Dean will make GOP the majority party

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | 12/31/03 | DAVID E. JOHNSON

[Pokey78]

Entering 2004, it appears that America is poised to have a defining election that will create a permanent Republican majority.

Democrats appear likely to nominate Howard Dean, rather than someone like Dick Gephardt or Joe Lieberman or Wesley Clark who could present a stronger challenge to President Bush in the general election. In doing so, Democrats are also setting the direction that they want their party to follow -- the extreme left.

Dean has stated again and again that his first objective is to take over the Democratic Party and return it to its roots. In doing so, he will part ways from Democrats such as Bill Clinton and Lieberman, who felt that Democrats need to veer to the center in elections and then govern from the left.

Like another presidential candidate, Barry Goldwater, Dean's first objective is his party's machinery. But unlike Goldwater, Dean is wrong on what the American people want.

From the 1952 election of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Americans have been turning more conservative. Goldwater's ideas were right on target with millions of Americans, but he was shot down by his own misstatements and by liberals in his own party who thought imitating Democrats was the way to victory. The subsequent elections of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush demonstrate the resonance of Goldwater's ideas.

Dean's ideas, on the other hand, are not popular with a majority of the American voters or even a majority of Democrats. But under the arcane nominating rules, Dean will most likely be the Democratic nominee. Sensing this, Al Gore recently rushed to endorse Dean. In doing so, Gore hoped to imitate Nixon. Nixon knew Goldwater would lose in 1964. But Nixon realized that Goldwater's overall philosophy was a winner, so he supported Goldwater wholeheartedly, hoping to inherit his support in 1968 and with that the presidency. Gore believes that the same will happen to him.

But Gore is miscalculating. The country is more conservative and grows more so daily. Gore and Dean are out of touch with a majority of Americans with their support for same-sex marriages. In foreign policy, they resemble Neville Chamberlain more so than Harry Truman. And by backing them, the Democrats are consigning themselves to minority status for the long term.

The 2004 presidential race will be a defining election in American politics, akin to that of Franklin Roosevelt's in 1936 that truly established the Democrats as a majority party.

Key groups that can make up a new Republican majority are forming. Jewish-Americans, long a stalwart of the Democrats, are ready to vote Republican over what they see as not only Dean's but the Democratic Party's abandonment of Israel. Hispanics have also shown, most recently in the California recall, that they will vote Republican.

Finally, Democrats are writing off an entire section of the country -- the South. The Dean nomination will be the final action needed to set off the Republican majority at all levels.

Dean is not a godsend to Republicans; he is the defining moment that Republicans have needed to become the majority party.

--David E. Johnson is the CEO of Strategic Vision LLC, an Atlanta-based public relations and public affairs company.

[Paul Atreides]

that will create a permanent Republican majority.

This sounds like a comment meant to scare liberals into action. Almost nothing in politics is permanent.

[AUH2OY2K]

The Democrats have the Jewish vote locked up. Just listen to the clak-clak-clak at your local mahjong meeting. I guarantee that the Democratic candidate for president, no matter his position on Israel, will receive 80% of the Jewish vote.

[SAJ]

Geez, Kay -- for a moment there, I thought I was the only one that old. (rueful g!) Happy New Year to you and your family and friends!

[tbeatty]

The defining moment will be when the republicans get 60 seats (or close enough) that filibusters are not even possible. The Dems will implode when that happens and they will remake themselves. It will be interesting to see if they follow Europe and become a broken coalition of Greens, Socialists and Labor Unions instead of one party.

[LA Conservative]

Republicans got 40% of the Jewish vote in the October California election, according to Ari Fliescher.

[tbeatty]

Dean is a political whore. He is even more Machiavellian with power than Clinton is. He knows he has to veer to the left to energize Dem base. But as soon as he has the nomination, he will pivot to the center. The press will immeidately seize on this as their hope to beat Bush and we will see Orwellian press coverage on the "centrist candidate Howard Dean". They will "forget" all the crap he is saying now and we will see huge emphasis on how he "governed from the center" in Vermont. You heard it here first but it's not that hard to figure out.

