Dead Souls Democrats

Young as I was, I remember when JFK was elected. My parents were very proud he was our first Irish Catholic president. And I remember when he died. I was in grade school. The nuns told us the president had been shot, and we knelt down on the floor beside our desks and prayed. That's the only time I ever remember doing that. Then we heard the church bell tolling and we knew he was dead.

Maybe I knew it then, maybe I read and heard some of what he had said when I was older. One phrase that sticks with me is of course, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country". The other is, "We will fight any foe, bear any burden in defense of freedom". Those are from memory. Here is the full quote, from Kennedy's inaugural address, at the height of the Cold War:

We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans - born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage - and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

The address drew to a close with these words:

In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shank from this responsibility - I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavour will light our country and all who serve it -- and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.

And so now we face a new world, a new threat. And are led in Congress now by Democrats. They offer resolutions to bleed our troops slowly. And they smile and smile.

They lean forward. Not to support our troops...but...grasping... ask what your country can do for you. Fighting for...power. They are the Dead Souls Democrats.

UPDATE: WaPo,via RCP has a story on the 11 Republican turncoats in the House joining in. Here's the list. Matthew Continetti, Weekly Standard, calls them the MoveOn Republicans. Shameful. Meanwhile the surge starts, "meeting little resistance" in Baghdad despite the AP headline, and that skunk Sadr has fled to Iran.


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