American Politics Journal -- Dems More Patriotic Than 'Pubs? Mmm. Yup.

American Politics Journal

Dems More Patriotic Than 'Pubs? Mmm. Yup.
by Steve Young

Feb. 25, 2002 -- LOS ANGELES (APJP) -- Thank God there's a Republican in the White House! Getting behind a Democrat would be so much more difficult.

Why?

Simply stated: Democrats are more patriotic than Republicans.

The polls assessing President Bush's popularity have been hailed as a measure of how good Americans feel about the job George W. has been doing lately. The pundits say his 80-plus approval rating (Gallup; December 86%, January a bit lower) more than five months after September 11 is a sure sign that Americans have come together to support our President and America.

You bet.

But it also shows something that you'd never hear spoken on talk radio: it's because Democrats are more patriotic than Republicans.

In the process of comparing the last pre-Sept. 11 poll, conducted Sept. 7-10, to the most recent poll, Gallup showed that Republican support for Bush climbed just 12 points, from 87% to 99%. Among independents, approval rose 39 points (from 44% to 83%) -- and approval among Democrats increased 51 points (from 27% to 78%).

There are far more Democrats than Republicans. More Americans voted for Al Gore than W. In fact, Bush could not have mustered the numbers he has now without the over 75% of registered Democrats getting behind him.

Would Republicans, buoyed by their talk show deities, have continued to stand behind Bill Clinton or Al Gore under the same circumstances?

I doubt it.

With so many calls thankful that Gore did not win the election, you don't need a poll to know that after a couple weeks and ratings dropping like smart bombs, that there would be plenty of chinks in the support and growing vitriol, personal and otherwise, against Clinton-Gore.

When Clinton had our military bomb a site believed to a bin Laden military site -- and apparently come within mere yards of sending Osama to the place where the guy with the pointy tail holds court -- we didn't hear cheers of "You go, Bill!" Instead, the cry of "Wag The Dog" blared from our radios.

In the war against Al-Qaeda and bin Laden, when friendly fire killed some of our boys, it was a mistake. When innocent Afghanis were killed, it was "collateral damage," and if blame were to be assessed, put it at the feet of the Taliban.

But why does it seem that Republicans are able to wrap themselves in the flag more than Democrats? Because, politically, Republicans are smarter than Democrats.

It all centers itself around who gets to the issue first and Republicans/Conservatives have always left Democrats/Liberals far behind in that race.

"America Love It Or Leave It" during the Vietnam War was not the theme of the Left. If you question America's participation in that war you were against America, no matter how we now know it was a mistake.

For years, Republicans have "owned" the flag. If you are against constitutional amendments to make flag-burning a crime, you were against America.

Republicans have owned religion. If you are against the Ten Commandments being placed in schools and courtroom, you were against God.

And Republicans are louder. The patriotic Vice President Spiro Agnew called Republicans The Silent Majority. They certainly have thrown the mufflers off, haven't they?

In actuality, I believe that ALL Americans are patriotic (except for an occasional John Walker), including Republicans. It's just when the bombs hits the fan, politics seem less important to the Left than the Right.

Steve Young, contributing editor at the WGA's Written By magazine, is a Prism Award winner and a Humanitas Prize nominee for his television writing, and is author of the forthcoming book, "Great Failures Of The Extremely Successful" (Tallfellow Press 2002). He can be reached at theeothersteveyoung@juno.com