Liberals take humor, conservatives take high road

By Dan Sandiford
Collegian Staff
March 28, 2007

Those conservatives really are a drab crowd. The constant talk of supply side economics and family values aren’t exactly the types of conversations that you are going to be having to yuck it up with your pals over a nice cold Natural Light.

Last week, Collegian editor Sam Fran Scavuzzo pointed out the lack of humor on the right (“Conservatives should go back to comedy drawing board,” p. 9). He certainly makes some excellent points in regards to the weak attempt at humor by the FOX News Channel with The Half Hour News Hour. Despite this program being a half hour, it truly felt like an eternity. Score one for the left on humor points.

I also had the pleasure of attending the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) this past month; I was in the live audience for Ann Coulter’s now famous faux pas about presidential candidate John Edwards. Someone really should remind Coulter to watch her P’s and Q’s in public. It’s really unacceptable to make outlandish and offensive comments (unless, of course, you are the senior senator for Delaware; after all, liberals, being the most open minded people out there, are allowed to make any statements they desire).

Scavuzzo goes on to point out the flaws of the Web site Conservapedia, a truly influential media outlet for the 10 people that use it.

Perhaps, Scavuzzo is right when it comes to the conservatives being jokeless. The liberals really do have all the punch lines, but perhaps the greatest joke they have right now is the Democratic majority in the House and Senate.

This 110th Congress came to power due to the low approval ratings of the president. They were not elected because they had a solid plan or a contract with America.

We can take a look back at the past few months and see the lack of accomplishments that this Congress has on record. Many of the liberals proudly voted for Democrats in the last election have been disappointed that Congress hasn’t completely pulled our troops out of Iraq immediately. The Democrats have done an excellent job of wasting taxpayer dollars trying to pass non-binding resolutions on Iraq.

Many Democrats also seem to be very interested in repealing the Bush tax cuts. The tax cuts have led to an unprecedented period of growth, very low unemployment and percentage home ownership at all time highs. These are not signs of a poor economy, and, furthermore, these tax cuts have increased the flow of money into the markets and have allowed for this nation to prosper over the past few years since the 2001 recession.

The current budget, submitted by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), puts forth a plan that assumes there will be a $400 billion revenue jump over the next five years. Where do they expect to get this money?

House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), has repeatedly expressed interest in letting the Bush tax cuts expire in 2010. With current Democrat leadership, a tax hike is in store for the American people.

This Democratic Congress has also been excellent at political grandstanding. Senate Democrats have been all over Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for firing eight United States attorneys. These attorneys are political appointees who can be hired and fired at will by the executive branch. The Clinton Administration fired all 93 United States attorneys when he took office in 1993, regardless of what their job performance was. There is no evidence that anything illegal has taken place, nor is there evidence of ethical misconduct. Senate Democrats are demanding a resignation before an investigation has even been completed.

Perhaps we can go into unionizing the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) that Democrats on Capital Hill supported. Unionizing the TSA airport screeners is detrimental to our national security. If there is an imminent security threat facing flights around the country, the government would have to negotiate with a union in order to adjust where screeners are placed. This is inefficient and bad policy.

If you want political grandstanding, detrimental economic policies and an overall ineffective Congress, there are always those hilarious guys on the left side of the aisle. If you want economic policy that works, common sense security policies and plans that will advance the American dream, there always are us plain old conservatives.

sandifordd1@lasalle.edu