America has developed a new class of victims.

[Tiger Al 0]

AS if it needed another one, America has developed a new class of victims. They're called Republicans.

It used to be that the Republican Party was where you went when you were tired of the victim mentality peddled by liberals. Now it's where you go when you feel victimized by liberals.

To listen to the leaders of the GOP, their tormentors come in threes: the liberal media, left- leaning academics, and what House Majority Leader Tom DeLay calls an "arrogant, out-of- control, unaccountable judiciary.'

When it comes to playing the victim, DeLay deserves an Academy Award. Speaking to religious conservatives during the Terri Schiavo ordeal, DeLay tried to relate the poor woman's ordeal to his own alleged ethical indiscretions and said that his political opponents were out to get him.

Later, when the story broke that DeLay's wife and daughter had pocketed more than a half- million dollars by working for his political action committee, he could have pointed out that this is common practice in Washington. Instead, DeLay whined that his detractors in the media were trying to "embarrass' him.

It's a line he picked up again this week when he blamed his troubles on the "legion of Democrat-friendly press.'

But it's the business about the judges that really showcased DeLay's victim mentality. The majority leader has since apologized for the "inartful way' in which he expressed his frustration over the reluctance of the federal judiciary to intervene in Schiavo's case and order the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube to be restored.

Inartful? More like insane. DeLay went ballistic over the Schiavo case, vowing: "The time will come when the men responsible for this will answer for their behavior.'

That kind of talk was creepy enough to scare off some of DeLay's fellow Republicans. Vice President Dick Cheney vouched for the importance of an independent judiciary, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist distanced himself from DeLay's judicial jihad. Ditto for Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Anthony Kennedy both appointed by Republicans. The justices told a congressional hearing that criticism comes with the territory and that the independence of the judiciary is worth preserving.

Now it is Frist who is toying with the victim rhetoric. He plans to join Christian conservatives in a national telecast on April 24 intended to draw attention to what Republicans claim is an abuse of the filibuster rule by Senate Democrats. The way the religious right sees it, Democrats are victimizing "people of faith' when they oppose some of President Bush's judicial nominees. Frist and prominent religious leaders are planning to gather in Kentucky for a telecast to be distributed on the Internet and to churches around the country.

And it's not just conservatives in Congress who are whining. On a recent installment of "Fox News Sunday,' conservative commentator William Kristol described efforts to filibuster judges as an attempt by Democrats to maintain control over the judiciary. After moderator Chris Wallace pointed out that most federal judges were appointed by Republican presidents, Kristol responded that those Republican presidents had too often deferred to the recommendations of the American Bar Association, which Kristol considers a left-leaning organization. So now the problem is the ABA?

It's not that Kristol doesn't have a point about where the group's political sympathies lie. And it's not that I'm unsympathetic to Republican concerns about how Democrats have treated some judicial nominees.

The president has a right to nominate whomever he wants to the bench, and it's an outrage that Democrats have since Bush took office denied 10 of his more than 200 nominees the courtesy of a vote. For that, Democrats should pay a political price in future elections, and they may well.

But that doesn't mean Republicans should resort to the so- called "nuclear option' of changing Senate rules to make it easier for them to break through judicial filibusters. If Republicans do that, they'll look desperate and out of arguments or pretty much how Democrats look whenever they resort to filibusters in the first place.

Republicans should avoid emulating their opponents. This world-is-out-to-get-me routine is unappealing, and it's getting tiresome. Whenever Republicans hit a snag in pursuing their agenda, some of them immediately look for someone to blame. They should look in the mirror and ask what they could do differently. Instead, they're still acting as if they are powerless and in the minority.

Well, if this keeps up that may become the reality.

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[AURaptor 1,126]

No, not victims. Just calling it like it is. The GOP gained power for a reason, and it wasn't because people liked how the GOP claimed victim status at every turn.

the liberal media, left- leaning academics, and what House Majority Leader Tom DeLay calls an "arrogant, out-of- control, unaccountable judiciary.'

Those big 3 are all factaully accurate. And the GOP plans on doing something about it.

[Tiger Al 0]

And the GOP plans on doing something about it.

Yes, but I don't know if there's enough cheese to go with all that whine.

[TexasTiger 13,003]

No, not victims. Just calling it like it is. The GOP gained power for a reason, and it wasn't because people liked how the GOP claimed victim status at every turn.

the liberal media, left- leaning academics, and what House Majority Leader Tom DeLay calls an "arrogant, out-of- control, unaccountable judiciary.'

Those big 3 are all factaully accurate. And the GOP plans on doing something about it.

156827[/snapback]

"Doing something about it"...whiny totalitarians.

No one wallows in their supposed victimhood like modern day "conservatives." If they're are successful at stifling all oppposition, what will they whine about next and who will they blame for their own ineptitude?

[AURaptor 1,126]

And the GOP plans on doing something about it.

Yes, but I don't know if there's enough cheese to go with all that whine.

156832[/snapback]

Seems to me that the Left is merely mocking the Right for the sake of argument. There's little 'whining' coming from the Right, certainly nothing as compared to the Left. The first two issues are factually accurate. The media and the academic world are dominated by the far Left. ( Thankfully this is changing some, w/ regards to talk radio and FOX news.) That isn't whining, just pointing out the obvious. As for the Judiciary, many believe that it too has become heavily tilted toward the Left. And those who believe as such are attempting to do something about it. But of course, leave it to Liberals to try to dismiss any and all concerns and avoid mature discussion of the issues by trying to paint the Right as nothing more than whiners. And they on the Left wonder why they're out of power still ?

[Tigermike 3,051]

It's hard to whine when you win so often!

[Tiger Al 0]

It's hard to whine when you win so often! 

156843[/snapback]

And yet, you do.

[Piglet 0]

It's appropriate to point and laugh when the Emperor has no clothes. It's not as funny when you point and laugh at beggars and their children, who have no clothes.

The thing about Republicans is, they haven't figured that out. They're still acting as if Liberals controlled America.