“Kellyanne Conway broke the law on live TV. Punish her. Do it now.” No, I didn’t say that and neither did anyone in the Trump administration in regards to White House Counsel Conway’s plaintive plea on behalf of Ivanka Trump’s fashion line. That’s from Slate; and if you ever find a need to assess the state of psychic inertia and muddled ideology that plagues the Left, you need look no further than the equally muddled, dog’s breakfast of a lay-out homepage that passes for an internet periodical.
Where was the Left’s solicitude for the sanctity of the law when favorite presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was recklessly using a private email server to send and receive classified documents. How did we not see liberals demanding punishment for the Benghazi debacle where we were talking about people actually dying and not catwalk politics.
And as for doing any thing now, Democrat apologists just couldn’t get their ideological heads around the severity of Hillary’s misdeeds as secretary of state and that these were not isolated and obtruded events but chronic and habitual to the core of Clinton’s political being.
In addition to the casual hypocrisy that usually characterizes left-wing politics, there is a new phenomenon haunting Democratic politics in the three weeks since Trump’s inauguration. It is the specter of a desultory, rambling, uncertain political force that appears absolutely rudderless and bereft of leadership. This is probably a direct factor of the party lacking control of the presidency, House and Senate; but it is also a consequence of having personalities like Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi in minority “leadership” positions that are evidently far beyond their intellectual and emotional reach.
I knew there was something horribly wrong with Schumer on inauguration day when he chose to read the famous letter from Maj. Sullivan Ballou, a Union soldier from the Civil War who wrote an eloquent and poignant letter home to his wife, Sarah, just days before he died in the First Battle of Bull Run. The correspondence was popularized by the Ken Burns documentary that virtually rediscovered the War Between the States for an entire generation and anyone who has ever enjoyed the series, is aware of Ballou’s legacy.
Wonderful letter. But why would you read it immediately before a new president was about to be sworn into office? Is Schumer anticipating another civil war or could he not think of any other thoughts to offer that day? And the tears that he shed for “refugees” stranded at the airport was really beyond belief. Was he crying every time travelers had to wait 12 hours to get through security?
As for Pelosi she increasingly resembles a sleepwalker whom everybody is afraid to awaken, lest she hurt herself. Not only is she clearly way past her political prime, Pelosi has become the Norma Desmond of American politics, you almost expect her to announce that “I’m still big: it’s the politics that got small,” in a rather bizarre approximation of the Billy Wilder line from Sunset Boulevard.
This political power vacuum has provided ample opportunities for the really unhinged fringe of the Dems to emerge in efflorescent moments of banality. Witness Elizabeth Warren this week on the Senate floor: was she having a coronary or just trying-out another political skit for a captive audience when she freaked out over the confirmation of new Attorney-General Jeff Sessions. Well, Sessions at least was used to her antics, having just left the Senate himself, so he didn’t call for either the cops or a medic.
The Democrats don’t seem to know what to do about the violent protest in streets or on the campuses — as if there should be any cause for indecision. Should they condemn this anarchy, be mildly opposed to it or heartily endorse the nonexistent right to break the law and destroy property.
Hard choices.
But these are hard times for Democrats.
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