Selwyn Duke
Ultimate schadenfreude: Democrat is twice bitten, not shy
By Selwyn Duke
There's stupid. There's really stupid. There's really, really stupid.
Then there's Democrat stupid.
A prime example is a Friday Wall Street Journal article titled "This Democrat Is Giving Up on ObamaCare." It's penned by one Burke Beu, someone I describe as "ethnically Democrat," as he says "I grew up in a Democratic family. I have been a registered Democrat since age 18." He also tells us, "[I was] a Democratic candidate for statewide office in Colorado and a party precinct captain in that caucus state. I've volunteered for numerous Democratic candidates and contributed to party causes and campaigns. The 2014 election results were extremely disappointing for me...."
And, of course, Mr. Beu has soured on ObamaCare. In fact, he wants it repealed. All good so far. Except that he doesn't have any explicitly harsh words for Obama, hasn't given up on his party, wants a single-payer system and seems to believe Hillary Clinton is the solution in 2016. (Note: In fairness, Clinton is different from Obama – she has two X chromosomes.) But here are the money lines:
Nah.
He wears a "Kick me harder" sign.
There's a saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." What do you say about a guy whose life consists of being fooled?
Beu believes Medicare should be "a model for health-care reform" and says "We Democrats need to get over ourselves, start anew on a national health-care policy, and return to our progressive principles."
Actually, sir, you need to get over your party.
First, "progressive principles" is an oxymoron; liberals don't have principles, but provisional positions. This is because they're governed by emotion, which changes with the wind. As G.K. Chesterton put it, "Progress is a comparative of which we have not settled the superlative." No, I won't explain that, Mr. Beu. You figure it out.
Beu also mentions the "stupidity of the American voter" remark by ObamaCare designer Jonathan Gruber, taking umbrage and saying "Such comments...are insults to every citizen regardless of party." So Goober is offended by Gruber.
And Beu is one of those very "useful" people. He doesn't get that elitist snobbery and superciliousness define the left. Just think of the revelations about socialist French president François Hollande, who is "a cold, cynical cheat and a Socialist who 'doesn't like the poor,'" writes National Post about insights provided by the leftist's ex-girlfriend Valérie Trierweiler. "He presents himself as the man who doesn't like the rich. In reality, the president doesn't like the poor" and in private calls them "the toothless ones," reports Trierweiler. Oh, too anecdotal? "Hell hath no fury like that of a woman scorned"? Then read the 2008 piece "Don't listen to the liberals – Right-wingers really are nicer people, latest research shows." It relates what some of us without "Kick me" signs figured out for ourselves long ago.
Beu also says, when pointing out that Democrats need to exhibit humility and admit error on ObamaCare, "We resent Republicans who act morally superior and pretend to have a monopoly on patriotism, but...."
It's not pretense, Bucko. As this Pew poll from this summer shows, while 72 percent of "steadfast conservatives" and 81 percent of "business conservatives" "often feel proud to be American," only 40 percent of "solid liberals" do. That, Mr. Beu, is by liberals' own admission. (Pew also has a category in the poll called "Faith and Family Left." I've never heard of such a thing – unless it refers to faith in government and the family of the person the liberal is cheating on his spouse with.)
Note also that when liberals and conservatives don't feel proud to be American, it's for very different reasons. Liberals don't like what America was, was meant to be, and what they often imagine it to be ("We're so Puritan!"); conservatives don't like the cesspool the liberals are turning it into.
I know schadenfreude isn't a feeling reflective of a charitable spirit, but the best I can say about the Beus of the world is that they need tough love. Mr. Beu reminds me of a guy who's being held by the back of the neck, is being repeatedly and violently kicked, and complains about how something needs to be done about the foot. Tend to the foot. Regulate the foot. Repeal the foot.
Mr. Beu, that foot happens to be attached to a man, a being with intellect and free will. And he is not your friend.
© Selwyn Duke
November 17, 2014
There's stupid. There's really stupid. There's really, really stupid.
Then there's Democrat stupid.
