Bump to top, and welcome Instapundit readers!

Michael Kinsley, no friend to the GOP, decided to take a look at the suddenly-scarce Nancy Pelosi's plan for governance if and when the Democrats take control of Congress. Kinsley expected a platform of reasonable competence, one he could promote -- apparently in the final hours of the midterm cycle. Instead, he found it to be a rehash of the worst Democratic stereoptypes, full of euphemisms for surrender and a slew of spending initiatives to break the federal budget:

What will a Democratic House of Representatives under Speaker Nancy Pelosi be like? The Republicans have been painting an unattractive portrait of Democrats roasting young children on a spit in the Capitol rotunda and whatnot. Hoping for a more encouraging view, I picked up "A New Direction for America," a 31-page manifesto released to little acclaim by House Democrats in June. By all means, read it. But do me a favor and vote first. ...

Apparently and unfortunately, President Bush is right that the Democrats have no "plan for victory." (Neither does he, of course. Nor, for that matter, do I. But I don't claim to have one. And I didn't start it.) For national security in general, the Democrats' plan is so according-to-type that you cringe with embarrassment: It's mostly about new cash benefits for veterans. Regarding Iraq specifically, the Democrats' plan has two parts. First, they want Iraqis to "assum[e] primary responsibility for securing and governing their country." Then they want "responsible redeployment" (great euphemism) of American forces.

Older readers may recognize this formula. It's Vietnamization—the Nixon-Kissinger plan for extracting us from a previous mistake. But Vietnamization was not a plan for victory. It was a plan for what was called "peace with honor" and is now known as "defeat."

No wonder Pelosi has acted like her picture belongs on a milk carton. When Kinsley says that the Democrats have played to their stereotypes, then their governing plan must truly be a disaster. One has to marvel at the concept that we can achieve national security and win the war on terror by simply bolstering payments to veterans. Don't get me wrong; I believe we have to take care of the men and women who put their lives on the line for our country. That's why the Bush administration has increased spending on veterans' benefits by 56% since 2001. However, expanding veteran programs even further has no real impact on terrorism. Does anyone imagine that Osama bin Laden murdered three thousand Americans and destroyed the World Trade Center because of the plight of the American veteran? Apparently, the Democrats do.

In fact, as Kinsley notes, the Democrats have no plans for anything other than their normal asset redistributions to special-interest groups and selected victim classes. They want small businesses to shoulder the cost of a 50% health-care tax, which they think will solve the health-care crisis. It's more likely to start a small-business crisis as firms collapse under the weight of the new costs. Since the engine of economic growth lies in small businesses and start-ups, the effect will be to start a recession and to drive people into larger corporations for their investments. Instead of building a more robust middle class, the Democrats will remove competition and escalate centralization of economic power.

Also, Kinsley also discovers that for all of the talk about fiscal discipline and responsibility in this election cycle, the Democrats did not specify a single new revenue source for all of their new programs. They rail about the profligate Republicans, in an attempt to convince fiscal conservatives to consider the Democrats as their own "new direction", and talk a lot about "pay as you go" as the principle for budgeting. However, they leave the reader with no clue as to how the Democrats will find the money for all of their giveaways and redistributions ... which means that they have some tax increases that they don't want to mention.

The Democrats offer defeat, retreat, and an economic collapse darned near complete. Even Kinsley can't put a good face on this fiasco. No wonder Nancy Pelosi has been hiding for the last week.

UPDATE: Kinsley's piece also appears in today's Washington Post.

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