Radicalizing the Democrats


Watching the party self-destruct because the extremists are calling the shots
Rick Karlgaard has part of it right.

Democrats will never win as a "screw them" party. In U.S. politics, the party that captures the moral high ground and frames the debate in optimistic terms generally wins. The Roosevelt, Truman and J.F.K. coalition did exactly that. Clinton's eight-year-interregnum of optimism succeeded against the fatigue of Bush 41 and the cynicism of Dole … never mind that Bush and Dole were war heroes and honorable men, and Clinton was a rascal. Clintonism's best apostle was never Clinton; it is Tony Blair.

But to the Kos crowd, Clintonism, the DLC, Tony Blair and the whole tradition of Truman-J.F.K. strong defense and democratic intervention is one big sellout -- Republican lite.

I want alternatives.

What does it say about us when the least bad choice in 2000 and 2004 was George W. Bush? When the central theme of the 2008 election may well be "anyone but Hillary?"

Don't tell me that we have to pull out of Iraq yesterday, tell me what you are going to do to defang the Islamists that we helped create.

Don't tell me about global warming when you are seeking to stifle debate on the science.

Don't tell me about the problems of illegal immigration when you want to turn those illegals into a voting block.

Don't tell me about Social Security when you keep skipping over the funding and you want to prevent private sector alternatives.

And don't tell me that "Bush lied" when Democrat leaders were saying the same things in 1998 and when we have found WMDs in Iraq.

Tell me what you are for instead of what you are against.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Tue - June 27, 2006 at 04:51 PM  Tag


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