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Editorial: Democrats should cut the comedy, come up with some sound 'ideas'

July 13, 2005

Nothing illustrates better the problems of today's vacuous Democratic Party than Sen. Hillary Clinton's juvenile remarks about President Bush over the weekend.

"I sometimes feel that Alfred E. Neuman is in charge in Washington," Clinton said, referring to the character from Mad magazine, according to an Associated Press story. She drew a laugh from the crowd when she described Bush's attitude toward tough issues with Neuman's catchphrase: "What, me worry?"

The point of Clinton's statement is, of course, way off the mark. How anyone can describe a president who launched two wars in an effort to stem the tide of radical Islamic terrorism as having a nonchalant attitude is quite beyond us.

If anyone is clueless, it's Clinton. How could she make such disrespectful remarks about the president of the United States, three days after a major terrorist attack on Britain, our nation's closest ally? Surely, it was a time for rallying around, rather than belittling, America's commander in chief.

Clinton may have drawn laughs with her one-liners about Bush, but as the old saying goes, he who laughs last, laughs best, and the real joke is the Democratic Party.

Clinton was speaking at an event called the Aspen Ideas Festival, which the Associated Press says was organized by the Aspen Institute, a "nonpartisan think tank," a misnomer if we've ever heard one.

What's funny, though, is that Clinton's speech is such a good example of what passes for "ideas" in the Democratic Party. To leading Democrats like Clinton, a good "idea" is a nice sharp, insulting comment about Bush. In truth, the Democratic Party is devoid of real ideas and that's why their candidates keep losing national elections.

In the long run, the party and Senator Clinton are going to be hurt by such silly remarks. Despite the popularity of such radio and TV political comedians as Rush Limbaugh and Jon Stewart, the American people still know the difference between a comedian and a person whom they would trust to be president.

Twice, Bush has won the people's trust. If Senator Clinton plans to some day do the same, she had better cut the comedy and the cheap shots and come up with some real proposals for dealing with the important national security and economic problems of our times. Otherwise, she's likely to find out that the jokes on her.

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