Speaking of outrage, Democratic Party political consultant Ted Van Dyk uses his Wall Street Journal op-ed to express dismay at the present crop of Democratic leaders. It takes him a while to screw up his courage but he finally gets to the point about the situation in Portland and other U. S. cities:
Any president dating back to Franklin D. Roosevelt would have taken action under these circumstances. First, there would be denunciation of the violence. Then the president would ask local officials if they needed federal help. If the answer was yes, it would be sent immediately. If the answer was no but disorder continued, the president would no doubt dispatch officers to protect federal buildings and otherwise restore order as authorized by the Constitution. He would know that the country at large looked to the president as the ultimate guarantor of public safety.
I wonder if he’s realized yet that the progressives presently in positions of party leadership aren’t liberals? When you combine an apportionment system that favors clumping ideological minorities together into safe seats to create more safe seats for “regular” party members with seniority rules that’s what happens. It’s the same reason so many Southern Democratic in the 1960s were Klan members.
The clue should have been when Sen. Obama said “We are five days from fundamentally transforming the United States of America”. You only “fundamentally transform” something that isn’t working. Liberals think the system is working but, since there is always room for improvement, it can be changed in detail. More radical ideologues believe in throwing the liberal and democratic baby off the back of the troika.
Mr. Van Dyk’s concern is that Democrats will “blow” the 2020 election, effectively throwing it to President Trump. Sort of a re-run of the 1972 election. He should have started expressing his concern in 2017.
Biden has a 9 point lead. Did McGovern ever have a lead?
You are, IMHO, absolutely correct in your assessment. In an effort to achieve short term political gain, party leadership sold themselves to the devil, and now the devil is extracting theirs. The crazies are running wild. (and they will eat the party leadership if given the chance) But instead of party leadership quickly shoring up their position, they are doubling down. I don’t know if its Trump hatred, incompetence, or just blood thirst for power.
So the interesting question is this. If this cynical ploy works, and Biden wins, how does Party Leadership, if it truly is liberal, put things back in Pandora’s box? Antifa and BLM are no more virtuous than a mass murderer. They are crazed Marxists uninterested in party. They view the current Democrats, and their media allies, as useful idiots.
I don’t think the party leadership is actually liberal or progressive for that matter. I think they’re old fashioned grafters.
I don’t know what to make of the mayor of Portland. An idealist? Part of the Jacobin mob? Or just an idiot?
Remind’s me of Bill Barr’s remarks;
https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-william-p-barr-delivers-remarks-china-policy-gerald-r-ford-presidential
concerning China to business leaders seeking to appease and build business there.
To the effect that in the long run they seek not to work with you, but to replace you.
Good advice for the DNC.
“mayor of Portland”
The Woke are true believers. Trouble is, their beliefs shift like sand blown before the breath of the loudest, most aggressive Social Justice Apologists.
Their trajectory can’t continue. This not what is meant by “The Arc of the Universe ect…”.
This looks more like the witch trials of Salem.
Look!…. She’s a Racist! Get her!
I asked this before. What should they do to stop the demonstrations? Harsh crack downs have history of not always working so well (Syria). Maybe sometimes they work but have long term consequences (Tiananmen Square?). We have studies showing that peaceful protests have some success and violent protests are not as successful. I have been looking for studies on shutting down protests and methods used and am not finding anything.
“Antifa and BLM are no more virtuous than a mass murderer.”
You guys catch any Antifa yet?
Steve
‘his looks more like the witch trials of Salem.’
I wish it were like them. It’s like a full blown tree-top to duff layer forest fire, the kind that torched Yellowstone and Australia and much of California. Eventually it will burn itself out, but it’ll char everything along with it right down to the mineral soil. The problem is the people who ought to be dumping retardant on it are either dumping gasoline or pretending it’s not happening.
‘I asked this before. What should they do to stop the demonstrations?
What would you do to stop the strife, Steve? And this is not intended as a nasty question but an inquiring one. I know some of the things I would do, it worked for Frank Rizzo, but it would have to be done nationwide and I can’t see the mayors of the various cities being burned down supporting it because they might get criticized for it.
‘Harsh crack downs have history of not always working so well (Syria).’
Harsh crackdowns do have a history of working well. Very few street rebellions like what’s going on actually succeed in their goals, that’s why those that do are so celebrated (Syria didn’t work because the rebels received considerable outside support, sorta like we did in our rebellion). No one remembers the many that failed because they get buried in time along with the bodies of the slain (who remembers Rosa Luxemburg and the Spartacists of Berlin?) But the crushing of a rebellion usually comes with a high price, not just in blood but treasure, trust, and freedoms lost. The op-ed Dave is citing is a sign that some in the Democratic Party see the danger in letting the tiger continue to run loose. Joe Scarborough has sounded a warning. Others have as well. Will it be enough for the party leadership to get their head out of their a** and realized their heads would be slid into the guillotine by the mob they’re encouraging?
“You guys catch any Antifa yet?â€
You beclown yourself, as usual. If police were authorized to quell this at the outset this would not be an issue. It has been let get out of control. It’s now jump ball, and solutions are ugly. It was unnecessary.
