Despite Democratic attempts to lie to old people and say that Bush wants to “privatize” the whole system and cut benefits, people are sophisticated enough to understand the distinction ? and to know that it’s better to control their own money and get a bigger return. Donald Lambro writes in Thursday’s Washington Times, “Senior White House officials including Karl Rove have been poring over the election returns to find out how the issue played with voters, and they’re finding that Bush’s reform plan proved to be much more popular than even they expected.”
This doesn’t surprise me, but I’m glad they have data to prove it to skeptical Republicans. A lot of people did not fall away from the issue on the campaign trail, including Elizabeth Dole, Jim Talent, Norm Coleman and Saxby Chambliss. Notice that all those candidates won. At the same time, the Democrat leadership is ignoring this and whispering that “the environment” is their best issue. By this they mean that they have a shot at scaring people into thinking that Republicans want to end life on earth, poison the water and cut down every last tree. Dick Morris wrote a column in the New York Post on this “winning issue,” and reported that it’s one of the reasons why some Democrats are so hepped up to Algore.
Gore’s credible on the environment? In his book Earth in the Lurch he says that the internal combustion engine is the biggest threat we face, bigger even than nukes! I’m sure when we go back and look at all the doom-and-gloom predictions, he’ll have even less credibility because he was so wrong. Of course, that will only help him with his liberal base ? because being wrong is how you advance in the eyes of liberals and become a great leader. I’m content to let them think this is their best issue. They have to come up with some issue where they know they’re going to differ from Republicans, so keep a sharp eye out for the environment.