Liberals blamed for Democrats' plight

THE WASHINGTON TIMES ^ | December 20, 2004 | Donald Lambro

[Former Military Chick]

Democratic critics of their party's devastating 2004 election losses say that its liberal grass-roots base needs to be fundamentally transformed, if not pulled out by the roots, before the party can win again.

In the continuing soul-searching debate over their party's future, and what needs to be done to halt its decline, no postelection analysis has sparked more uncomfortable political buzz among Democrats than a New Republic magazine critique that calls for blunting the influence wielded by the party's leftist, anti-war wing in its presidential-selection process.

"[John] Kerry was a flawed candidate, but he was not the fundamental problem. The fundamental problem was the party's liberal base," said New Republic editor Peter Beinart in a scathing attack on left-wing activists who oppose President Bush's war on terror.

"The challenge for Democrats today is not to find a different kind of presidential candidate. It is to transform the party at its grass roots so that a different kind of presidential candidate can emerge," Mr. Beinart wrote in the journal's Dec. 13 issue.

In a sobering analysis of the influence the left played, he singled out "Fahrenheit 9/11" filmmaker Michael Moore and the Internet activist group MoveOn.org, whom he compared with the party's Henry Wallace wing in the late 1940s "who saw communists as allies in the fight for domestic and international progress."

A viable Democratic Party majority requires "abandoning the unity-at-all-costs ethos that governed American liberalism in 2004."

"And it requires a sustained battle to wrest the Democratic Party from the heirs of Henry Wallace."

His broadside called on Democrats to stake out an unequivocal military call to arms against terrorism and "Islamist totalitarianism" that he said "threatens the United States and the aspirations of millions across the world."

[Former Military Chick]

Man can the left ever get the act together.

Hey wait, it works for us, so if any lib is reading this, keep yacking.

[Fenris6]

Sssh! Move along Dems. Nothing to see here.

[John Lenin]

I smell a green party in the makings.

[JennysCool]

Misguided as they may have been, the Wallace fans at least had some brains. The current crop of Libs are more the heirs of Country Joe and the Fish.

[Texas_Jarhead]

"Kevin Drum, writing the Political Animal blog on washingtonmonthly.com, said that "compared to fascism and communism, Islamic totalitarianism seems like pretty thin beer to many. It's not fundamentally expansionist, and its power to kill people isn't even remotely in the same league.""

I let out a very audible "what!?" upon reading that "not fundamentally expansionist" part.

[goldstategop]

Peter Beinart and thoughtful liberals have a long uphill road ahead of them. Reclaiming the party from the Michael Moore kooks and MoveOn types is a fight I don't envy. The Democratic Party can either get rid of them or become irrelevant. Which path they choose is up to them.

[goldstategop]

Islam has been expanding its borders for 1400 years. I must have missed the telegraph where it sued for peace with the West. To trust Democrats who don't grasp the extent of the danger facing us is like trusting a reckless teenager with the keys to the family car. A party that is not willing to stand up to post-Communist totalitarianism is not a party that can be trusted to protect our national security in this century.

[expatguy]

Maybe they should just change the name to the "Gay Party" instead of the Democrats.

What else do they stand for anymore?

Universal healthcare and free butt sex.

[Lancey Howard]

I disagree that it is primarily the anti-war sentiment that killed the Democrats in the last election. I think it is more the cumulative effect of decades of conducting a war against traditional American families and their values that has killed the Democrat Party.

[Bullish]

Yeah, kicking out the communists would be a good start. And that definitely includes Hillary.

[elmer fudd]

If the Democrats are going to recover they need to fundamentally realign their party. I would advise them to reemphasize their connection to labor, blacks, Jews and lawyers. That's a coalition with money and power and aside from the trial lawyers it's not that offensive to mainstream America. At the same time they need to avoid all the wacky fringe elements they currently embrace like they were radioactive. Vegans, transexuals, sex workers, communists, etc... are the kiss of death for the Democrats.

