SUBSCRIBE NOW WELCOME BACK. Do you want to continue reading where you left off? New Republic subscribers can pick up where they left off no matter which device they were previously using. SUBSCRIBE NOW

Go Home The Operative Phrase Is "far Left"

THE PLANK JUNE 3, 2008

The Operative Phrase Is "far Left"

BY AUTHOR INFO NEEDED

I'm not sure I've ever encountered a written passage that so exactly captured the experience of being accosted by a boorish semi-acquaintance at a party as this, by Bill Bennett:

And thus the Democratic party is about to nominate a far left candidate
in the tradition of George McGovern, albeit without McGovern’s military
and political record. The Democratic party is about to nominate a
far-left candidate in the tradition of Michael Dukakis, albeit
without Dukakis’s executive experience as governor. The Democratic
party is about to nominate a far left candidate in the tradition of
John Kerry, albeit without Kerry’s record of years of service in the
Senate.

Great to see you too, Bill. I need to go talk to that guy, um, over there. But I'll catch back up with you later.

--Christopher Orr

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

Show all 19 comments

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

19 comments

It only goes to show how far right the Republican Party has become when it accuses the majority of Americans of being far left.

- Andrew Davis

June 3, 2008 at 5:57pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

Of course, unlike those three, Obama knows how to run a successful campaign.  And he's running at a time when the electorate is more receptive to liberal policies than it's been since the 1960's.

Anyway, good to see that the Bennett is proudly perpetuating the myth that Kerry was "far left," four years after it stopped mattering.  You've got to admire that sort of dedication.

- AlanSP

June 3, 2008 at 5:59pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

This Bill Bennett?

-- Bennett--who gambled throughout Clinton's impeachment--has continued this pattern in subsequent years. On July 12 of last year, for instance, Bennett lost $340,000 at Caesar's Boardwalk Regency in Atlantic City. And just three weeks ago, on March 29 and 30*, he lost more than $500,000 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. "There's a term in the trade for this kind of gambler," says a casino source who has witnessed Bennett at the high-limit slots in the wee hours. "We call them losers."

www.washingtonmonthly.com/.../0306.green.html

- ndmackenzie

June 3, 2008 at 6:01pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

That is traditional values Bill. Lecture the masses on hard work and head for the gaming tables. Oh and of course characterize every Democratic nominee as "far left".

Adrew Davis: Wait a minute. These candidates did lose and Barack is not yet in the catbird's seat so the term "majority" seems a little risbile here.

- liberal reformer

June 3, 2008 at 6:27pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

Mocking the truth, Crhistopher, doesn't make it go away.

Obama is far Left because but, because he acts like a gentleman, he masks it.   His true sentiments will emerge in this campaign and then the electorate can fairly decide if they wish to give up their freedoms to your cabal or not.

this electorate has been marinated in Leftism since their university indoctrination and in a lifetime of media bias.  

Har har har, Mr. Orr.  But, the road to despotism is always paved with promises of ease and care from the central government.

- ChanRobt

June 3, 2008 at 6:27pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

Obama is so gentlemanly that his economic advisors from the business school at the University of Chicago haven't even realized that he's a far leftist.

Damn, he is smooth.

- FWright

June 3, 2008 at 6:38pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

Seeing where years of ultra conservatives has gotten us, I think some liberalism will be a breath of fresh air.  

- WaltB

June 3, 2008 at 6:42pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

THe worst part about Bennett and gambling isn't so much the rank hypocrisy as that he lost his money playing slots.  Slots!  Can you comprehend the dull and unimaginative mind that can drop that kind of money at slots?  I think his choice of game speaks more to his oppressive nature than does his choice to game.

- boneill

June 3, 2008 at 6:43pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

ChanRobt, as of George W. Bush, no one who calls himself a Republican or a conservative is allowed to use the word "despotism" to denigrate the policy preferences of the other party. Come back and reapply to the freedom club when y'all have gone to your rooms and had a good think about unlimited executive authority.

