Why Nice Guys Finish Last in Politics

bbTo order David Horowitz’s new book, Take No Prisoners, click here.

Reprinted from Washington Times.

Republicans are going to dominate the midterm elections, but it would be a foolish gamble to count on them to win the 2016 presidential contest. Why is that? Democrats are now a party of the left (no more John Kennedys, no more Joe Liebermans). That means they are driven by ideology and not the pragmatic outlook that used to be the two-party norm.

Ideology soon disconnects you from reality, which is why Democrats will lose in November — that’s the downswing. During the upswing, though, ideological passion provides a sense of mission and hope that can win over gullible majorities.

In 2008, when Barack Obama promised to turn back the tides and fundamentally transform America, he took enough of the American people with him to become the 44th president of the United States. It was a baseless, deceptive, empty-headed hope that made him seem the answer to so many unfounded prayers. Mr. Obama was a lifelong anti-American radical and a world-class liar. He was not going to lead Americans into a post-racial bipartisan future as he promised. It has taken years for a majority of the American people to realize that.

Republicans will win the midterms because six years of radical policies have brought this country low — the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression; the worst unemployment and greatest expansion of people on the dole; an ongoing disaster to the health care system; the destruction of America’s borders; and a global power vacuum deliberately created by a leftist commander in chief, which has been filled by the greatest threat to American security since the onset of the Cold War.

Accordingly, in this election cycle the American people are fed up, and they’re going to turn out the party responsible. That is just this round, though, and there are two years until the next one — a lifetime, politically speaking. Mr. Obama is not an aberration, but a culmination of what has been happening to the Democratic Party during the last four decades. If Mr. Obama is prepared to lie to conceal his real agenda, so is the leadership of the Democratic Party. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a longtime advocate for America’s retreat, has suddenly emerged as a hawk on the Islamic State, as has Hillary Clinton, who presided over America’s catastrophic retreat. While Mr. Obama struggles to make the two sides of his mouth look like one, both Ms. Warren and Mrs. Clinton rush to disassociate themselves from his cowardly retreats. You can expect the Democrats to reposition themselves on many other fronts as well.

Going into the 2016 election, you can count on Republicans to stay “positive,” to emphasize policy, and above all, not to hit the Democrats where it hurts. You can also count on Democrats to do just the opposite. Because they always do.

Mike Tyson once said, “Everyone has a game plan until you punch them in the mouth.” Democrats have a massive punch in the mouth for Republicans, and it’s always the same punch. Republicans are painted as racists, sexists, homophobes, anti-poor people, selfish and uncaring. Note that this is a moral indictment. It defames the character of Republicans like the corporate predator and dog-abuser Mitt Romney.

The only answer to an attack like this is to attack Democrats with an equally potent indictment of their moral character. For example, Democrats are actually the party of racists — supporters of the lynch mob in Ferguson, Mo.; controllers of America’s inner cities; enemies of poor black and Hispanic children trapped in the public schools they control; and so forth. No Republican to my knowledge has ever called Democrats racists, yet the latter send their own kids to private schools while denying children who are poor, black and Hispanic the right to do so. How racist is that? Al Sharpton is the president’s chief adviser on race. Republicans will never lay a glove on him for these obscenities.

I have just published a book, “Take No Prisoners: The Battle Plan for Defeating the Left,” using these principles. I’m not holding my breath that any Republicans will listen, though. They are too intent on telling positive “stories,” proposing workable policies and pretending that people will give them a fair hearing despite the fact that their opposition is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to portray them as racists, women haters and enemies of the poor. How difficult is it to understand this: If you are perceived by voters as racist or even just selfish and uncaring, they are not going to have the same interest in your policy advice, as Mr. Romney found out in 2012.

Here is what Republicans need to understand to win: Politics is a street war, and there are no referees to maintain the rules — and the ones that infrequently pop up (such as CNN’s Candy Crowley during one of the last presidential debates) are there to bury you. Attack your opponents before they attack you. Attack them with a moral indictment; if well-executed, it will win the day.

And remember that even if you fail to do this to them, they will certainly do it to you. You can count on that.

*

Don’t miss David Horowitz discussing The Black Book of the American Left in The Glazov Gang’s two-part video series below:

Part I:

Part II:

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  • http://fontofliberty.blogspot.com/ Rarian Rakista

    “Politics is a street war, and there are no referees to maintain the rules”

    Oh look, another right winger with a dog whistle for violence against liberals, single mothers, immigrants and anyone else he deems other.

    I hope you are on a No Fly List you hateful loon. Go join ISIS, they understand your mentality. America doesn’t need you.