They also need to be careful about alligning themselves with "peace" movements or "environmental" movements. These are ideas that do appeal to the public, but their activists are generally anti-American kooks that the public wants nothing to do with.

[bill1952]

Hey, wait a minute Jenn. :^)

Didn't they sing "your love is like a rainbow?"
I liked that song.

What was wrong with Joe & da fish? (I really don't know)

[JennysCool]

I was just picking a '60s hippie-mentor band at random.

[bill1952]

Have to agree with that!

I'm quite sure that they will do a bit of both in, and behind the scenes arm twisting, as well as publicly stiff arming them.

I'm also quite sure that they will manage to convey a wink and nudge to those same actors that they truly do have those same values in their heart of hearts.

And, you know what?

They do.

[Monti Cello]

The problem is that the Dems spent the past year and a half throwing red meat to their rabid dogs, and now they expect doggy to be nice and go back in the cage.

The apocolyptic rhetoric and the elevation of Moore and friends to mainstream Democrat status may have seemed useful at the time. But the whackos now think that the Dems agree with their extremism at least in principle. The Dems have raised their expectations, and now are telling them to stuff it so they (the Dems) can act more Republican. Not sure that's gonna fly.

[gonzo]

"...Islam has been expanding its borders for 1400 years. I must have missed the telegraph where it sued for peace with the West. To trust Democrats who don't grasp the extent of the danger facing us is like trusting a reckless teenager with the keys to the family car. A party that is not willing to stand up to post-Communist totalitarianism is not a party that can be trusted to protect our national security in this century..."

There's an AMEN in here someplace, goldstategop, but I don't know where to put it!

I left one Country many years ago, Canada, and became an American Citizen, after watching Canada degenerate into Socialism, in spite of my best efforts.

I prefer a two-party system, with at least one party being Conservative by nature, and the other party keeping its' head out of its' ass.

The democRATS have reduced themselves to a minority position, and are likely to dissappear, and probably due to the influence of the Dixie-Mafia, run by the klintoon!

We can only hope that this Beautiful Country can out-live those feral-beasts.

Of course, that's just my opinion - I could be right, though..................FRegards

[angkor]

war against traditional American families and their values that has killed the Democrat Party.

Funny, I saw Beinart in a debate with Ann Coulter on C-SPAN about a month or so ago. He didn't mention anything that's in this article. But when he appeared on C-SPAN Washington Journal last week, it seemed to be his utmost and single conviction.

Wouldn't it be a hoot if Ann Coulter got his attention and provided an epiphany of sorts?

Still, he's not quite on the right track. The real problem (as you imply, Lancey) is the left's anti-Americanism on all issues domestic and foreign.

Over on DU they're frantically obsessed with sullying the 2004 vote without a scintilla of evidence beyond that attributable to mere chance or normal human error. Elsewhere, they're still fixated on gay marriage, open borders, gun control, "choice", and other issues that are against the mainstream of American thought. On foreign affairs, they're against any measure other than negotiation and appeasment, unless it's a measure that might be painful for America (e.g., "humanitarian" conflicts, Kyoto). They're just as anxious for America to have a comeuppance as any Parisian leftist.

Supporting the WOT against Islamists is a good start, but the Rats have many other hurdles to jump before returning to America and its ideals.

[Graybeard58]

I smell a green party in the makings.

If the DUmmies are to be believed they are abandoning the dim party in droves already and going "green".

Big if though because they are the same ones who said they would leave the country if Bush won the election. Regretably, they are still here.

[schaketo]

Ralph Nader was RIGHT! We need the Green Party now more than ever. Divide and conquer!

[Matchett-PI]

"Reclaiming the party from the Michael Moore kooks and MoveOn types is a fight I don't envy. The Democratic Party can either get rid of them or become irrelevant."

That means they gotta get rid of Hillary --- she has a history that proves she is one of them. She can run but she can't hide.

Susan Estrich: Hillary Clinton is "absolutely unelectable even if she is nominated by the DemocRATS"

Hillary Clinton "Lying History":