Orson Scott Card Reviews Hugh Hewitt

Orson Scott Card famed author of many Sci-Fi and historical fiction novels has reviewed Hugh Hewitt's latest book "If It's Not Close, They Can't Cheat: Crushing the Democrats in Every Election and Why Your Life Depends on It". He starts the review with the following words:

"Hugh Hewitt has a nationally syndicated radio show that I've never heard. He's an unabashed Republican partisan, and he's written a book"

Let me fill in some missing information. Orson Scott Card is a democrat living currently in Greensboro, NC. He writes a column for a local paper called "Uncle Orson Reviews Everything" this review first aired there. Picking up later on......

..... Still, if that were all this book was about, I wouldn't waste time on it in this column.

However, Hewitt offers something much more important. This book, despite its being partisan and disparaging of Democrats, is absolutely accurate about the way American politics function, and what individual voters can and must do to help influence the outcome.

Even if you're a Democrat so loyal that you think Al Franken is sane enough to operate heavy machinery and John Kerry knows how to make facial expressions but merely chooses not to, this book nails exactly what the strengths and weaknesses of major parties are in coming years; why third-party votes are wasted and harmful; how Democrats have finally succeeded in rigging election funding to benefit them and hurt Republicans, and how Republicans can counter it.

You might be seeing that he is a little disappointed in his party. Moving On....

....Here's the key point he makes, however -- the point his subtitle is all about.

It's not enough, he says, to reelect President Bush if you don't vote for Republicans in every national race -- Senate and House of Representatives.

His warning is especially to conservative purists who would like to throw out proven vote-getters like Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania because he's "too liberal."

Hewitt's point is this: When the Senate organizes itself at the beginning of each session, there's a head count. People line up as Republicans or Democrats. Whoever has the most, gets to appoint the chairpeople of all the committees, and gets to have a majority on all the committees, and gets to set the calendar and decide which bills make it to the floor.

When that count is taken, Arlen Specter is a Republican. You may not like how he votes on abortion or what-all, but when the key decision about legislative power is made, he's one vote on the side of the aisle that can organize a Senate that will advance President Bush's agenda, instead of one that will obstruct him at every turn.

Mr. Card is a moderate Democrat who is fed up with the hijacking of his party. The south is full of Democrats just like him and if his party ever swings back toward the center they could become a national party again. He believes his party is going to need a swift kick in the ass for this to ever happen. Continuing.......

.....Thus Hewitt calls for Americans -- not just Republicans, but all Americans who recognize that only the Republican Party shows the will or the wit to combat our terrorist enemies abroad -- to vote for Republicans all the way up and down the ballot.

Now, as a Democrat, what can I say to that except that, because my party has been taken over by an astonishingly self-destructive bunch of lunatics who are so dazzled by Hollywood that they think their ideas make sense, I have to agree that right now, any President but Bush and any Congress but a Republican-dominated one would be disastrous.

As a Democrat, I would hope that a solid trouncing of our fanatic-ruled party at the polls this November would serve as a wakeup call and remind Democrats that they only get to do the things that the Democrat Party exists to do if they get enough votes to control the White House and Congress. Which requires that you have serious candidates and embrace serious issues that most Americans, not just tiny pressure groups, care about.

And on that day, Democratic moderates can take the party back. And yes, Democratic moderates actually exist. They're all voting for Bush this year, but they'd rather have had a Democratic candidate to vote for.

Orson Scott Card it turns out is an excellent columnist. I am proud to have someone from my community speaking up with such clarity against the Hollywood liberal takeover of the Democratic party. You can read his columns here and here. He concludes this review with:

Read Hewitt's book ... Learn the civics lessons he teaches ... and then make sure you're well-enough informed to make smart decisions in every contest you vote in.

Hugh it looks like your book is a hit across all parties.

Update: Polipundit carried the story about Orson on Kerry but this is the must read for for all of your democrat friends.