    • JB Ziggy Zoggy

      Read the entire article instead of just the summation, trolltard. Horowitz didn’t advocate violence against anybody, and correctly pointed out that Democrat policies are racist and harmful to minorities. And the last time I checked, lefties were the ones allied with the death cult of islam. YOU join ISIS, assuming you haven’t done it already. We wont have to wait for the Airforce or Navy to bomb you into the afterlife. Your ISIS allies will feature you in a new beheading video. That would be the first beheading video I want to see. They wont care that you’re already an Abu Sayyaf terrorist, because that’s the wrong kind of islam, and the Arabs hate Filipinos.

      • http://fontofliberty.blogspot.com/ Rarian Rakista

        Lol, I’ve never read anything so indicative of dementia in all my life.

        Seek help grandpa.

        • nomoretraitors

          Yeah, because it has too many 2-syllables word, stupid scrotumheaded maggot

          • http://fontofliberty.blogspot.com/ Rarian Rakista

            Wat? Lol…

            Oh man, these right wingers are hilarious. Almost as much fun as feeding Xtians to lions.

          • nomoretraitors

            Can’t spell. Must be the product of a union-controlled public school.
            ISIS hates Christians too, so you’d be right at home with them. So run along to your fellow goat herders, d*uchetard

          • http://fontofliberty.blogspot.com/ Rarian Rakista

            ISIS and the Tea Party are best friends forever.

          • nomoretraitors

            There are people who can help you with your tea party obsession. They’re called psychiatrists

          • MukeNecca

            stupid scrotumheaded maggot

            LOL and LOL, again.

        • JB Ziggy Zoggy

          You lied about this article and its writer, trolltard. And you call me demented? Your debating skills are non existent. You must be a brainwashed college student.

          • http://fontofliberty.blogspot.com/ Rarian Rakista

            You don’t have a thought process, your brain is a Mad Libs of right wing talking points.

            Seek help or keep of your comedy routine, I’m laughing at you out of pity.

          • JB Ziggy Zoggy

            If you’re just going to sling insults instead of trying to defend your lies, you should learn some better insults. Or you could just use your real photo for your avatar. That would insult everybody who saw it.

      • nomoretraitors

        Don’t waste your time trying to talk sense to this Soros whore

    • Trappedincalifornia

      Immigrants or do you mean Illegals? Illegals are invaders & should be firmly repelled.

      • http://fontofliberty.blogspot.com/ Rarian Rakista

        Tea Partiers are traitors and should be hung.

        • crossbow87

          Thank you for proving Horowitz’s Aryan….

        • nomoretraitors

          Go f yourself, occutrash

        • iluvisrael

          how tolerant of you – typical leftist hypocrite

        • JB Ziggy Zoggy

          Tea partiers should be hung? We are hung, pee wee.

    • nomoretraitors

      Go hump a camel, libturd. They understand your mentality.

      • http://fontofliberty.blogspot.com/ Rarian Rakista

        Ah, the brilliant riposte of the RWNJ or as most people call it, Jr. High School mentality writ obese.

        • nomoretraitors

          Doubt you made it out of junior high, nose slime

          • http://fontofliberty.blogspot.com/ Rarian Rakista

            It is the right wing who are anti-intellectual, you really need to learn how to stay on topic.

          • JB Ziggy Zoggy

            You haven’t made a single point, moron. Leftwing policies have failed st every level and in every respect. American society and our standard of living is getting worse each year. America is weaker, dumber, less successful and crasser than ever, and Obama has accelerated our degeneration.

            You’re a perfect example. Even the stupidest kids would get a better education if our educational system weren’t so incompetent and destructive. You haven’t even attempted to explain why you think leftism is more effective than conservatism or why you fancy that lefties are intelligent. Not surprising because the pernicious effects of leftism are plain to see and you prove your stupidity with every post.

            Stop drinking the bong water, trolltard. Your juvenile trolling is counter productive. You harm the leftwing agenda with every idiotic comment you make.

        • JB Ziggy Zoggy

          The Republicans are highly likely to win the senate this November. That will give you at least two years to throw hissy fits on conservative websites.

          • http://fontofliberty.blogspot.com/ Rarian Rakista

            I’m not mad, I’m laughing at you.

    • nomoretraitors

      2 questions:
      1. What is the name of the whore you gave you birth?
      2. What is the name of the pimp who raped her?

      • http://fontofliberty.blogspot.com/ Rarian Rakista

        Daw, look at the common right wing bigot trying to make a point.

        I bet you are a divorced dad and your children no longer even call for Xmas.