The one thing -- the one thing -- that would have been good about a Hillary presidency was the justice of giving conservatives' least favorite person the despotic powers they carved out for their own guy.

- rhubarbs

June 3, 2008 at 6:46pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

National Review writers like Bennett are right-wingers indeed, even fanatic ones.

Being criticized by that sorry lot doesn't make Obama better. He is still the man whose mentor is racist Jeremiah Wright and who launched his political candidacy from the house of Marxist terrorist Bill Ayers.

- sleepyavl

June 3, 2008 at 8:48pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

"His true sentiments will emerge in this campaign and then the electorate can fairly decide if they wish to give up their freedoms to your cabal or not."

Chan, I generally appreciate your perspective here.  This site needs a (small) dose of intelligent, conservative dissent.  But the above crackpot statement is unworthy of you.  What freedoms will Obama curtail?  What cabal?  You're sounding like the reincarnation of thompsondavid.

- aeromonas

June 3, 2008 at 9:10pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

Yep, sleepy, because the last seven years of authoritarianism and fascism showed just how insightful the right wing is at figuring out how people are going to run the country.  And yes, I meant to use both words.

- anonevent

June 3, 2008 at 9:16pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

As I haven't managed to locate his plan to expropriate capitalists and take over the economy, create a state-run media to express the party opinion with no dissenters, or even an anarchist project to dissolve all institutions of government and replace them with neighborhood councils run by ideological activists, I fail to see where the "far left" character of Obama's campaign can be found.  

Perhaps "far left" is a kind of stand-in term for "I don't like Obama, so I'll say the first silly thing that comes into my head!"

- ironyroad

June 3, 2008 at 9:43pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

The sad thing is he's probably right. We're nominating a motivational speaker, not a president, and politically Obama is either going to be George McGovern or Jimmy Carter, and I don't think either of those possibilities is going to be good for the Democratic Party or for America.

- quickeri

June 3, 2008 at 11:18pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

aeromonas, I believe that Obama is a man who speaks reasonably but associates himself closely with dangerous, literally hateful people.  That he comes off so reasonably makes him far more dangerous than people who rave and make their dangerousness plain.

He represents a philosophy that is not just about being fair-minded and open-- which is what true Liberalism is-- but that believes in immense state institutions that wish to control large sectors of the economy and to manipulate peoples lives pretty minutely.  That, to me, is despotism in felt gloves, but despotism nonetheless.

- ChanRobt

June 3, 2008 at 11:47pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

quickeri, thank you.  

The answer (one of them) to the Democratic jibe that McCain is Bush's third term is that Obama is Carter's second term.  But, perhaps worse, because he is a more charming and persuasive fellow.

- ChanRobt

June 3, 2008 at 11:49pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

ironyroad writes, "...I haven't managed to locate his plan to expropriate capitalists and take over the economy, create a state-run media to express the party opinion with no dissenters..."

Irony, the power to tax is the power to destroy.  The truly wealthy are safe.  It is the middle class, and certainly the upper middle class that is in great peril from an Obama style Democrat.

And as to controlling the media, it is the Democrats who would reinstate the Orwellian named "Fairness Doctrine" and push the voices of dissent off the radio.

- ChanRobt

June 3, 2008 at 11:52pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

Well, if that's the extent of the "far left" conspiracy, I think we can all sleep fairly comfortably tonight in America.

- ironyroad

June 4, 2008 at 12:55am

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

Hmm, somehow I am  bit more worried about my government spying on me without a warrant than I am about the "Fairness Doctrine". And a government claiming the right to hold American citizens indefinitely without trial or charges is far more scary than a democratically elected government raising taxes. Just takes a majority vote to lower them again, you know. Destruction can be averted so easily!

And if Orwellian names bother you, how about Bush's Healthy Forests initiative?

- JEFF FREY

June 4, 2008 at 3:02am

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

SHARE HIGHLIGHT

0 CHARACTERS SELECTED

TWEET THIS

POST TO TUMBLR

SHARE ON FACEBOOK

Close