Not One Dime Day? No Thanks

Many Democrats are calling today "Not One Dime Day," in protest of President Bush's inauguration (some are refusing to spend money today as a form of protest), but we think it's nonsense. Bush is the President, and he won with a comfortable margin. Protesting this four years ago made some sense; protesting today is pointless.

We also don't understand the protest over the cost of the inauguration. Yes, there are other causes that would be better served with that money, but you could say the same thing about virtually any big expenditure in this country. Had all of this money come from the Federal Government, we'd be pissed off too. But we think it's fine to do it if they are going to go out and raise the money themselves. Bill Clinton capped contributions to his 1997 inauguration at $100, but that was only because some of the bigger donors had been facing scrutiny for fundraising scandals. Do these protestors really think that John Kerry wouldn't have had a fundraising line out the door for his inauguration? Not likely.

This comes back to a fundamental lesson that activists from both parties need to learn and re-learn: pick your battles. Democrats in Colorado can't complain about Norma Anderson's childish protest of Joan Fitz-Gerald's Senate President nomination (which was a similarly pointless objection) and then turn around and do their own pointless protest of Bush's inauguration. Save your energy for another day.

Comments

[Joe]

I don't really get the fuss over the cost of the inauguration either.

Where the money is coming from is another story. Many of the big private donors stand to reap big benefits from legislation proposed for Bush's second term.

Those reliable lefties at Mother Jones have the details:
http://www.motherjones.com/news/update/2005/01/01_401.html

[James Peabody]

It's a fair question to raise how private donors to an inaugural committee stand to benefit from the policies of an administration. And it's great there are organizations shining a light on the current inauguaral committee and its donors (thanks for the link, Joe), just as was done with past Committees following the same federal rules and regulations in regards to such entities.

However, for Democrats to act like this is a major outrage doesn't pass the smell test. This is especially true since last time we checked, the Democratic Party, its candidates and the 527s associated with the party weren't turning away money from corporate America or special interests looking for access and help with their specific cause or issue. If people don't believe this, just check out recent statements from local Union officials as to what they expect the Democratic Majority in the legislature to do for them. That's the way the game is played, and to pretend otherwise is ridiculous.

We're not advocating you have to pure in politics - that would take all the fun out of it - but we are going to flag hypocritical behavior by either side when we see it.

[Joshua Sharf]

Good post. "Not One Dime Day" is probably being promoted by the same Dems who want to make Kool Aid available on Sunday...