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 Gifts
for all occasions in the Galleria!June 25, 2006 Democrat Depression By Jan A. Larson It was just a few months ago that the Democrats were riding high, salivating over their chances to seize control of Congress in the 2006 election. The war in Iraq was going badly, torture at Gitmo was up, the Abramoff scandal was headline news and presidential advisor Karl Rove was on his way to the big house. Despite the robust economy, the mainstream media did its part and kept that information out of the headlines, so things couldn't have been better. What a change a few months can make. The Democrat's main campaign theme, "a (Republican) culture of corruption" took a hit when Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) took a poke at a policeman and another when William Jefferson (D-LA) took $100,000 in cash. Apparently the culture of corruption doesn't follow party lines. In the end, McKinney was not indicted, but neither was Rove for his role in "outing" CIA desk-jockey Valerie Plame. Too bad for the Dems. Rove, the engineer of the president's two election victories, is the guy the Dems love to hate, as evidenced by congressman John Murtha's (D-PA) (one of the leading spokesmen for the Democratic Party's "cut-and-run" strategy in Iraq) recent disparaging remark about Rove - something to do with air-conditioning and girth. Speaking of cutting and running, while the Democrats would love to rally voters to support their "plan" to set a date on which all the U. S. troops would come home, the sun would shine and we could all enjoy milk and cookies, it seems that when put to a vote, not even the Dems in the House and Senate can agree that such a "plan" is preferable to the president's plan to finish the job. The House passed a resolution 256-153 to reject an arbitrary date for withdrawal. Forty-two Democrats voted with the Republican majority, but Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was not among them, saying that the vote was an "affirmation of the president's failed policy in Iraq." Pelosi did not offer any ideas for a policy that would work. Similarly, the Senate rejected by 93-6, a proposal offered by one-time, leader-of-the-free-world hopeful, John Kerry. It seems that Kerry not only isn't the leader of the free world, but doesn't carry that much weight among Senate colleagues either. The death of al Qaeda's leading terrorist in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was another blow to the Democrats. As long as al-Zaraqawi continued to behead innocent civilians and appear on Arab television from time to time, the Dems could point to the president's "failed policies" in Iraq. But now that he's dead, the only thing the Dems can say was that his demise was "largely symbolic," his death won't really have much effect and that the president's policies have failed in Iraq. There is still some hope for the Dems - Osama bin Laden is still alive. I wonder if his capture or death would be largely symbolic too? The bedrock of the Democrats opposition to the Iraq war has always been the failure of the U.S. military to find a cache of weapons of mass destruction behind a Baghdad storefront. But, once again, their claim that the war was a mistake because Saddam Hussein didn't have any WMDs has been proven false. A recently declassified document developed by U. S. intelligence, indicated that approximately 500 shells containing sarin and mustard gas have been found in Iraq since 2003. The Democrats' reaction to this news? The nerve agents had degraded and the shells were pre-1991 so they don't count. Granted there is dissatisfaction in the country with the current administration, particularly when it comes to spending and border security. Americans are also weary of the war in Iraq - we all want it to be over - but increasingly they are coming to realize that the war must be fought until it is over, not until some arbitrary clock runs out. Americans are also seeing that the Democrats are certainly not going to solve spending and border problems with their "bigger government is better government" mentality and their open borders policies. Now that it has been reported that DNC chairman Howard Dean has spent all but $4.25 million of the $84.5 million raised for this election cycle, it seems very unlikely that Americans will be persuaded that the Democrat party of Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Howard Dean are the right people to be leading this nation when they enter the voting booths in November. -- Send feedback to the author. The "What is the Deal?" column will appears weekly on the Pie of Knowledge website. Guest submissions are welcome and encouraged. To submit an article to "What is the Deal?" click here. To subscribe to the "What is the Deal?" mailing list and receive early notification when a new column is available, click here. The Pie of Knowledge will never, ever divulge email addresses to any third party for any reason unless so ordered by a court of law. Contributions to the Pie of Knowledge are greatly appreciated. 
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