A Conservative View of the DNC

Recreate '68. A few protesters descended on Denver this year to relive the radical glory days of the 1968 Democrat convention in Chicago. I didn't live in Chicago then, but in a small town in Wisconsin, and as a young teenager I was a Democrat, raised as one, and a supporter of peace candidate for president Sen. Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota. So what does '68 mean to me? It means barely 10 years later I was a Reagan Republican.

When I look at the antiwar protesters of today who want us to abandon the Iraqi people, just as they are on the verge of building a peaceful new future with the help of our troops, I remember what happened in the 70's when a Democrat Congress cut off funding to Vietnam and scores who had put their trust in us died in the aftermath, there and in the Killing Fields of Cambodia.

Barack Obama's early and longstanding Chicago political ally, domestic terrorist Bill Ayers was one of the '68 radicals who wanted to kill the pigs and trashed the city. A spoiled child of privilege then and now, Ayers today is unrepentant about the bombs that were meant for public servants in the Capitol, but killed his girlfriend instead. On Sept. 11th, 2001 his new book was reviewed in the NY Times. He had no regrets and said we should have bombed more.

When I note all the Chicago politicos who spoke Monday night before Michelle I am reminded of Barack's corrupt moneyman and convicted felon Tony Rezko, just one of many crooked Democrats from this failed state. Oh, and brother can you spare a dime?

When I listen to Nancy Pelosi, who wants to "save the planet", I am reminded of my time as a summer intern for Sen. Gaylord Nelson (D-WI), the founder of Earth Day in 1972, when I thought there was a neat little government solution for every problem, real or imagined. Earth Day was a good idea but environmentalists went way overboard in restrictions on our way of life. We do live in a cleaner, greener USA as we have conserved and improved our technology over the past 30 some years. But unless we want to revert to caves we need to do more--drill here, drill now to relieve the pressure on gas prices caused by no drilling and no refineries for over 30 years. We need to develop not only alternatives but also nuclear energy to ensure our energy independence and national security. I find it hard to forgive Nancy Pelosi for jetting off on her book tour rather than passing an energy bill for Americans. And I applaud the blogger who discovered NASA's errors--global temperatures have actually been cooling the last few years.

When I watched Hillary talk about her achievements last night I never would have thought at the beginning of this campaign that I would feel I shared in them. I don't agree with her at all on policy, but her determination, smarts and sheer guts earned my admiration. It was the best speech of the convention by far. She has come a long way since the disaster of her take over your life health care plan back in Bill's era. I happen to think Sen. John McCain is the visionary on that issue (the WSJ calls him a radical--the kind of radical I can handle:) with a workable reform that gives families affordable, secure and portable health care, not dependent on their job. And I look forward to Sen. Clinton working with President McCain, who has an actual track record of working across the aisle in bipartisan fashion, to achieve a breakthrough on the issue:) Americans could do with some peace of mind about their health.

I look forward to the roll call tonight, and Barack's speech tomorrow. Join us! in St. Paul next week.

--crossposted at BlogHer