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Home Front: Culture Wars
Democrats "sue for peace" in the culture wars
2008-04-17
Daniel Henninger, Wall Street Journal
I think he's a little optimistic, but . . .

For those of us who monitor the political currents to discern direction in the nation's life, this was one of the biggest weeks in the campaign.

Remember the culture wars? This week the Democrats sued for peace.

On Friday evening, email queues lit up everywhere with people reacting to Barack Obama's thoughts on life being nasty, bitter and short in small-town America. Time was not long ago that a Democratic candidate could have said such folk cling to guns and religion and are hostile to "diversity" with nary a peep from his party. Not now. Obama was repudiated. Crushed. Media analysis suggested the damage could last til November.

Before midnight, Hillary was paddling down Whiskey River with the boys at Bronko's. Then on Sunday evening, the white flag really went up over the culture war's battlefield.

Hillary and Obama were both at an event in Grantham, Pa., in Cumberland County. That's south of Mechanicsburg and east of Boiling Springs. John Kerry took Pennsylvania by 2.5% in 2004, but Cumberland gave George Bush 64% of its vote. Hillary and Obama were appearing on a CNN event called the "Compassion Forum." They were at a place called Messiah College. Connect the dots.

Campbell Brown to Sen. Clinton: "And you have actually felt the presence of the Holy Spirit on many occasions. Share some of those occasions."

Set aside the controversies over the name-brand religious-right leaders. Whatever one calls these people – Reagan Democrats, the religious right, values voters – their main beef was not with the election returns but with the manifest evidence that the big-city elites thought their beliefs and their lives were stupid. That is what died this week.
Hillary Clinton: "I have had the experiences on many, many occasions where I felt like the Holy Spirit was there with me as I made a journey . . . You know, it could be walking in the woods. It could be watching a sunset." . . .

Set aside the controversies over the name-brand religious-right leaders. Whatever one calls these people – Reagan Democrats, the religious right, values voters – their main beef was not with the election returns but with the manifest evidence that the big-city elites thought their beliefs and their lives were stupid. That is what died this week.

Whatever he meant to say, Barack Obama's small-town "cling to" statement was the Final Condescension. Hillary's trip from Bronko's bar to Messiah College ratified drinkin' on Saturday night and prayin' on Sunday morning.

Certainly, both as president would stock the judiciary from the liberal flock. Conservatives should still pocket the fact that the awful culture war has been replaced by a legitimate political competition whose locus has moved rightward. What's left of the rancid war are guerrillas in the Hollywood foothills, pot-shotting at Pat Robertson and other bogeymen. But at the big-league level of presidential politics, it's over. Say good-bye to the Michael Moore Mockathon. Say hello to the spirit in the sky.
Posted by:Mike

#8  Ok, if they've sued for peace, I want to see some of the major culprits tried, then executed, for war crimes. Let's see headlines like, Paying for Their Crimes: Dem Criminals in Dock at Nuremburg II.

For the damage they've done to this country deliberately they deserve some SERIOUS payback.
Posted by: Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707   2008-04-17 18:06  

#7  Beat me to it, g.
Posted by: Pappy   2008-04-17 13:29  

#6  This week the Democrats sued for peace.

I'm sure they do not think of it as "hudna".
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2008-04-17 12:13  

#5  Well, I don't have any guilt so it ended for me long ago. Maybe the cultural selling of "White Guilt" and "Man Shame" end this year.

I know, it may be a vain hope but....
Posted by: DarthVader   2008-04-17 11:13  

#4  I had it rattling around in my head that bo was counting on trashing whites in order to get black/hispanic votes, counting on whites to not make a peep as they have not done during my lifetime whenever they get characterized - or even better vote for him because he was trashing him.

I thought it was outrageous when hillarity starting speaking in tongues accents; I kept thinking to myself, "Wow, swksvolFF, if you went to Scotland and starting talking like an extra in Braveheart you'd probably get your ass kicked."

I saw some of that debate - someone told them both to play nice but, again, it is that same fakeness and foux sincerety which got them into this position in the first place, adding to their phoniness. So in that sense I disagree with the article - they both have f'd it up so back for (in card order) minority candidtates, women candidates, and democrats in general that if neither one is nominated president the d's lose big time; so a political hudna is in order. Sue for peace hardly but a good turn of events for anyone who is tired of stereotyping and prejudice.

Both of their campaigns have had all the style and grace of farsighted drunkards playing Operation - they have both lost, now they have to decide who lost least so as to take on mccain.
Posted by: swksvolFF   2008-04-17 10:42  

#3  tu3031: Amen to that.
Posted by: Excalibur   2008-04-17 10:21  

#2  This could be the year that "White Guilt" ended...
Posted by: tu3031   2008-04-17 09:50  

#1  The longer McCain keeps his mouth shut, the better he does.
Posted by: bigjim-ky   2008-04-17 09:08  

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