Neal Boortz
Thursday, April 11, 2002

[Not much in the notes today …. Some days there just isn’t enough time ...]

We have another confirmation fight looming in the United States Senate. This time it's over Miguel Estrada, Bush's appointee to the D.C. Court of Appeals.

Estrada is Hispanic. Estrada is also (gasp!) a conservative! The Democrats have made it clear that they are not going to allow a conservative to be placed on the D.C. Court of Appeals.

Chuckie Schumer from New York told the press yesterday that he is just not going to vote for any nominee who is "out of the mainstream."

So … that's how I got to this "out of the mainstream" topic. That phrase is a favorite of the left right now. Their game plan is obviously to fight any nominees who happen to be conservative.

They don't want to say "he's too conservative," though. They know that this would position them as the leftists they are – and that can't be helpful in an election year. So, instead of branding the nominee a conservative, they just say he's "out of the mainstream."

Just remember this. When you hear a Democrat talk about the "mainstream," they're not talking about mainstream America. They're talking about mainstream liberal – mainstream leftist – mainstream Democrat.

From the Democratic playbook … here's how you can tell if you or someone else is "out of the mainstream."

• If you believe in a strict construction of the U.S. Constitution, you're out of the mainstream.

• If you believe in lower taxes and less government, you're out of the mainstream.

• If you believe in your right to self-defense, you're out of the mainstream.

• If you believe in the sovereignty of the individual, you're out of the mainstream.

• If you believe in true equal treatment under the law, you're out of the mainstream.

• If you believe that the government should not discriminate against you due to your race, religion or ethnic background, you're out of the mainstream.

• If you believe in the concept of private property rights, you're out of the mainstream.

• If you don't believe that tax cuts are giveaways to the rich, you're out of the mainstream.

• If you believe that you should be allowed to make your own retirement investment decisions with your own money, you're out of the mainstream.

• If you believe in God, you're out of the mainstream.

• If you believe in defending this nation from a missile attack from some rogue like Saddam Hussein, you're out of the mainstream.

• If you believe that you, not the government, should be allowed to decide what type of artwork you would like to spend your money on, you're out of the mainstream.

The minorities must be kept on the Democratic plantation. Success stories like Miguel Estrada must not be showcased.

Hand Over Your Guns

Georgia Governor Roy Barnes has a homeland security-type bill (SB385) moving through the Georgia Legislature. Various representatives and senators are having a bit of fun attaching amendments promoting some of their personal causes.

I'm told (and I'm trying to verify) that one such amendment has now been added by Democrat Stephanie Stuckey Benfield.

Should the governor declare a public emergency (whatever that might be), this amendment would allow the governor to immediately ban the sale of all firearms to private citizens and it would allow the police to establish roadblocks for the purpose of confiscating any guns that might be carried in private automobiles.

In some areas of the world, Israel, for instance, citizens are quickly learning that the very time they might need a gun is when the safety of the general public is threatened by – say – terrorist activity.

Since day one after the terrorist attacks the anti-Second Amendment crowd has been using the threat of terrorism to push its anti-gun, anti-self-defense agenda. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield is just the latest.

Neal Boortz is the hugely popular nationally syndicated radio host.