Horowitz: 'It's the War, Stupid'

Horowitz: 'It's the War, Stupid'

Chuck Noe, NewsMax.com
Thursday, Nov. 7, 2002

The midterm elections are a historical triumph for President Bush, and Democrats lost big because they stand for nothing and the public suspects their weakness in national security, David Horowitz told NewsMax.com in an exclusive interview Wednesday.

"I think it was a great victory for Republicans and for America,” said Horowitz, author of "How to Beat the Democrats” and "Uncivil Wars: The Controversy over Reparations for Slavery." Revising one of Bill Clinton's slogans, he said, "It’s the war, stupid.”

Tuesday’s results mark a historical shift, Horowitz said.

"Bush is transforming the Republican Party and the American political landscape in that he has shown Republicans how to reveal their softer, more compassionate side while maintaining their conservative core values in fighting the war on terrorism.”

The president "has made Republicans less scary” to independents and moderate Democrats, he said. Election results that surprised him: GOP gubernatorial victories in Georgia, South Carolina and in the heavily Democrat states of Vermont, Rhode Island and Maryland. "Rhode Island absolutely astounded me.”

Those naysayers who falsely prophesied that Bush would hurt the candidates he campaigned for "inadvertantly revealed how popular he is," Horowitz said.

Even as the results trickled in Tuesday night, some pundits speculated that Democrats failed because of their wishy-washy positions and that the party’s hard left would rise. Horowitz agrees.

Party of Nothing

"Democrats in this campaign didn’t stand for anything,” he observed. "Timid” Tom Daschle, the new Senate minority leader, wanted to oppose Bush on Iraq but didn’t have the guts, he said.

The Dems found themselves in an awkward position. They "would have lost even worse” had they opposed the president on Iraq, but Horowitz thinks they might have gained by attacking the GOP tax cuts, "which are a hard sell” to the general public but prized by the party.

Now the Democrat left will surge, and "that will take them to even greater defeat in the future,” Horowitz predicted.

"It’s a left-wing party – people forget that.” Clinton, though a "despicable” person, was "cagey” in forcing his party toward the center and making it electable, Horowitz said. In 2000, Al "Gore lost because he went too far left” and turned off independents and moderates.

How to Win in 2004

Horowitz offered advice on how the GOP could win again in 2004.

"Get a little tougher on the war front,” but be careful. Democrats who pretend to support the president in the war on terrorism will pounce on any error the U.S. makes, he said.

Point out that the Democrats are "the party of appeasement” on North Korea, the Palestinians, the Irish Republican Army and in general. Republicans "haven’t used that word” but should, he said.

To stop rampant Democrat vote fraud, "Republicans have got to develop a better ground war. They have to get more poll watchers.” Democrats steal 2 percent to 3 percent of the vote in a typical election, Horowitz said. He advised that for the sake of this and future elections, John Thune and the Republican Party should challenge the Senate election in South Dakota, in which Democrats registered dead Indians to vote.

Beware Hillary

He predicts President Bush will win re-election in 2004, though "two years is a lifetime in politics.”

Who can the Democrats nominate against him? "I think Gore is the one to beat, and I think Hillary Clinton is the only one who can hold the left and move to the right. She probably has too many negatives, but that never stopped anyone.

"Look out for Hillary,” the author warned.

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Editor's note:
David Horowitz shows "How to Beat the Democrats"