        • nomoretraitors

          Stupid pagan. Too lazy to spell out CHRISTMAS

          • http://fontofliberty.blogspot.com/ Rarian Rakista

            Stupid right winger, doesn’t know Greek.

          • Drakken

            Well obviously you do take it Greek, you lefty’s really are amusing in special sort of way.

        • JB Ziggy Zoggy

          A leftist with daddy issues. How unusual.

  • rsilverm

    I think Horowits is probably right…

  • truebearing

    Republicans are like a country at war that keeps sending its planes into enemy territory to bomb, but always forgets to first take out the enemy’s anti-aircraft batteries. Worse, the Republicans have no anti-aircraft defense of their own. And worse yet, they raise billions and thenhand their money to the media batteries that are shooting them down.

  • JB Ziggy Zoggy

    David Horowitz is right: attack them first, and make it personal by attacking their morality. It’s not like any Republican candidate will have to lie to prove the Dems and their policies are immoral and racist. Keep them on the defensive with non stop attacks so they cant counter attack without sounding like hypocrites and children. They’ll be forced to say “no I’m not, you are!”

    I’ll go one further and say to attack their physical appearance and habits. Hire professional comedians to write funny insults. Mockery is extremely powerful. People naturally join in when somebody is being mocked, especially when it’s funny. It’s basic human psychology.

    • dwpittelli

      The “war on women” is a tired and mostly dishonest trope, but any attack on Hillary’s appearance would of course backfire by giving the Democrats something real on that front.

      • 1Indioviejo1

        How about just bringing up her record as a serial rape enabler for her hubby? It shows she is no defender of women.

        • dwpittelli

          Few Americans are prepared to believe that Bill is a rapist, let alone that Hillary was responsible for his sexual activities. One has to hit her on something that is her doing, or a misdeed that benefited her, not Bill. People remember that Ms. Clinton was Secretary of State, and they know that our foreign policy is a mess. But most have forgotten her disgraceful exit from the White House, when everyone who was paying attention noticed that both Clintons are personally corrupt. Her husband bought her Senate seat in part with the pardons of 16 Puerto Rican terrorists, as well as of Hasidic community leaders who had embezzled $30 million from the U.S. government. Other Bill Clinton pardons just happened to have been preceded by $100,000 and $200,000 payments to BOTH of Ms. Clinton’s brothers; and $100,000 to Ms. Clinton’s Senate campaign and a million dollars to the Democratic party
          came from Marc Rich, a man who, far from having paid his debt to society, had fled to and stayed in Europe prior to his unprecedented pardon. (But don’t worry, Eric Holder was cool with it.) Either both Clintons are crooks, or they are the most blind and unlucky White House inhabitants ever, who couldn’t stop themselves from being surrounded by crooks. Either way, they belong nowhere near the levers of power. I suspect that a majority of Americans will see this by 2016, but of course, you can’t beat somebody with nobody.

      • JB Ziggy Zoggy

        I don’t know. Describing her as fat and lazy could work. Men can be fat and lazy too, so she couldn’t spin it as sexist against a skilked opponent. And people are usually biased against ugly people, especially when they’re ugly on the inside too.

  • GlendaFun

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    PlayStation Gold Wireless Stereo Headset – Black

    http://smarturl.it/GoldHeadset6

  • wildjew

    David, yet again you disappoint. You did not internalize why Mitt Romney failed to beat Barack Obama. Same held true for John McCain. You wrote: ”

    “Republicans are painted as racists, sexists, homophobes, anti-poor people, selfish and uncaring. (Democrats will spend) hundreds of millions of dollars to portray them as racists, women haters and enemies of the poor. How difficult is it to understand this: If you are perceived by voters as racist or even just selfish and uncaring, they are not going to have the same interest in your policy advice, as Mr. Romney found out in 2012….”

    Read Kate Obenshain’s “Divider in Chief: The Fraud of Hope and Change.” None of these slanders worked for Obama and the Democrats against Mitt Romney. During much of 2012 Romney was leading slightly in the polls or at least it was a dead heat. Mitt Romney was expected to win in November. Obenshain observed “the war on women” meme wasn’t working. Voters were not buying it. Where Romney slipped was on foreign policy / national security – as you mentioned in your piece, Obama’s Achilles Heel.

    You wrote: “…six years of radical policies have brought this country low…a global power vacuum deliberately created by a leftist commander in chief, which has been filled by the greatest threat to American security since the onset of the Cold War.”

    Huffington Post rightly observed after the third and final debate: “There may be a presidential election around the corner, but voters won’t have two competing foreign policies to choose from at the ballot box, at least among the major parties. If Monday night’s debate proved anything, it showed that when it comes to drone strikes, the war in Afghanistan, relations with Pakistan, the INTERVENTION IN LIBYA (emphasis mine), support for Israel or for “crippling sanctions” on Iran, there is little difference between the two parties.

