Democrats run for themselves, Republicans run for the country

Democrats run for themselves, Republicans run for the country
There is more than simple ideology that distinguishes Democrats from Republicans. Their minds are wired in fundamentally different ways.. We have five former presidents walking the earth today, and their conduct is remarkably different depending upon their party affiliation.
Republicans are represented by Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George Bush the elder. In the other corner, we have Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton as Democratic ex-presidents.
The conduct of Republican ex-presidents is notable for its restraint. Gerald Ford rarely utters a word on policy. Ronald Reagan is unable to express himself anymore, but even before his illness, he kept his opinions to himself. George Bush the elder kept his tongue even as his successor used the bully pulpit to taunt and ridicule him.
Neither Democrat has managed such self-control. Two or three times each week, William Jefferson Blythe Clinton III pontificates on some issue or other that concerns him. In particular, he extols the overlooked accomplishments of his presidency, or how he considers his successor’s election illegitimate, or how he would have done a much better job fighting the war on terror, if only the attack had occurred on his watch.
Lately, his insatiable need to be the center of attention has taken him to the offices of NBC, where he pitched himself as a daytime television talk show host. Now that Clinton has lived up his original dream of emulating John F. Kennedy, both by being president and a serial philanderer, he has set his sights on emulating Maury Pauvich and Jerry Springer.
I can see it now: This week, on the Bill Clinton Show, transgendered construction foremen, and the women who still love to see them with their shirts off. This episode brought to you by Tide, the tough stain remover.
James Carter’s presidential record was one of unalloyed incompetence. America has worked hard to forget him. To overcome this, Carter has worked overtime to keep his name in the news. Sadly, he does it in much the same way that he did as president, by inflating totalitarian dictators.
In 1994 Carter praised the brutal Stalinist dictator of North Korea, Kim Il Sung: "I found him to be vigorous, intelligent, surprisingly well-informed about the technical issues and in charge of the decisions about this country."
Carter was impressed by the economic vibrancy of the North Korean capital, calling Pyongyang a "bustling city." Today, North Koreans eat grass.
Other dictators he has nuzzled include Yugoslavia’s Marshall Tito, and former Romanian strongman Nicolae Ceausescu.
Most recently, he has taken sides with Fidel Castro, touting the Cuban education and health care systems as superior to the United States’. He contradicted US intelligence by declaring that Cuba had no biological weapons laboratories. He cited what was to his mind, an unimpeachable source, Fidel himself. Perhaps Carter wouldn’t think so highly of Castro if someone reminded him that the Cuban tyrant was a tobacco peddler.
If Carter is good for nothing else, he is a constant reminder of the wisdom shown by the American people when they voted him out of office in 1980.
The absence of Democratic self-discipline is not confined to their tongues. They often allow other body parts to run their lives.
While Carter managed to confine his adultery to his heart, Kennedy, Johnson and Clinton tomcatted with reckless abandon. Can anyone remember similar behavior from a Republican president?
Aside from Hillary Clinton’s tactless and unsupported accusation in Vanity Fair magazine back in 1992, that George Bush I committed adultery, there are not even whispers about Republican presidential infidelity.
I think that it’s about priorities. Democrats seem determined to write themselves into the history books. The taping system that eventually tripped up Richard Nixon was originally installed by Lyndon Johnson, who wanted to provide a complete record of his greatness for historians.
With Republicans, it is service to their country that animates them. Reagan and Clinton presided over two of the most robust periods of economic growth in the nation’s history. When good economic news was announced, Clinton never failed to assign himself all the credit. Ronald Reagan never failed to credit the American people for their accomplishments.
Democrats’ interest in their country seems to begin and end with their own entries in the history books.