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Just like the GOP, the Democrats are losing it

September 23, 2007 12:35 am

SOMEWHERE, dis- pirited conserva- tives must be smiling.

It was not so long ago that liberals were rejuvenated by chaos in the top ranks of the GOP. Now, however, Republicans can see a light at the end of a self-inflicted political tunnel. It's a distant light, to be sure, but congressional Democrats have stumbled badly in recent weeks, on everything from illegal immigration to Iraq to Hillary Clinton's finances.

It begins with immigration. Despite approval ratings of only 18 percent among the American public, congressional Democrats are once again, Custer-like, pursuing the worst of paths: siding with illegal immigrants who deliberately broke American laws.

Did Democratic leaders learn nothing from the defeat of their last attempt to give amnesty to those who sneak into America? (And yes, the "what are they thinking" award goes equally to President Bush, whose willingness to condone illegal immigration has justly lost him support.)

It's quite simple, really: Americans, overwhelmingly, want our borders protected and basic immigration rules enforced. According to one Rasmussen survey, 66 percent of Americans agree that "it doesn't make sense to debate new immigration laws until we can first control our borders."

In an Orwellian twisting of words, congressional leaders call their latest amnesty effort the DREAM Act, short for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors. In a particularly bitter affront to the military, the measure was slated as an amendment t0 the defense bill-- by no less than Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin, the very Democratic leader who compared American troops to Nazis and the genocidal Khmer Rouge.

That's the kind of irony Democrats don't need.

A companion bill to legalize illegal agricultural workers is also being discussed. The current efforts of the Democratic leadership, then, would altogether legalize 1.3 million illegal immigrants via the DREAM Act, and 1.5 million illegal farm workers--and those people would bring in family members.

It is madness that a sovereign nation is even contemplating rewarding those who cross its borders under the shadow of night--and the insanity must be, as it was before, defeated by a groundswell of outrage and public opposition.

The DREAM Act is a deliberate ignoring of the will of the American people, and the Democratic leadership deserves to be rebuked--not least by the party rank and file for re-enforcing the impression that Democrats aren't serious about border protection.

It doesn't get any better with the appalling recent treatment given Gen. David Petraeus in his recent testimony to Congress on the state of affairs in Iraq. Insulting, disdainful tones from the likes of presidential candidates Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton; the refusal of almost all Democratic leaders to denounce a horrendous ad by MoveOn.org (a prime Democratic funding source) that implied the honorable four-star general is a traitor and liar; and an almost bizarre insistence on retreating from Iraq just as we're seeing signs of progress--it is clear: Leading Democrats do not want to hear, and will not listen to, anything that sounds like American success in Iraq.

To acknowledge success in Iraq is to acknowledge that George W. Bush was at least partially right--and that is something the rabidly anti-Bush crowd cannot do.

But that attitude only bespeaks fanaticism, not leadership. And it certainly does not suggest a party of big ideas.

The woes continue: Consider Hillary Clinton. While the mainstream media has downplayed it to an almost embarrassingly low level, one of her big campaign donors, Norman Hsu, was revealed recently to be a fugitive from the law. Once the spotlight was on, Clinton gave back $850,000 of Hsu money, but questions remain about her ties to the financier: What did she know, and when did she know it?

Hsu has donated to other Democratic candidates as well, and recently worked side by side with Democratic leader Howard Dean.

If this were a Republican candidate--or, say, a Republican senator in a bathroom in Minneapolis--can anyone honestly think it would not be on Page One of every major newspaper across the land, for weeks? Instead, it passed with barely a whisper.

Altogether, this seems a party that has lost its way, as surely as Republicans did before it.

The Democratic Party has no shortage of smart people with good ideas. And yet, Democrats in power have proved to be anything but a solution to the nation's woes.

And that leaves the 2008 picture far more opaque than it was.