    “I know that Mitt Romney tried to offer his endorsement of virtually everything President Obama did,” said Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki (Note Psaki is spokesperson for the United States Department of State and a former spokesperson for U.S. President Barack Obama.) “We accept his endorsement.”

    “Presidential Debate: Obama, Romney Agree On Foreign Policy”

    Why did Romney essentially agree with Obama on foreign policy? Because we nominated an apologist for Islam and a champion of the Palestinian cause, like George W. Bush and John McCain. We nominated the guy Karl Rove and other cultivators of Muslim Brotherhood in the Bush White House wanted us to nominate.

    • Jobethian

      Exactly right. Plus, Mitt was OLD (65 in 2012). John McCain was OLD (72 in 2008). Bob Dole was OLD (73 in 1996). All nice guys and ALL losers. Why can’t we have a candidate that is not OLD? Let the OLD guys run things behind the scenes if they must. Our candidate should not be over 60 if they want to win a national election. George W. Bush was 54 when he won in 2000. See a pattern here? I do.

      • wildjew

        Thanks. For me, age is not a factor.

  • http://disqus.com/ Orde Miller

    9/17/14 6:50 AM
    Tea Party hacker “Pastor Steve” in Reading, PA probably launching denial of service attacks against Microsoft download and NYT website.

    Where does hacker “Pastor Steve” in Reading, PA get his instructions from?
    Ask Mormon Bishop Romney about the Mormon hacking ring with almost carte blanc on Mormon owned/edited “news” Disqus comment sites cnnnewsdotcom, abcnewsdotcom, thehilldotcom, politicodotcom, and others.

    Reward offered for arrest and conviction of Tea Party hacker “Pastor Steve” in Reading PA & his probable Mormon hacking ring accomplices.

  • 1Indioviejo1

    This is exactly the greatest frustration the Republican ‘base’ has about the RINO’s. They shy away from the fight, they overlook the obvious, and this is why the consistently fail. We are hopping to have a high caliber fighter like Sen. Ted Cruz, but for him and for us it is an uphill battle. Another fighter who could win is Col Allen who goes for the jugular. Let’s see how the next election shapes up.

  • onecornpone

    Republicans remind me of the pallid teacher’s pets, who sat scowling, miserable while us “rowdy” kids played with abandon. They could never join the fun because they could not accept that we weren’t following the “rules” to the letter.

    Someone needs to convince the (R) elite inner circle that politics doesn’t necessarily function under Marquis of Queensberry rules.

    Fact is, too many of the (R) hierarchy are trained in the legal profession. Law school cleanses them of their natural, God-given instant judgement reflex, rendering them hopeless rule abiders and compromisers.

    The Republican Party’s leadership is akin to a closed club, whereas the Dems will unapologetically offer the floor to anyone, even the rabble rousers who delight in fighting dirty. They cycle through the spotlight, spew their garbage and fall off the radar for months or years.

    The (R)s tend to select a small cadre of messengers, train them in their current spiel and back them long past their effective sehlf-life. Take Lame McJohn the war-monger for instance… Seriously – WHO listens to that poor ole clown? Why does he still get the call to speak publicly on behalf of congressional Republicans? It is quite the mystery.

  • nomoretraitors

    The GOP makes the same mistake with Democrats that the left makes with Islamic jihad: They both believe they can negotiate with the other side

  • ADM64

    Ronald Reagan won the Cold War by, amongst other things, challenging the morality, and thus the very legitimacy of the communist system. Alas, in domestic policy, while making some major changes, he was unable to achieve similar success because all too often, he did not do the same thing with the domestic left. If Republicans want to win, it’s as Mr. Horowitz says: they must attack the morality and legitimacy of the left, portraying them as the fundamentally anti-American movement that they are.

  • Race_Dissident

    Horowitz is absolutely right; the Democrats are racists. He errs, however, in describing them as anti-black and Hispanic racists. In fact, they are anti-white racists. But as unlikely as it is that the Republicans will grow a brain and a spine and call the Dems out for anti-minority racism, it is all the more unthinkable that they will indict them for their anti-white racism. And that is because anti-white racism is the new master narrative of America, both of Leftist Democrats and of its ostensibly conservative Republicans.

  • herb benty

    Basicly, “Father knows Best” types must become Rambo types. And it is just barely an overstatement.

    • Drakken

      There it is Herb, right on the money!

