Tactics and Substance in the 2004 Elections GoogleNews: Howard Dean

June 23, 2004

by V

How shall I destroy the Democratic Party, please?

Kevin Drum and Matthew Yglesias have a strange habit of running into radio host Hugh Hewitt and either having lovely conversations or (in M.Y.'s case) going on his show to be the liberal punching bag for a night.

Every time I see them (or anyone else) discussing or dealing with Hewitt like he's just another political commentator, I'm baffled.

Hewitt's site (which I'm sure you can find if you really want to) has as its motto "Potestas Democraticorum delenda est!" (exclamation point his), which translates to "The Democratic Party must be destroyed!". (Does anyone know what form he thinks this destruction should take? I'm curious.)

Given his clear hostility and stated ultimate goal:
  1. Why does any sane moderate-or-liberal engage with Hewitt? He wants you GONE. Everything else he could possibly say to you should be hard to hear over the din of his eliminationist rhetoric.

    Anyone? I'm serious about this.

  2. Can anyone think of a similarly prominent moderate-or-liberal who has a correspondingly anti-GOP goal? For all the Gillespie-bemoaned 'political hate speech' out there, I can't think of a single example that comes close; not even the Dread Michael Moore.
"He's just joking!" might apply if he just tossed it off as an aside once a month. This is his motto, obscured with Latin though it is.

P.S. It hasn't escaped me that such engagement might be thought of as working to their mutual benefit, since each theoretically grows their audience by doing so - hey, attention is attention! But: it also colors each party with the respectability and reputation of the other, which in this case means Hewitt makes out like a bandit.

Why cooperate with that?
Posted by V at June 23, 2004 01:48 PM
Comments

It does not mean an end to the Democratic party. Translated it means,(the power of the democratic party must be destroyed). Now you may not see a difference, and yes Hugh is clearly right of center and makes no apologies for that. But his meaning is far less insidious than you think. You obviously don't listen to his show. He says himself that he does not wish the party gone, just out of the way until the heavy lifting and the war on terror is over. Then, as he put it, they can get back to all the social programs and entitlements they want. And yes, Mr. Moore does have equal and opposite goals of Mr. Hewitt. As does Mr. Franken, Ms. Streisand,Mr. Soros,Mr. Springstein, Mr. Baldwin, Ms. Garofolo, etc. etc. etc.. Your pal Neon

Posted by: Neon at August 29, 2004 10:38 PM

The "heavy-lifting" and fighting of wars has been carried out by all Americans, not just Republicans. In fact, 2 world wars were won when the president was a Democrat.

Posted by: Fred Gonzales at October 4, 2004 05:40 PM

my observation is Hugh treats democrats and those to his left pretty fairly in interviews...doesn't browbeat them or talk over them as you hear from some other conservative hosts...but as someone said earlier, Hewitt makes no apologies for his own politics

Posted by: nathan paulson at May 5, 2005 11:43 PM

Recommended Reading:

The Politics of Truth: Inside the Lies that Led to War and Betrayed My Wife's CIA Identity: A Diplomat's Memoir
The Politics of Truth... A Diplomat's Memoir


Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush
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Against All Enemies by Richard Clarke
Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror


LIES by Al Franken
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right


The Great Unraveling
The Great Unraveling


The Great Big Book of Tomorrow
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Clinton Wars
The Clinton Wars


Blinded by the Right
Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative


Waging Modern War: Bosnia, Kosovo, and the Future of Combat

Subject to Debate: Sense and Dissents on Women, Politics, and Culture

Living History

The Hunting of the President: The Ten-Year Campaign to Destroy Bill and Hillary Clinton

John Adams

Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation

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