Political Grandstanding Quotes



During the Iraq War, some Republicans claimed that Democrats who opposed the war were unpatriotic. This was very effective politically, with a number of Democrats opposing the war or military appropriations losing their seats, It turned out that almost all the Republicans who made those claims had never served in the military and like the leading war proponent Vice President Cheney had avoided the draft in the Vietnam war by getting deferments or like the President Bush of participating in the National Guard. Most of the opponents who the claimed were unpatriotic did serve in the military and fought in combat for their country. Several were wounded and Max Cleland lost three of his limbs in Vietnam. Most of them, like Kerry, were decorated war heroes. The Republicans who had fought in the military did not make such accusations even though they supported the war. Kerry finally became frustrated and revealed the non military history of the attackers.


He had invited Ted Kennedy to also give a presentation at the library, and this was part of the introduction. The President rarely “jumped” on anyone, but he was referring to the common practice of his fellow Republicans of using Kennedy as the villain in fundraising and partisan attacks.


This practice to try and derail bills they objected to emanated from the hyperpartisanship of the time. The conservative base of voters so opposed the legislation that they would not punish and not vote for a member of Congress for deliberately lying as long as the lies contributed to the conservative political ideology. Some of the members had this as a justification for lying in this way: “These provisions are exactly what the Democrats would add as an amendment or by regulations if they could. It is important that the voters know that they will do if the legislation passes and realize that they people who support this terrible legislation really desire to socialize the American Economy.” Often, they would base their judgment about what the Democrats wanted by taking a single statement made by someone at the extreme left and claim that that was Democratic party thinking. The tactic worked in a number of cases, but not with Dodd-Frank which passed despite a Republican filibuster in the Senate. Some of the extreme liberals in Congress then started to use the techniques in the House of Representatives where they were in the minority.