2007 SotU Democratic Rebuttal Tidbits

Why is this silly rebuttal thing even necessary? I understand that, once upon a time, networks were afraid of not giving “equal time” to both sides, but the SotU is a special case and it always has been.

Oh, and let’s remember that the “equal time” nonsense was the Dem’s baby, thanks to a little piece of twaddle called the “Fairness Doctrine”. It’s the principles that says your First Amendment rights aren’t nearly as important as their sense of what is “fair”.

Okay…the rebuttal. Well, I really didn’t pay much attention to the rebuttal because I couldn’t stop looking at Senator Jim Webb. The guy looks like a muppet. Maybe a combination of Sam the Eagle and Sweetums (though I’m open to other suggestions). I was expecting Statler and Waldorf to heckle him from the balcony or something.

My guess is that the rebuttal included a healthy dose of “Iraq is a disaster and we should do…something…but not what the President wants” and “let’s raise taxes” though the Dems never seem to have the courage to say that out right. Oh yeah, and there could have even been some of that content-free “social justice” and “economic justice” stuff that no one can quite seem to define but that makes the left go all snuggy-happy.

I’m not interested in any of that, even if they could give me a nice solid definition of what it meant.

UPDATE: Okay, I went back, found the text of Senator Muppet’s speech, and read it over.

Let’s just say that it strains credulity in places.

Point the First:

When I graduated from college, the average corporate CEO made 20 times what the average worker did; today, it’s nearly 400 times. In other words, it takes the average worker more than a year to make the money that his or her boss makes in one day.

Wait…what?

Those of you who visit frequently would know that the average wage in America just went up to $17.08 per hour. That’s $681.60 per week, or $35,443.20 per year.

IN order for Webb’s claim to be true, the “average corporate CEO” would have to be earning $14,177,280. Do you really think that’s the case?

Is it really likely that the average salary of every single corporation in America is 14 million dollars? Not hardly.

But it makes for a nice soundbyte if you want to drum up some class warfare.

Point the Second:

In short, the middle class of this country, our historic backbone and our best hope for a strong society in the future, is losing its place at the table. Our workers know this, through painful experience. Our white-collar professionals are beginning to understand it, as their jobs start disappearing also. And they expect, rightly, that in this age of globalization, their government has a duty to insist that their concerns be dealt with fairly in the international marketplace.

…

And under the leadership of the new Democratic Congress, we are on our way to doing so. The House just passed a minimum wage increase, the first in ten years, and the Senate will soon follow. We’ve introduced a broad legislative package designed to regain the trust of the American people. We’ve established a tone of cooperation and consensus that extends beyond party lines. We’re working to get the right things done, for the right people and for the right reasons

And a minimum wage hike helps the middle class and white-collar workers how, exactly?

In fact, a minimum wage hurts non-union middle class workers because it decreases the value of their salary and diminishes the work they’ve done to reach they salary they have. It also makes it less likely that they’re going to get raises because the money that might have been available has just been seized by the government and given to entry-level positions. Common sense tells you that it won’t save any jobs from “disappearing”.

The rest of that second paragraph is just a big Twinkie. Sure, it looks good and it tastes good, but it doesn’t do a darned thing good for you. Senator Muppet and his compatriots don’t have the foggiest idea how to help the middle class beyond the reflexive tax increases and government giveaways. They’re facing down an economy that’s on fire, built on principles that are utterly alien to them and, quite honestly, they’re flat out of ideas that don’t make us snort milk out of our noses. They just want everyone to work together, because, you know, if those mean old Republicans can just stop making Gramma eat dog food for just a minute and link arms in a Kumbaya circle with James Webb and Company, then that nice soccer Mom secretary down the street won’t starve to death because her job went away.

And doesn’t it unnerve you just a little that Webb is so very certain who the “right” people are and what the “right” reasons are?

Over in my next of the political woods, everyone is the “right” person and, so long as you aren’t breaking the law, we don’t much care about your reasons. In Conservative Economyland, you get to find your own answers to make the fortune you want to make – as much or as little as suits your personal level of satisfaction. We don’t claim to know which people are the “right” ones to have prosperity and which aren’t and, quite honestly, we think that the people who do are just a bit dangerous.

See, because once you start lining up the “right” and “wrong” people by who should get the economic goodies, it won’t be long before you’re sorting them out by who gets to speak freely and who doesn’t and who gets to live and who doesn’t.

Right in there is the faint whiff of the gulag. Let’s stay away from that just as far as we can.
Point the Third:

The majority of the nation no longer supports the way this war is being fought; nor does the majority of our military.

How does he know this. Save one outlying poll, the majority of the military is overwhelmingly opposed to any sort of bug-out plan. They favor being in Iraq and staying there until their jobs is done.

I give him technical credit for being correct that the military might oppose how the war is being fought, but dock him points for being disingenuous. Word coming back from our soldiers in Iraq is that they want to fight the battles there more vigorously, more often, and more decisively. That’s the exact opposite of the way that the Democrats largely want to “fight” in Iraq.

Point the Fourth:

As I look at Iraq, I recall the words of former general and soon-to-be President Dwight Eisenhower during the dark days of the Korean War, which had fallen into a bloody stalemate. “When comes the end?” asked the General who had commanded our forces in Europe during World War Two. And as soon as he became President, he brought the Korean War to an end.

That may be to some a technical point, but I think it matters today. President Eisenhauer didn’t bring the war to “an end”. He brought it to a cease-fire, which means that the war never ended. It just became dormant so long as both sides meet the conditions of the cease-fire. That’s why instead of having no troops in Korea, we have about 35,000 troops along the DMZ. It’s why there’s a DMZ in the first place.

Bring a war to an “end” and bringing it to a cease-fire is the difference between a volcano that’s extinct and one that’s merely dormant.

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Category: President George Bush