Markos Moulitsas’ first Newsweek column sends a simple message: Let’s live in the past. Here’s the opening paragraph from the column:

Times are tough for the Republican Party and its candidates. Earlier this month, according to Gallup, more people strongly disapproved of George W. Bush than any previous president since the advent?of polling—and, really, how could things be any different? Bush can boast of an unwinnable quagmire in Iraq, a decimated housing market, economic instability and a collapsing dollar, a dysfunctional health-care system, a still-devastated Gulf Coast, a wealth gap of a scope unseen since the Great Depression and a pervasive and disturbing image of America as a hapless, blundering giant, rather than a beacon of freedom and morality in the world.

It’s obvious that we’re entering another presidential election year. It’s obvious because Democrats are talking in the most hyperbolic, fact-free terms. Let’s go through Moulitsas’ list, starting with this line:

Bush can boast of an unwinnable quagmire in Iraq…

That’d be believeable except that :

But for the first time in years, Baghdad’s residents are starting to remember what an ordinary life is like. “I used to close my shop at 6 p.m. but now I stay open till 9 or 9:30. Then I walk home and I feel completely safe,” said Jawad al-Sufi, 64, who runs the House of Hijab head scarf shop in the much-bombed district of Karradah. He had to replace his windows five times because of bombings outside his shop, but there has hardly been an attack in Karradah since September.

“It happened very suddenly,” he said. “There was a sharp turnaround, right after Eid,” the Muslim holiday in late October. “Since then, security has improved 85 percent.”

There’s nothing like a few verifiable facts to discredit hyperbolists’ mindless rants. Then there’s this statement:

“a dysfunctional health-care system…”

What’s so dysfunctional about it? We’re finding cures now that were considered miracles a decade ago. We’re also finding these cures faster than ever before.

“a wealth gap of a scope unseen since the Great Depression…”

Four years ago, John Kerry reminded us again and again that the Bush economic policies led to the worst job creation since the depression. People heard him say that, then pulled the lever for President Bush despite all of Kerry’s rantings.

“a still-devastated Gulf Coast…”

WRONG. A still-devastated New Orleans. Mississippi is recovering at a steady pace. Nawlins isn’t getting rebuilt because a corrupt mayor and inept governor have been leading the recovery effort. Now that Bobby Jindal has been elected, that situation should quickly turn around. Haley Barbour has proven that it just takes leadership, and a little wisdom to set things on the right track. It also doesn’t hurt to not have to deal with Nawlins’ corruption.

“a pervasive and disturbing image of America as a hapless, blundering giant, rather than a beacon of freedom and morality in the world…”

What a pile of BS. We aren’t a “beacon of freedom and morality in the world” after we led the way to liberating 50+ million people in Iraq and Afghanistan? We aren’t a “beacon of freedom and morality in the world” after lending diplomatic support to Lebanon right after Rafiz Harriri’s assassination? Mr. Moulitsas’ image of the United States is badly skewed by his hatred for all things Bush. It isn’t because of the facts.

Mr. Moulitsas’ rants are quickly destroyed with a few facts. His rants are focused on the past that he refuses to even see the progress in the present:

It’s why Republicans voted to support Bush’s veto of the wildly popular State Children’s Health Insurance Program, denying health care to millions of needy kids. Time and again, GOP leaders have forgone sensible and popular policies in favor of catering to a shrinking and increasingly isolated base.

That’s what Moulitsas must rely on. He can’t paint a picture of reality. Moulitsas must paint a strawman picture because reality ruins his rant. The “wildly popular SCHIP program” that Mr. Moulitsas is refering to is supported only to the extent that children of middle class parents aren’t covered by the program. Once people are told that families of 4 making $63K qualify for SCHIP, support drops significantly. That isn’t surprising.

Democrats have to paint this type of picture because that’s the only way they can win. Their agenda isn’t appealing. Their trillion dollar tax hikes, no matter how much lipstick they apply, isn’t popular. Their only hope is to convince people that things are awful and hope nobody notices that there’s alot of positive things happening.

Consequently, to stand any chance of winning next year, Republicans must pray for a national amnesia to erase the previous eight years from the minds of voters. But amnesia only happens in soap operas—and that’s why Democrats will win in 2008. As long as Democratic candidates remind voters that the Republican platform and Bush’s record are one and the same, victory will be assured.

Mr. Moulitsas’ rants notwithstanding, Republicans only need to return to their reform-minded ways. Democrats didn’t win the last election. We lost the last election because we started voting yes on Democratic legislation. We lost because some congressmen and senators (Ted Stevens and Bud Shuster leap to mind) tried out-earmarking John Murtha and Robert Byrd. That won’t happen this time.

Meanwhile, Democrats will have to defend their statements about how the war that’s being won is a lost cause. (Thank you, Harry Reid and John Murtha.) Democrats will have to explain why they supported a corrupt politician like John Murtha after he tried railroading the Haditha Marines before the investigation was even finished or before he was briefed. Democrats will have to explain why why they’re stridently opposed to victory in Iraq.

The nasty little truth that Moulitsas doesn’t want people to notice is that they aren’t opposed to letting oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Venezuela flourish. What Moulitsas doesn’t want people to notice is that he favors a system of taxation that’ll leave our pocketbooks empty but the government’s bank accounts richer. He and Hillary don’t want people to control their destinies. He wants government picking winners and losers. People might’ve settled for that forty years ago but they won’t settle for it now.

It’s time for Mr. Moulitsas to stop living in the past and to embrace a liberating agenda based on minimal government intrusion into our lives and a foreign policy based on killing jihadists while we spread demnocracy throughout the terrorists’ sanctuaries. If he doesn’t embrace that agenda, he’ll soon be history.

Technorati Tags: Moulitsas, John Murtha, Corruption, Tax Increases, Liberation, Iraq War, President Bush, Vision, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

1. The California Conservative thinks that he/she has refuted the liberal reference to “a dysfunctional health-care system…” by saying :
   “What’s so dysfunctional about it? We’re finding cures now that were considered miracles a decade ago. We’re also finding these cures faster than ever before.”

   Dah! What good are newly discovered remedies to the 40 million Americans who don’t have health insurance or to the millions of Americans who THINK they have insurance until they actually have to use it. My neighbor just had to put her home on the line to pay the $70,000 back surgery she had to have but which her insurance wouldn’t pay for because they considered it a “pre-existent condition”, i.e. it had its origins some time prior to her husband taking his current job, several years ago.
   (How many people stick with jobs they hate or don’t pay well because they can’t risk being without insurance or starting the clock all over again on “pre-existent condictions”?) See why the U.S. healthcare system is rated 23rd world-wide at http://www.LiberalsLikeChrist.Org/about/healthcare.html
   .

   Comment by Rev Ray Dubuque — November 18, 2007 @ 8:21 pm