  • Jack5678

    The system is rigged much deeper than all that. True, the Republicans are the “Stupid Party”, who couldn’t fight their way out of a paper bag. But Obama was and is willing to blatantly lie in order to deceive people into electing him. He’s perhaps the most colossal and skilled liar in political history. That’s why they picked him. His whole past is fabricated. In addition, there is massive voter fraud that we have only seen the tip of the iceberg of and massive illegal immigration that was specifically set up to subvert our elections and the will of the people. Besides that, of course, the Media acted as a 24 / 7 attack machine for the democrats. Remember the first debate, where the old guy was honest and allowed Romney time to actually make his points? And everyone was shocked that Obama lost badly. The same would have happened in all the debates if Romney had taken David’s advice and went for the democratic jugular and if the “debates” were real and not rigged. The “moderators” ask stupid, canned, irrelevant questions, which always make the Republicans look bad. “So, Governor Romney, how would you work to heal the Republicans inherent racism?” Like, “When did you stop beating your wife?”

  • Ghost Writer

    I have a question. Why do authors, or perhaps their publishers, promote a book by saying the book is “A New York Times Bestseller”? Why not just say it is a bestseller. Especially since an author, like David Horowitz, may find the New York Times to be a paper that lacks credibility.

  • onecornpone

    The Left may be the primary enemy, but the elusive white RINO is no less a threat to our liberty.

    Our problem is that we are fighting wars on three fronts simultaneously. The Left, the RINO elitist, and the mainstream media.

    When the Left tires of playing the race card on us, the great white RINO picks up the narrative battering us half to death.

    As a political force, We the People lack discipline and focus. Most anyone under 50 years old seems to think this exceptional experiment in individual freedom should be able to run on autopilot.

    Can you imagine Rand Paul going ruthless?
    Ted Cruz?
    Rick Perry?
    Jebbie Bushkins?
    Who else?

    A great many of us were quite ruthless in our criticism of the Current Occupant… What happened? How did he get a second term? I would have bet you my house he wouldn’t.

    • Galtness

      Glad’ja didn’t bet the farm on it =-O ;-) :-P

      • onecornpone

        LoL,,, As you know I am a gambler by nature, but I would never risk my occupation on such a tenuous proposition.

  • makleleox

    Conservatives emphasize me of the pallid instructor’s animals, who sat scowling, unpleasant while us “rowdy” children performed with give up. They could never be a part of the fun because they could not agree to that we were not following the “rules” to the correspondence. Dukan Diät Plan

  • onecornpone

    …why is that?

    Because David is not Billy the Bomber Ayers or Van the Commie Jones. In fact you answered your own question with the statement… “David Horowitz…refused to toe the line”. Actually David finally stumbled onto the “line” he would not cross. The others have not.

    On lawyers… Being trained to believe that there is no right or wrong, just different points of view – and that even a guilty man deserves to be represented as if he were innocent, clouds most lawyers sense pf judgement in unrelated areas, turning them into holier-than-thou arrogant axwholes who would rather concede than fight. I have had to hold a knife to the back of a few of the compromising jerks in my dealings. Turn your back on them for a second and you have an agreement that is completely unsatisfactory to both parties and a big bill in the mail. What a racket!

  • Pericles

    In the 1960′s, while America was fighting a war in Vietnam against communist aggression, there was another war going on in the United States. It was also a war of aggression, aggression of leftist, communist, radicals against the founding principles and values of this nation.

    Who resisted their onslaughts? Who challenged their propaganda and ideology? Who recognized that this movement was a cancerous tumor that would ultimately metastasize into Barack Insane Obama?

    Yet, given the anti-American agenda of the 60′s radicals, so much of which has been realized since then, Republicans have, and continue to not comprehend the existential threat the Democrats pose to this nation’s survival (with few exceptions).

    You’re a fool if you allow your opponent to take off their gloves while you keep yours on just before a boxing match. Most Republicans are fools, sorry to say!

  • Sharps Rifle

    Great article and great ideas, Dave!

  • gbyrneg50

    I think that conservatives everywhere go too far in “slash and burn” economically and lose whatever support that they have. Surely there is a need to cut back on some government expenditure but one can move too far ahead of public opinion. Change has to occur slowly so that people don’t find it too burdensome. We live in an era of massive government expenditure which is wrong but which can’t be changed quickly. Conservatives believe in a balanced budget which fundamentally is right. But many voters think that governments don’t have to pay their bills or that they can print money to pay them. These ideas are wrong but getting back to a balanced budget might be a decade long process of steady contraction of government. Gradually people are forced to stand on their own two feet and pay their way. Gradually the economy improves.

  • lostlegends

    Stay in Europe and rot. You are a self-destructive, stupid and morally vacuous idiot.