A prime example is a Friday Wall Street Journal article titled "This Democrat Is Giving Up on ObamaCare." It's penned by one Burke Beu, someone I describe as "ethnically Democrat," as he says "I grew up in a Democratic family. I have been a registered Democrat since age 18." He also tells us, "[I was] a Democratic candidate for statewide office in Colorado and a party precinct captain in that caucus state. I've volunteered for numerous Democratic candidates and contributed to party causes and campaigns. The 2014 election results were extremely disappointing for me...."
And, of course, Mr. Beu has soured on ObamaCare. In fact, he wants it repealed. All good so far. Except that he doesn't have any explicitly harsh words for Obama, hasn't given up on his party, wants a single-payer system and seems to believe Hillary Clinton is the solution in 2016. (Note: In fairness, Clinton is different from Obama – she has two X chromosomes.) But here are the money lines:
-
I voted for Barack Obama in 2008, then lost my job in the Great Recession. I was lucky; my brother lost his job and his house. I survived on part-time jobs while paying out-of-pocket for my health insurance.
I voted for President Obama again in 2012, then received a cancellation notice for my health insurance. This was due to ObamaCare, the so-called Affordable Care Act. However, I couldn't afford anything else.
Nah.
He wears a "Kick me harder" sign.
There's a saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." What do you say about a guy whose life consists of being fooled?
Beu believes Medicare should be "a model for health-care reform" and says "We Democrats need to get over ourselves, start anew on a national health-care policy, and return to our progressive principles."
Actually, sir, you need to get over your party.
First, "progressive principles" is an oxymoron; liberals don't have principles, but provisional positions. This is because they're governed by emotion, which changes with the wind. As G.K. Chesterton put it, "Progress is a comparative of which we have not settled the superlative." No, I won't explain that, Mr. Beu. You figure it out.
Beu also mentions the "stupidity of the American voter" remark by ObamaCare designer Jonathan Gruber, taking umbrage and saying "Such comments...are insults to every citizen regardless of party." So Goober is offended by Gruber.
And Beu is one of those very "useful" people. He doesn't get that elitist snobbery and superciliousness define the left. Just think of the revelations about socialist French president François Hollande, who is "a cold, cynical cheat and a Socialist who 'doesn't like the poor,'" writes National Post about insights provided by the leftist's ex-girlfriend Valérie Trierweiler. "He presents himself as the man who doesn't like the rich. In reality, the president doesn't like the poor" and in private calls them "the toothless ones," reports Trierweiler. Oh, too anecdotal? "Hell hath no fury like that of a woman scorned"? Then read the 2008 piece "Don't listen to the liberals – Right-wingers really are nicer people, latest research shows." It relates what some of us without "Kick me" signs figured out for ourselves long ago.
Beu also says, when pointing out that Democrats need to exhibit humility and admit error on ObamaCare, "We resent Republicans who act morally superior and pretend to have a monopoly on patriotism, but...."
It's not pretense, Bucko. As this Pew poll from this summer shows, while 72 percent of "steadfast conservatives" and 81 percent of "business conservatives" "often feel proud to be American," only 40 percent of "solid liberals" do. That, Mr. Beu, is by liberals' own admission. (Pew also has a category in the poll called "Faith and Family Left." I've never heard of such a thing – unless it refers to faith in government and the family of the person the liberal is cheating on his spouse with.)
Note also that when liberals and conservatives don't feel proud to be American, it's for very different reasons. Liberals don't like what America was, was meant to be, and what they often imagine it to be ("We're so Puritan!"); conservatives don't like the cesspool the liberals are turning it into.
I know schadenfreude isn't a feeling reflective of a charitable spirit, but the best I can say about the Beus of the world is that they need tough love. Mr. Beu reminds me of a guy who's being held by the back of the neck, is being repeatedly and violently kicked, and complains about how something needs to be done about the foot. Tend to the foot. Regulate the foot. Repeal the foot.
Mr. Beu, that foot happens to be attached to a man, a being with intellect and free will. And he is not your friend.
© Selwyn Duke
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