The Dem perspective

Time for a survey of reasoned, levelheaded assessments of the State of the Union from the Party of Nuance & Sophistication [TM]. John Kerry:

There's nothing conservative about a certain attorney general from somewhere who stomps on the civil rights and civil liberties of Americans. (August 2004)

I don't understand why Kerry feels he has to use weasel words like "certain" and "somewhere." Maybe he himself thinks that he's so full of crap that he might actually be sued. Kerry again:

Don't tell us disenfranchising a million African Americans and stealing their votes is the best we can do. (6 July 2004)

Is there some ghost army of klansmen, skinheads and southern bubba sheriffs encircling people's homes each November? Quit making excuses, put down the clicker, get off your butts and vote!

Teresa Heinz Kerry, responding to a pro-Bush heckler:

They want four more years of hell. (2 August 2004)

Poor Teresa, living as a billionaire in the "hell" of modern America. Think she'd be willing to trade that hell for the bliss of working at Home Depot under President Hillary? Don't hold your breath. More Teresa fearmongering:

We don't have to fear being hung from a lamppost or shot or sent to jail. Not yet. Not yet. And please God, not ever. (5 August 2004)

Michael Moore warns us in Fahrenheit 9/11 to watch out for politicians who foment an environment of perpetual fear to gain power. Thanks to Moore, I'm on to Teresa's ploy! And we have Ted Kennedy to further clarify things:

The only thing we have to fear is four more years of George Bush. (27 July 2004)

Yes, says Kennedy, I know that terrorists recently killed three thousand of your countrymen, but your fear of the Islamofascists is really quite provincial. The only rational fear is of George Bush.

Howard Dean, on the escalation of the terror alert level:

Isn't it unusual they might choose two days after the Democratic national convention, when John Kerry was in the middle of his bounce? (3 August 2004)

But then again, raising the alert level during the convention might've seemed "unusual" too. So too raising it just before the convention. Any earlier, and it would have looked "unusual" coming right after the John Edwards for VP announcement. Here's a better conspiracy: Isn't it unusual that we never see John Kerry and Mister Ed in the same place at the same time?

Consistent with the theme that we have no rights anymore and may soon hang from lampposts, Al Gore announces the "Bush gulag":

... certainly not responsible for the policies which set up the Bush gulag and led to America's strategic catastrophe in Iraq. (24 June 2004)

So talk to me about how the Republicans are extremists and out-of-touch with ordinary Americans. The Democrats have allowed their John Birchers out of the corner and adopted their rhetoric into the mainstream. Now what can the Democrats do when they're really upset about something?