Cracks Are Beginning to Appear...
Power Line
...in the Democrats' confidence about the election. Cases in point: two stories from the front page of today's New York Times. The first headline reads,
<< "G.O.P. Moves Fast to Reignite Issue of Gay Marriage" >>
The article is written from the typical liberal perspective, which assumes that social issues like gay marriage are, for some reason, illegitimate, but are trotted out every two years for political gain by the Republicans:
<<< The divisive debate over gay marriage [Ed.: "Divisive" means the issue favors Republicans.], which played a prominent role in 2004 campaigns but this year largely faded from view, erupted anew on Thursday as President Bush and Republicans across the country tried to use a court ruling in New Jersey to rally dispirited conservatives [Ed.: Evidence? None needed.] to the polls. >>>
Note how the Times reporter, Sheryl Stolberg, misrepresents the New Jersey Supreme Court's decision:
<<< The ruling in New Jersey left it to the Legislature to decide whether to legalize gay marriage. Even so, the threat that gay marriage could become legal energized conservatives at a time when Republican strategists say that turning out the base could make the difference between winning and losing on Nov. 7. >>>
As we noted here, the New Jersey court held that homosexuals must be provided with a legal framework for marriage that is equal in all respects to heterosexual marriage. The court held that the state's Domestic Partnership Act did not go far enough in that regard, and the legislature was ordered to write a new statute within the next six months. The only discretion left to the legislature was whether to call homosexual marriage "marriage" or something else. So the Times's account of the court's decision is deeply misleading.
A second story on today's front page is titled.
<< "Democrats Fear Disillusionment of Black Voters" >>
Here, the Times worries that African-Americans may not turn out in sufficient numbers for the Democrats to retake Congress:
<<< For Democrats like these in tight races, black voter turnout will be crucial on Election Day. But despite a generally buoyant Democratic Party nationally, there are worries among Democratic strategists in some states that blacks may not turn up at the polls in big enough numbers because of disillusionment over past shenanigans.
"This notion that elections are stolen and that elections are rigged is so common in the public sphere that we're having to go out of our way to counter them this year," said Donna Brazile, a Democratic strategist. >>>
The theme of the article is that dastardly dirty tricks by Republicans in past elections, like circulating flyers telling Democrats to vote on the day after the election, have so dispirited and disheartened African-Americans that they may fail to turn out on November 7.
Where to begin? I am no fan of Democratic voters, but the idea that they are too stupid to know which day is Election Day is beyond the pale. (That line is a joke, for those too dour to notice.) If black Americans don't feel especially motivated to vote for Democrats, as the Times fears, maybe it's because they've noticed that several decades of voting for Democrats has done them no perceptible good. Or maybe it's because the black candidates with whom voters want to identify are Republicans like Michael Steele.
I take away two points: first, anxiety about November's results is eating away at the confidence Democrats showed just a few weeks ago. Second, no matter whether it's writing about Republicans turning out or Democrats not turning out, the Times's explanation is the same: it's all due to dirty tricks by those blasted Republicans. If the Republicans do manage to avert disaster next month, we'll all know why.
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