Opinion: When are Republicans more like Dems than Dems?

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Notes from two debates:

Homeland security? Please. At the GOP candidates’ debate Wednesday in Simi Valley, you could walk in with pretty much anything and no one would know. Cell phones, Blackberries, etc. were not allowed, but guests were on the honor system: You could take out your Personal Digital Assistant and check it, but if you wanted to keep it in your pocket, no one would be the wiser. No ID checks, no pat-downs, no metal detectors. If you’re in Simi Valley -- and the Reagan Library, no less -- you must be OK.

At Thursday’s Democratic debate in Hollywood, forget it. No cell phones, no exceptions. And no place to check them -- what is this, a welfare state where you want the government to solve your problems? And yes, there were metal detectors. And better get that driver’s license out. Democrats may love you, but they don’t trust you.

After the Dems’ debate, by the way, there were plenty of parties -- but by invitation only. You’d better know someone. And if you got to the Kodak Theater too late, sorry, the bar is closed. For the Republicans, it was generous entitlements all around. Come one, come all -- full bar, roast beef, turkey, vegetables (just in case there was a Democrat in the crowd), full dessert array, and individual servings of red, white and blue jelly beans. This is Reagan Country, after all.

Of course, sometimes Republicans are just Republicans. If you wanted to get to the GOP debate by some way other than a car -- well, you can’t. Why don’t you have a car? You could see the hoi polloi with their signs and chants (lots for Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee, and one lone Fred Thompson holdout), but only through your car window. Going to the Kodak on Thursday, car or no car, you had to quite literally rub shoulders with, and push your way through, the chanters, enthusiasts, pamphleteers, conspiracy theorists and activists. Getting in was chaos. No special privileges for members of the City Council, the Assembly, the Senate, who had to elbow their way through the masses along with everyone else, hold their driver’s licenses aloft and plead with the harried people behind the check-in desk to get their paper bracelets.

That’s more like it -- Democrats acting like Democrats, Republicans like Republicans. The world’s order is restored.