The College Democrats’ recent column displayed serious distortions of facts­—just what author Mike Jones had accused the political right of doing.

Although Rush Limbaugh isn’t the most rational man in the universe, it is a gross misrepresentation to say he “proclaimed the reason for the loss was that the Republican Congress had taken the country too far left.” Limbaugh faulted the GOP, not for taking the country too far left, but for betraying conservatism. True conservatism, as he said, is not entitlements, corruption, and big government. The GOP has obviously strayed from these principles lately—an understatement—and has lost votes from its conservative base because of it.

In turn, many of these votes have gone to a new breed of socially conservative-striped Democrats riding on a wave of populism. The column’s description of Senator-elect Jon Tester of Montana demonstrated a glaring omission of facts. Besides the laundry-list of liberal positions it claims, Tester is a self-described fiscal conservative, a strong advocate of Second Amendment rights who voted repeatedly to protect the right to bear arms in the Montana Senate. It makes sense to me that Tester—who gave his eight-year-old son a gun—is a bit more conservative than the average Democrat.

It’s funny though, Tester isn’t even close to being the poster boy for the more conservative Democrats that claimed victory in the election. That award would probably go to Democratic Senator-elect Bob Casey, who defeated Republican incumbent Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania. Casey strongly supports the Second Amendment, the Patriot Act, death penalty, and Defense of Marriage Amendment, opposes abortion and embryonic stem cell research, believes Roe v. Wade should be overturned, doesn’t think we should have a timeline or deadline for getting out of Iraq, and thinks it’s O.K. to post the Ten Commandments in government buildings. How’s that for a conservative Democrat? I also saw no mention of Democrat Heath Shuler, who will soon join the House as a pro-life, pro-gun, anti-tax Evangelical Christian. And what about Democratic Senator-elect Jim Webb? He was President Reagan’s Secretary for the Navy, supports Second Amendment rights, is critical of affirmative action, he opposed former President Clinton, and praised the Confederate battle flag.

It may not be right to say the Democrats only won by running as “conservative” candidates, but it is pure ignorance to say that many of the newly elected Democrats aren’t of a more conservative breed. In this election, the Democrats may have won Congress, but liberalism did not prevail. The College Democrats’ commentary on the recent election in “Straight from the Ass’s Mouth” didn’t come from the mouth, but straight from the other end.

Emily Schultz

STSS ’10