Scribbling Monk

Former Texas governor Ann Richards, who is most famous for her 1988 Democratic National Convention keynote speech, died Wednesday. Her most famous and oft-repeated line from that speech was a reference to then-Vice President George H.W. Bush, the 1988 nominee for president:

Poor George. He can't help it - he was born with a silver foot in his mouth.

Just five paragraphs later in that speech she spoke longingly of the kind of leaders who helped the country through tough times in the past.

I'm really glad that our young people missed the Depression and missed the great Big War. But I do regret that they missed the leaders that I knew, leaders who told us when things were tough, and that we’d have to sacrifice, and that these difficulties might last for a while.

I wonder if she, or any other Democrats, see the irony in that statement and their treatment of H.W.'s son, President George W. Bush?

Probably not. Here's another line from Richards' in the same speech.

I think one of the saving graces of Democrats is that we are candid. We talk straight talk. We tell people what we think. And that tradition and those values live today in Michael Dukakis from Massachusetts.

Just to keep the record straight, for those straight-talking Democrats, here's some excerpts from President George W. Bush's address to the nation on the fifth anniversary of our Sept. 11 wake-up call. I see lots of straight talk and leadership here.

The war against this enemy is more than a military conflict. It is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century, and the calling of our generation. Our nation is being tested in a way that we have not been since the start of the Cold War.
. . .
America did not ask for this war, and every American wishes it were over. So do I. But the war is not over -- and it will not be over until either we or the extremists emerge victorious. If we do not defeat these enemies now, we will leave our children to face a Middle East overrun by terrorist states and radical dictators armed with nuclear weapons. We are in a war that will set the course for this new century -- and determine the destiny of millions across the world.
. . .
Osama bin Laden and other terrorists are still in hiding. Our message to them is clear: No matter how long it takes, America will find you, and we will bring you to justice.
. . .
Five years after 9/11, our enemies have not succeeded in launching another attack on our soil, but they've not been idle. Al Qaeda and those inspired by its hateful ideology have carried out terrorist attacks in more than two dozen nations. And just last month, they were foiled in a plot to blow up passenger planes headed for the United States. They remain determined to attack America and kill our citizens -- and we are determined to stop them. We'll continue to give the men and women who protect us every resource and legal authority they need to do their jobs.
. . .
We are now in the early hours of this struggle between tyranny and freedom.
. . .
With our help, the people of the Middle East are now stepping forward to claim their freedom.
. . .
Across the broader Middle East, the extremists are fighting to prevent such a future. Yet America has confronted evil before, and we have defeated it -- sometimes at the cost of thousands of good men in a single battle. When Franklin Roosevelt vowed to defeat two enemies across two oceans, he could not have foreseen D-Day and Iwo Jima -- but he would not have been surprised at the outcome. When Harry Truman promised American support for free peoples resisting Soviet aggression, he could not have foreseen the rise of the Berlin Wall -- but he would not have been surprised to see it brought down. Throughout our history, America has seen liberty challenged, and every time, we have seen liberty triumph with sacrifice and determination.
. . .
Dangerous enemies have declared their intention to destroy our way of life. They're not the first to try, and their fate will be the same as those who tried before. Nine-Eleven showed us why. The attacks were meant to bring us to our knees, and they did, but not in the way the terrorists intended. Americans united in prayer, came to the aid of neighbors in need, and resolved that our enemies would not have the last word. The spirit of our people is the source of America's strength. And we go forward with trust in that spirit, confidence in our purpose, and faith in a loving God who made us to be free.

So, why are the Democrats, who supposedly long for straight-talking leaders, taking such pains lately to attack a president during a war?

C.S. Lewis, in "The Abolition of Man," titled a chapter "Men Without Chests" wrote of the "progressive intellectuals of his day.

It is not excess of thought but defect of fertile and generous emotion that marks them out. Their heads are no bigger than the ordinary: it is the atrophy of the chest beneath that makes them seem so.

And all the time—such is the tragi-comedy of our situation—we continue to clamour for those very qualities we are rendering impossible. You can hardly open a periodical without coming across the statement that what our civilization needs is more 'drive', or dynamism, or self-sacrifice, or 'creativity'. In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.

Today's partisan rivalyies aren't new. Nor is the sniping at people of faith and vision beyond mere intellect. It usually comes at a very dangerous time when men without chests reflect on their own lack of faith.