The wrong Democratic reaction to a stupid Republican utterance is to play hurt. Democrats have demanded an apology from Karl Rove, and even his resignation, for suggesting that they may have been what Arnie would have more succinctly described as “girlie-men’ in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. But why does anyone care what Karl Rove thinks about Democrats, or how he portrays the Democratic response to 9/11? So, the Republicans don’t think Democrats are macho enough, right? I’m afraid that’s not news to me.
According to Scott McClellan, Rove was merely pointing out the philosophical difference between a President who wanted to take the fight to the enemy and Democrats who questioned the approach. No apologies necessary. Fine, and thank you Karl and Scott.
I say Democrats need a different tactic, a different approach in taking on the Republican P.R. machine. Forget arguing that Mr. Bush happened to take the fight to the wrong enemy (most Americans are starting to see that). Let’s be magnanimous and say, okay, the Republicans are big macho guys who know when and how to deliver a good ass-whuppin’. But wait, it seems they need help, because somehow they’re using an awful lot of poor Black and Hispanic kids to do the whuppin’. Ever glance over the pictures and names of the dead, Karl?
So how about some good strong macho Republican boys and girls going over there “to take the fight to the terrorists?” Any volunteers? No? Then perhaps Democrats should get behind introducing a bill in Congress re-instating the draft now, something that many believe to be inevitable anyway, given that there’s no end in sight to the war in Iraq. But this time no college-deferments, no special Air National Guard escape routes, no medical exemptions (unless you’re really, really sick), and no lottery: just straight to the army from seventeen to twenty-five. No other choice: not the Air Force or Navy, sorry; they’re full.
Pull the kids out of Choate, St. Paul’s, and Andover. Out of Dartmouth and Yale. Out of Wharton and Sloan. And out of their first years at Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch. Gee, I wonder what Jenna Bush looks like in fatigues?