Pyrrhic victories.

And we'll have to trust the American people to vote for the future in 2006.

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