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Well, I disagree, to some extent. The Democratic party is capable of producing some reasonable people from time to time (ie. Zell Miller); however, the basic problem is that the left-wing fringe -- which truly is the leadership of the Democratic Party -- won't accomodate reasonable people. You have to be in lock-step with them on every issue (ie. pro-choice, pro-trial lawyer, pro-union, pro-entitlement, pro-medical-industry-takeover, pro-big government, anti-military) or risk being ostracized. The Republican tent is far bigger -- and that tent is represented quite clearly in the wide sprawl of red states criss-crossing this country. Further evidenced by people such as Rudy Guiliani and Arnold Schwarzeneggar who, by all accounts, are pro-choice and favor fetal stem-cell research -- and yet were still allowed to play a major part in the GOP convention. Try imagining the Democratic Party putting up a pro-life speaker at their convention -- and you see in stark terms how small their tent is. And how much it continues to shrink.

As a party, we need to be aware that some issues (such as abortion) will take decades to wring themselves out of the American consciousness before we collectively decide as a nation that those practices are barbaric and should be banned. I think that Bush is very wise to recognize that you can't change a culture overnight. Like civil rights granted to minorities, I have no doubt that people will eventually come to recognize that fundamental rights should be granted to the unborn, as well. But it's awfully difficult to change peoples' hearts when barriers are constantly erected which define "us and them". That's why the GOP must continue to expand its base. I can't count how many of my friends have come over to the GOP in recent years after having experienced an epiphany of faith or a realization that the value-less culture that they once espoused has lost meaning to them. They wanted more -- and they didn't find it in the psuedo-spirituality being sold by the left. So, let's keep our hearts open and win them over a little at a time.