Posted on 11/29/2005 3:27:20 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
WASHINGTON - OK, so now what?
If after last year's election you asked a Democrat how they would like to see the next 12 months unfold for the Bush administration, it would have looked a lot like the way things actually went. Oh, they wouldn't have wished for a national disaster like hurricane Katrina or hoped for more deaths in Iraq, but Howard Dean probably had a few dreams of the wheels coming off this administration in the way that they have.
And up until now the Democratic Party has done the cautious and politically smart thing. When your adversary is doing a good job of tripping himself, the last thing you want to do is get in the way. Make no mistake, the fumbling and fighting going on in the GOP isn't going to be over anytime soon. If the president's approval numbers stay down (and there aren't a lot of good signs on the horizon), Republicans are going to be having debates about their party's future through 2008.
But eventually, the Democrats have to be the party of something more than "we're not them." They have to decide what it is they believe. And the questions are much deeper than whether they voted for or against invading Iraq or No Child Left Behind.
The questions go to the core of the party. What does it mean to be a Democrat?
Does it mean you're for some government intervention on social issues, just not as much as you used to be for, but still more than other guys? Does it mean you're for tax cuts, or for balanced budgets or, the always popular, both at the same time? What does being a Democrat mean in terms of education and healthcare and the Patriot Act?
These issues are suddenly of some importance as the 2006 midterms approach. Some inside and outside the party have even suggested Democrats in the House and Senate follow the example of Newt Gingrich and the Republicans of 1994 and draft a new kind of "Contract with America" - a bulleted list of ideas and initiatives for the public. Such a document would nationalize the elections, the thinking goes, and put the party in place to stand as a unified body against a weak president.
There are, however, at least two good reasons for the party not to take a page from the book of Newt.
First, beyond speaking in platitudes ("we're for free ice cream and balanced budgets") it's hard to imagine what said document would exactly contain. The various factions sitting along the left/right continuum of the party simply haven't fought it out yet on some of those questions above.
Second, it's not clear how a bland document of happy-talk would change the dynamic of this election. The truth is that the Congress and particularly the House in 1994 were very different animals from the way they are today. Yes, the Republicans took back control for the first time in 60 years, but a number of the seats they took were already swinging toward the GOP - many in those districts had voted for the Republican in the presidential elections but still returned their Democratic representatives to Congress.
The electorate is more stable now in the days of red and blue America, thanks in part to congressional redistricting that has limited the number of truly contested and contestable seats. In other words there are some true "purple" districts out there, but not many. Political handicappers figure the number to be somewhere around 30 to 40 - that's less than 10 percent of all the House seats, and remember some of those are held by Democrats currently.
If the electorate is so angry with President Bush that voters want to punish the congressional members of his party, they will do so with or without a "Contract."
None of which, of course, answers the question about what the Democrats should do now.
The truth is there is no easy answer. The party has to do what any party does in the situation it is in. It's various factions have to begin proposing ideas (something they need to begin doing) and let those policies and plans battle it out for control. Unified fronts arise from presidential campaigns, not off-year elections.
For the Democrats to get out of their confused state in the long run, they need to be sure their next unified front has something more to offer than it has in the past - a list of proposals and positions meant to pacify constituent groups with little in the way of an organizing theme. Somewhere in all the policies put forward there has to be a cohesive idea of the party's identity.
That's not easy, of course, but it's also not the kind of thing a party discovers through the crafting of a campaign document.
• Dante Chinni writes a twice monthly political column for the Monitor.
Noooooo. Of course they wouldn't.
Who says this president is weak? The Media? The Democrats?
This is what they've got - bupkis!
***For the Democrats to get out of their confused state in the long run, they need to be sure their next unified front has something more to offer than it has in the past - a list of proposals and positions meant to pacify constituent groups with little in the way of an organizing theme. Somewhere in all the policies put forward there has to be a cohesive idea of the party's identity. ***
Unfortunately, if you look at the substance of the whole, the dems have been working extremely hard to get this exact outcome. Shaping it, manufacturing it, scheming for it. Funding it, and coercing it. This is not simply setting back and letting your opponent fall. Other than the Mier's nomination, this has all been opera courtesy of the MSM and the Democratic Party and its owners (MoveOn and Company)
Fear not. Kerry has a plan.
Well, not all Democrats are discovering that. Perhaps not even most Democrats think clearly enough to know what an abomination their party has become. The few that do see it clearly are not far from becoming Republicans
The Republican's problems have been manufactured by a hostile press and are cosmetic. The Democrat's problems are fundamental. No amount of happy talk can paper over their failure to produce any viable ideas for solving problems.
Good synopsis.
Very profound observation.
As the internet and talk radio slowly kill the MSM, then the "host organism" will die as well.
I've heard that one before.
Ha!
But the msm will tell you they're not biased.
No one believes them.
As long as democrats keep backing Saddam Hussein over President Bush, Americans will continue electing Republicans.
"For the Democrats to get out of their confused state in the long run, they need to be sure their next unified front has something more to offer than it has in the past - a list of proposals and positions meant to pacify constituent groups with little in the way of an organizing theme. Somewhere in all the policies put forward there has to be a cohesive idea of the party's identity."
- If they did that their list would look like this...
CURRENT COMMUNIST GOALS
1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.
2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.
3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament [by] the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.
4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.
5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.
6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.
7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.
8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.
9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.
10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.
11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)
12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.
13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.
14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.
15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.
16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.
17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.
18. Gain control of all student newspapers.
19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.
20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.
21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."
24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."
28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."
29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.
30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.
32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.
33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.
34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.
36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.
37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.
38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand [or treat].
39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.
40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.
41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.
42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use ["]united force["] to solve economic, political or social problems.
43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.
44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.
45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction [over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction] over nations and individuals alike.
The Conservatives/ Republicans still "DO NOT GET IT" and it looks as if they never will..................................Are you listening to the garbage that you are spewing? The conservative base is strong and well organized. We have a president that is giving us what we demand ( slowly, but it is happening ) we are getting immigration reform, tort reform, bankrupcy reform, conservative constitutionalist judges on the supreme court. Let me tell ya something, pal WE GOT IT!!! and it just continues to happen. Ignore the MSM (most of them are on the verge of bankrupcy anyway)and watch us roll. And, welcome to free republic.
I have to disagree. Yes, the media is hostile, but with a more effective communications team, Bush could have easily squelched media attacks. but they are largely AWOL from the fight. The root of the problem is that the GOP has gone wobbly. Government is bigger, Spending is out of control, and GOP seems to favor the fetal position when it comes to a fight. It essentially takes a mutiny of the conservative base to get Bush to respond to anything - from his performance it the first presidential debate, to his communications failures regarding the war in Iraq, to dealing with illegal immigration the Administration and congress the always two or three steps behind the curve. This is not the party of Reagan or Gingrich. The GOP has squandered credibility. Dick Armey has some interesting thoughts on the GOP in today's WSJ. I especially like his comment:
"Make a deal with the devil and you're the junior partner".
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113323286871708780.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
As usual a very good posting by you, thanks.
The dems aren't confused - they're morally bankrupt.
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