Lucy pulls football once again....

I saw this intro in an article by Howard Kurtz, in the WaPo

Beneath the rumble of the Abramoff scandal and the Alito confirmation, a pretty spirited argument is taking place within the Democratic Party: not just the usual soul-searching about finding a winning message for 2008, but about the war and national security and the essence of what the party stands for. (My emph.)

Oh goody, I thought. Finally I get to find out. The essence, the very essence of what the Dem Party stands for! Alas, it was not to be. Unless the "essence" of the party is being "anti-Republican," there's nothing in the article to give me a clue.

There never is! Every time the Dems suffer a defeat, there's this spate of articles on how the party should get back to its "core values." But the articles never suggest or even hint what those core values might be. This one is the same. It's all about tactics. And in-fighting among factions.

To a conservatie Republican, this is insane. Or rather, amoral. We will discuss or argue conservative principles at the drop of a hat. And argue over the extent to which those should also be Republican principles, and how much to compromise with necessary political tactics. If there are no principles that underlie your tactics, then your actions are amoral.

I have a lot of opinions about liberals, but I don't really know what liberals think that liberals are. You can't pin them down. If pressed they may say something like, "We liberals are for the little guy," or some-such mush. But that's not a principle; it's too vague. You know darn well that if the "little guy" is a white male, being squeezed by a teacher's union or an affirmative action program, it's gonna be c'est la vie, baby...

A principle or a "core value" is something you support even if the other party is advocating it, and gaining from it. One reason I'm so cranky about liberals these days is that I had always assumed that they shared with us a few core beliefs: that when America is attacked, it is time to put aside differences and all pull together until victory is won. And that victory should be our goal. And that, once engaged in war, we consider it worth spending lives and treasure to build better and more free societies, as we did with Germany and Japan after WWII.

Hoo boy, was I ever wrong on that one...

UPDATE: Tom Bowler sets me right on liberal principles. Of course they have them...