@Drew- I will take that as a no. Keep trying.
Tars- I guess it depends upon how you define success. Rizzo did everything with brutality. When a cop was shot he raided the Black Panther office and strip searched them all in public in front of cameras. Picture was on the cover of the Daily News. Another group not related to the Panthers was later arrested and, IIRC, convicted. So the brutality employed by Rizzo and his police guaranteed that the black community in Philly would not trust the police. Was all of the follow on crime that resulted worth ending some demonstrations a few days earlier? (Mind you this was just one of many cases of brutality and treating the people he was paid to serve with contempt and disrespect. (Somehow he just never had to publicly strip search and white people.)
Steve
‘So the brutality employed by Rizzo and his police guaranteed that the black community in Philly would not trust the police.’
They already didn’t trust the police to start with (no doubt some of it due to him and his policies), so from Frank’s point of view why hold back? He wasn’t into being liked, he was into being feared and obeyed, like an Organization enforcer. They broke his rules, so he broke their heads. Simple, brutal, and from his point of view, effective.
‘(Somehow he just never had to publicly strip search and white people.)’
In his opinion they weren’t the problem, so he didn’t.
‘Mind you this was just one of many cases of brutality and treating the people he was paid to serve with contempt and disrespect.’
I think local government officials letting rioters run loose burning looting and destroying isn’t exactly respectful towards the citizens whose homes and livelihoods are being torched and whose taxes pay their salaries. As for Frank, the only people he ever respected were those he felt could break him or bust HIS head. And those weren’t many.
‘Was all of the follow on crime that resulted worth ending some demonstrations a few days earlier?’
Was there a spike in follow-on crime after Frank crushed the incipient riots? I’m not having much luck finding out. I suspect Frank wouldn’t have cared much as long as it didn’t attract unwanted attention (i.e. make him look bad). Order was his shtick (and law a big stick, applied liberally).
My comments aren’t a defense of Rizzo. Frank was brutal and bigoted and corrupt, no question about it. But he considered Philly ‘his town’, and when other cities were burning in the race riots of the 1960’s, he vowed it wouldn’t happen to his burg and made good on his promise, and as a result Philly was spared being turned into Watts and similar burnt out sections of other cities. Do I like what he did how the way he did it? No. Is there another better way to deal with rioters other than with force? I wish I knew. I know talking to them rarely works, especially if there are agitators in the crowd keeping them stirred up. You can’t reason incensed people out of something they weren’t reasoned into. At least you and I can have a conversation about it.
I believe I already said:
To quell a riot you use spotters on rooftops to identify the agitators. Radio that information to toughs waiting to be guided . Then these toughs use belly blows to incapacitate the arsonists, agitators, ammo deliverymen, then drag their limp bodies into black ops custody where they will quickly give up their co-conspirators. Then , they can be fingerprinted, DNA traced, photographed and set free.
Voila!
It is hard to find stats just for Philly, but looking at PA as a whole there is a jump in homicides. There is a jump in violent crime and most other crime starting in 68.
http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/pacrime.htm
“Somehow he just never had to publicly strip search and white people.)’
In his opinion they weren’t the problem, so he didn’t.”
The people he had publicly strip searched were not the ones who committed the crime. They weren’t the problem either.
I didn’t live and work in Philly in the 60s so I dont know how much minorities trusted the police then. I did work there in the 70s and I can tell you that there wasn’t much trust then. Besides the racist brutality they were also incredibly corrupt. Maybe even worse than NYC and Chicago.
Steve
Biden is indeed ahead in the polls….today, which means there are many who appear to want a Marxist-Socialist governance, versus those, like myself, who prefer a constitutional republic representation. It remains to be seen, though, when a “silenced†populace surfaces in November as to whom voters really support for POTUS.
BTW, the Barr Hearings today only demonstrated the strident lack of due process to be expected under an intolerant Democrat Administration. Diversity of thought, ideas, or even having a voice would be abolished.
‘The people he had publicly strip searched were not the ones who committed the crime. They weren’t the problem either.’
As I said, Frank had a Mob enforcer’s mentality. Strip-searching in public was an intimidation tactic. The Panthers were probably guilty of something, but that wasn’t the point of the humiliation.
‘There is a jump in violent crime and most other crime starting in 68.’
The year of Living Dangerously. Not just in America due to the RFK and MLK murders, but worldwide. DeGaulle was nearly toppled, Sukarno WAS deposed, quarter-million Indonesian dead, the disastrous Tet Offensive, and much more. I’m sure Frank had his role in the ‘uptick’ in crime, but there were a few other factors involved.
‘Besides the racist brutality they were also incredibly corrupt.’
You can again thank Frank for being such an outstanding example of graft to his officers. The man died a multi-millionaire on a CoP and Mayor’s salary.
The Barr “hearings” were an embarrassment to the Democrat Party and media, but I repeat myself.
“I thought these were hearings.
Am I not to be heard?
Bill Barr.
After the GOP has treated Democrats with such love and tenderness. So disappointing. (The whining that is.)
Steve