Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Democrats - Trying Out a More Soulful Tone
Time Magazine ^ | Feb 7, 2005 | Perry Bacon

Posted on 02/07/2005 9:06:12 AM PST by upchuck

A few days after the Democrats' November defeat, Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings suggested that the party needed a "come to Jesus" moment. His colleagues seem to have taken him literally. Former Indiana Representative Tim Roemer, who is running for chairman of the Democratic Party, could be heard arguing that "Jesus talks more about the concern for the poor" than he talks about gays and abortions. House minority leader Nancy Pelosi said a good place to start off the Social Security debate is to consider "how we honor our fathers and our mothers." Senator Hillary Clinton gave a speech praising faith-based programs and reminded everyone that she is "a praying person."

President George W. Bush won 78% of the vote among the one-quarter of the electorate that is white evangelical Christian, and he took 52% of the Catholic vote, which Al Gore won in 2000. So in the past three months, Democrats have been agonizing over how to reach more religious voters. House Democrats have organized a 20-member faith committee that will design messages that emphasize the moral dimension of Democratic policies. The Democratic National Committee is considering creating a center for religious outreach that would focus on increasing turnout among regular churchgoers, mirroring Republican efforts. The Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, will sponsor events around the country to demonstrate how Democratic policy aligns with faith.

Clinton offered some suggestions along those lines last week when she addressed abortion-rights supporters in Albany, N.Y., marking the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. While affirming her view that women should continue to have the right to choose, Clinton urged Democrats to support measures to reduce the number of abortions - encourage abstinence among the young and force insurers to cover contraceptives - and surprised some by saying the goal was not just making abortions rare but eliminating them altogether. She even sought to get on the right of Bush on the issue by noting that abortions have risen in eight states under his presidency.

Clinton is not a lonely voice in her party. Senate Democrats last week called for increased funding for contraceptives and more education about morning-after pills. But much of the proposed repositioning among the Democrats has more to do with marketing than with changing the party's traditional stands on social issues. Central to the efforts is a linguist, George Lakoff of the University of California, Berkeley. He says Democrats keep losing elections because Republicans have framed moral issues about gay unions, for instance, with clever phrases like "defense of marriage." In discussions with Democrats in Congress, Lakoff and Jim Wallis, a left-leaning evangelical author, have advised officials to talk about how their faith informs their politics, from peace to environmental stewardship to economic justice. Wallis has suggested that when the Bush Administration releases its budget Feb. 7, for example, Democrats argue that it is a "moral document" and, as such, expected cuts in Medicaid funding violate the biblical tenet to support the poor.

The Democrats, Wallis says, need to shed their reputation as the party of "secular fundamentalists" and return to their roots. Liberal ministers like Martin Luther King Jr. led the civil rights movement. The first born-again Christian President was Jimmy Carter, and Bible-quoting Baptist Bill Clinton embraced faith-based initiatives before Bush did. But the party's voice on that front has sometimes been tentative. John Kerry's campaign was worried enough about values to hire a religious-outreach task force but then ignored many of its ideas, including having Kerry speak at an evangelical-Christian college, talk at a religion writers' conference and give a speech about faith early in his campaign. Postelection, some Democrats say they're not sure this faith talk is necessary. "We can't match them, O.K.," political consultant James Carville has said of the Republicans. Other Democrats point out that a majority of Americans are with them on hot-button issues - favoring some restrictions on abortion but no federal ban and supporting some kind of union for gay couples, if not necessarily a federally sanctioned one. But the biggest risk for the party is to come off as insincere. Religious voters might like the music, but they're unlikely to be seduced by it as long as Democrats stick to their core positions.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: lostdems
This article may be available to subscribers only. I posted the entire article so it shouldn't make a difference.

C'mon Hildabeaste, we're waiting on ya!

1 posted on 02/07/2005 9:06:13 AM PST by upchuck
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: upchuck
House Democrats have organized a 20-member faith committee

Yeah, that'll do the trick.

2 posted on 02/07/2005 9:08:24 AM PST by TheBigB (RUMSFELD/ASHCROFT '08! Drive the lefties completely batsh!+!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: upchuck
Former Indiana Representative Tim Roemer, who is running for chairman of the Democratic Party, could be heard arguing that "Jesus talks more about the concern for the poor" than he talks about gays and abortions.