[NormsRevenge]

But Gore is miscalculating. The country is more conservative and grows more so daily. Gore and Dean are out of touch with a majority of Americans with their support for same-sex marriages. In foreign policy, they resemble Neville Chamberlain more so than Harry Truman. And by backing them, the Democrats are consigning themselves to minority status for the long term.

---

They worked hard to make it so,, now let them receive their just reward; a place of ignominy few have achieved so willingly nor so foolishly.

[Welsh Rabbit]

The media is scared. They know the end of liberalism as we know it is guaranteed if Dean gets the nomination.

I'm expecting some major drama from the DNC camp in the very near future. The other dwarves are going to get much more vicious towards Dean. McAwful and the other Clintonites running the DNC clearly don't think much of him. Put this on top of Dean's thin skin and tendency to throw tantrums, and we have the makings of a major meltdown somewhere down the line.

[Welsh Rabbit]

He is even more Machiavellian with power than Clinton is.

He definately has the Machiavellian spirit. I wonder if he has the skills. He's not nearly as smart as Bubba. I'm not sure the press will be able to help him much.

[Consort]

"permanent" is a meaningless word and should be banned permanently.

[Welsh Rabbit]

They REÅLLY printed this in the Atlanta Journal?

I was at my uncle's home in Atlanta for Christmas and asked him where the paper was so I could see what events were going on in the city. He told me he cancelled his subscription in disgust years ago. I'm glad the ACJ isn't getting any money from any members of my family.

[Go Gordon]

Dean is not a godsend to Republicans; he is the defining moment that Republicans have needed to become the majority party.

The Clintons pushed the party to the cliff's edge. Coward Dean will simply push the party over the cliff. For the 2004 elections I'm gonna grab a 30-pack, take a personal day the day after the election, and entertain myself by watching ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and MSNBC - all night long.

[GulliverSwift]

Dean is a political whore. He is even more Machiavellian with power than Clinton is. He knows he has to veer to the left to energize Dem base. But as soon as he has the nomination, he will pivot to the center. The press will immeidately seize on this as their hope to beat Bush and we will see Orwellian press coverage on the "centrist candidate Howard Dean". They will "forget" all the crap he is saying now and we will see huge emphasis on how he "governed from the center" in Vermont. You heard it here first but it's not that hard to figure out.

That will be his m.o. but his insane rantings will stop him and his presstitutes from pulling it off.

[ZOOKER]

I'm watching the media closely.

If they turn on Dean, I take it as a sign the fix is in.

As long as no Dem candidate has a clear majority to win the nomination on the first ballot, the field is open for a newcomer to swoop in and steal it

(for the good of the country, of course)

[GulliverSwift]

There are 2 main things wrong with the article. Nixon never governed as a conservative. He pretended to be one but never was. Most American Jews don't place Israel as their No. 1 priority. And why should they? Most are afraid of (and some hate) Christians and since the Dims are militantly anti-Christian, that will keep most Jewish people voting for the Democrats.

[driftless]

Peters is right that most Americans are more conservative than liberal. That's true here in the Midwest where most of the Dems I know are socially conservative. There's only one probem: most of them hate Republicans and continue to vote for Dems. Whenever there is a party, like the Dems, advocating easy solutions to hard problems, there will be many people looking for the easy way out. That is why there will always be a Dem Party or a variation thereof. Many people refuse to believe that the solutions to their problems lies within themselves and not with "nasty white males, evil corporations, etc".

[Jumper]

As sure as the Sun rises from below the horizon each morning, so too will the press to redress Dean and entice the embittered nominee foes to rally 'round Dean. However, Dean has emphasized booting the Clinton Machine and McDuffie from the party power structure - I have no doubt he is very serious. This should be fun as the Clintons have no intension of allowing anyone from taking the power base they have built in the Democrat Party - yet, the Clinton hold seems only a love affair with the money they generate from donations - most of which stays with the individuals and not the Party War Chest....

[Ann Archy]

I agree....the Clintons are just as angry as Dean, only Bill softens his harshness with that fake smile.....Dean smiles like a snarling dog.

Hillary is as dangeros to our country as Dean...more so because she can cloak it.....be very scared.