A Viewing Guide for the Democrat Convention

Dems will always "Blame America First!"

As the Democrat convention opens in Denver, prepare for a reality check. In the speeches from the convention floor and the spinmeisters on television you'll hear an endless litany of what is wrong with America.

They may not trot out Rev. Wright and have him deliver one of his sermons calling America the "the U.S. of K.K.K. A." And Obama is unlikely to recite the passage from his book where he describes "white folks' greed runs a world in need." But Democrat rhetoric is likely to go beyond the "glass is half full" pessimism that we have come to expect. Instead, you will hear that life in the U.S. is bad and the spreading of fear that unless Democrats are elected in November things will get much worse.

Of course none of this is new. Democrats have been using those same shopworn shibboleths for years.

It Took a Democrat To Spot the Donkey's B.S.

Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick with President Reagan in the Oval Office

The classic answer to Democrat pessimism and fearmongering came from Jeane Kirkpatrick, President Reagan's U.N. Ambassador. Though she was still a Democrat at the time, she spoke at the 1984 Republican Convention in Dallas Texas where she coined the perfect phrase to describe the Democrat's outlook to whatever problems confront us. No matter what the problem, we can always count on Democrats to "blame America first!"

Take for example the following paragraph from her 1984 speech:

When Marxist dictators shoot their way to power in Central America, the San Francisco Democrats don't blame the guerrillas and their Soviet allies, they blame United States policies of 100 years ago.

But then, they always blame America first.

Change the situation to the Russian invasion of Georgia today and you'll find that Democrats, including Obama, are still trying to blame America first.

Kirkpatrick warned that such an outlook was self defeating:

The American people know that it's dangerous to blame ourselves for terrible problems that we did not cause.

They understand just as the distinguished French writer, Jean Francois Revel, understands the dangers of endless self- criticism and self-denigration.

He wrote: "Clearly, a civilization that feels guilty for everything it is and does will lack the energy and conviction to defend itself."

Why is it so difficult for Democrats to see the greatness and goodness of this country? We've liberated Europe twice, landed a man on the moon and whenever there is a natural disaster anywhere in the world we're the first ones on the scene to help. The freedom and prosperity that this nation represents still stands as a beacon attracting millions around the world who will risk everything they have to come here and join us.

Is it any wonder that women like Jeane Kirkpatrick and other traditional Democrats continue to abandon the party as it lurches ever further away from the values that have made this country great?