If Roemer decides to go into the ministry, there should be an opening for him at Marble Collegiate.

3 posted on 02/07/2005 9:09:06 AM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: upchuck
Central to the efforts is a linguist, George Lakoff of the University of California, Berkeley. He says Democrats keep losing elections because Republicans have framed moral issues about gay unions, for instance, with clever phrases like "defense of marriage."

A linguist! Yes, it's not that people disagree with the Democrats, it's that they haven't worked out clever phrases to describe the same old policies. Yech.

4 posted on 02/07/2005 9:10:30 AM PST by prion (Yes, as a matter of fact, I AM the spelling police)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: upchuck
"Jesus talks more about the concern for the poor" than he talks about gays and abortions.

He talked more about the poor than he talked about child molestation. So what's the point?

5 posted on 02/07/2005 9:13:26 AM PST by KidGlock (W-1)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Cicero

So they ditch Tim Roemer and are going to nominate Howard Dean, a man whole heartedly hostile to Christianity due to some nuerosis.


6 posted on 02/07/2005 9:14:00 AM PST by KC_Conspirator (This space outsourced to India)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: upchuck

As long as the Dems contribution to our nation's moral climate is a 75% illegitimacy rate in their cities and 40 million dead babies, they will never convince the sincere Christian that they are fit to lead.


7 posted on 02/07/2005 9:14:38 AM PST by kittymyrib
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KidGlock

A few days after the Democrats' November defeat, Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings suggested that the party needed a "come to Jesus" moment>>>>
Geez, these LIBERALS HYPOCRISY KNOWS NO BOUNDS!!!


8 posted on 02/07/2005 9:15:14 AM PST by Jazzman1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: upchuck

In other words, the Dems are learning how to lie while holding the Bible. Slick Willie did that often during impeachment.


9 posted on 02/07/2005 9:19:24 AM PST by Mind-numbed Robot (Not all things that need to be done need to be done by the government.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: upchuck
"House Democrats have organized a 20-member faith committee"

Let me suggest that they invite some like-minded citizens onto this committee; folks who are really in a position to help re-position the dems view of religion.

The name Michael Newdow comes to mind...

10 posted on 02/07/2005 9:20:49 AM PST by RightRules
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: upchuck
The first born-again Christian President was Jimmy Carter,

Huh?

11 posted on 02/07/2005 9:33:57 AM PST by meowmeow (We are all Buckhead!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: upchuck
But much of the proposed repositioning among the Democrats has more to do with marketing than with changing the party's traditional stands on social issues.

That sums up the Rat party quite nicely. In other words they are still the same screaming banshees, they are just trying to hide it with newspeak.

12 posted on 02/07/2005 9:38:34 AM PST by vpintheak (Liberal = The antithesis of Freedom and Patriotism)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: meowmeow
Ike became a born again Christan while he was in the White House.
13 posted on 02/07/2005 9:53:07 AM PST by Coldwater Creek ('We voted like we prayed")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: upchuck
Nothing like losing an election to cause you to get religion. Some how I wonder why I don't think they are sincere. surely they won't as long as the obligatory liberal loud mouth who exists in every office, class room and bar keeps spouting off on the subject.
14 posted on 02/07/2005 10:09:59 AM PST by bilhosty
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: meowmeow

Saint James the Pious, Georgia's Gift to the Presidency, may have distinguished himself by not doing anything illegal during his tenure as C of C and didn't have any extra-marital affairs, but as a Georgian I do tire of Jimmah being held up as this Super Moral Wizard-Prez of the Past. The Bigot Media parades him as such because he didn't embarrass the party like Clintler did and because Jimmah was the closest to a genuinely moral Christian President that the Dems had in some years...
But that doesn't obscure the fact that Carter stood for Socialism-first and foremost- run by the Chosen Better People- and behaved toward Ronald Reagan in some extremely non-Christian ways during the 1980 campaign. For some reason, Carter's vengeful mean-spiritedness has been forgotten....but not by me.


15 posted on 02/07/2005 10:13:38 AM PST by Springfield45 (Hillary Clinton wanted to join the Marines as an officer?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: All

These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.


16 posted on 02/07/2005 10:24:00 AM PST by texan75010 (You lost - MoveOn...to France, or Canada, or New Zealand, or Germany...take your pick.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson