[.cnI redruM]

The Democrats have devolved to being nothing more than the Id Party. They organize themselves around satisfying short-term needs, in order to boost their own popularity.

[cajungirl]

Did Jackson really say that about Clinton??? I am amazed. As usual Jonah is great, he gets it, good head on his shoulders.

[Gerish]

Not only short-term needs, but they are "poll" readers who constantly change their views to the consensus of the latest poll numbers. Truly a culture-of-death party!

[katana]

John Edwards should embrace Satan and start drinking heavily

He's probably already done the former and, based on today's GDP figures, he and all the other democrats will start the latter sometime this afternoon.

[Imal]

"Collapse" may seem a bit wishful or extreme in describing today's Democratic Party, but even the most skeptical assessment of the past several decades must acknowledge that the party has probably seen its best days come and go.

[Gritty]

BTTT

[Helms]

Its a hard thought to handle, but Bill Clinton may in fact be a high functioning sociopath/psychopath and hence was the First Psychopath in Chief of the US.

[randog]

I think the democrats will devolve into an entity similar to a labor union. They will represent those that depend on government checks -- government workers, welfare recipients, etc. The frightening thing is that there will be plenty of citizens in those situations that will be more than happy to vote money from your wallet to theirs.

[Southack]

Trumpeting each American death in Iraq is no way to build up the Democratic Party.

Failing to have and present their own plan for Iraq is again, no way to build up the Democratic Party.

...And that's the thing; for none of their criticisms against Bush do the Democrats propose their own solution.

Sure, they can criticise and find a bad angle to everything that Bush does, but what solutions do the Democrats offer?

Consider the California recall. Neither Davis nor Bustamante offered a single plan, program, or potential change that they would make if they were in office instead of Schwarzenegger. Without a plan of their own, they both lost to Arnold (who not only proposed a plan, but brought in the best advisory team in decades).

Likewise, the Democrats lost their redistricting battle in Texas because they again failed to present to the public an acceptable plan of their own.

Ditto for the $87 Billion Iraq/Afghanistan funding.

And the same pattern was evident in 2000 as well as in the 2002 mid-term elections.

Democrats have become predictable. Everyone, and I mean everyone, realizes that the Democrats are going to criticise, and no one, and I mean no one, thinks that the Democrats are going to offer their own positive solution.

[RightOnline]

Great piece. I think what we're really seeing is the official unveiling before the general public's eyes of what the Democratic Party has really been for some time now: little more than a coalition of extreme special interests. These candidates are pandering to those core constituencies to pursue the nomination for their Party.........and that's why this time is always so revealing: you see what these idiots really stand for (or should I say.........don't stand for).

[Becki]

Dean is consistent — and consistently wrong — in that his position has always been "if Bush is for it, I'm against it."

Dean.

The Anit-Bush.

Becki

[Zeppo]

Kerry: I won't pay you to fix my car until you have a plan. Mechanic: Um, I do have a plan: You pay me. I replace the engine I just took out. Your car works. That's the plan. Kerry:How can you say you have a plan? Look at the terrible shape my car is in. It's worse than before; there isn't even an engine. Mechanic: You're an idiot.

While reading some of his recent articles, I've had the impression that Goldberg was keeping his stiletto sheathed, but that zinger is priceless.

[Onelifetogive]

The only place where I think Beinart is wrong in his column is in his overzealous effort to be bipartisan in his criticisms. He asserts that Republicans opposed nation building in Haiti simply out of anti-Clinton pique. No doubt such animus played a role. But many conservatives simply did not believe that nation building in Haiti was anything more than what Charles Krauthammer calls "foreign policy as social work."

I think an even bigger point is being missed here...

"Who directs an effort is critical to the success of that effort."

It is like saying: "Republicans are hypocrites because they wouldn't allow a 12 year old to perform brain surgery, but now they want a brain surgeon to do the surgery.

There are things I opposed Bill Clinton doing that I would support W doing. That is not hypocrisy, it is common-sense.

[Flashman_at_the_charge]

If the United States were to "bring the boys home" now, Iraq would implode, America would be seen as not merely a bully (which is not always bad, but rarely good) but also a bully with a glass jaw — which, as every thinking person must understand, would be an invitation to disaster of precisely the sort that left the World Trade Center in ruins.

Nails it.

[PogySailor]

Great article.

IMHO, the Democrats have become nothing but a party of whiners. They offer no reason to vote FOR them to anyone other that the hardest partisans. I fully realized this during the 2002 FL governors race when the McBride campaign was nothing more than a "I'm not Jeb" platform.

[Phantom Lord]

Self Bump

[SerpentDove]

[Charlie OK]

Dean is consistent — and consistently wrong — in that his position has always been "if Bush is for it, I'm against it."

Good for him. My position is that if the Democrats are for something, I am against it.

[bray]

Not to mention this is the WORST economy since "Woodrow" clinton! Note to Commrade Dean: Hate and tax increases may work for your Raticals, but the rest of the country likes GW and Tax Cuts! Enjoy the landslide!

Pray for GW and The Truth