Word from several news outlets today is that Howard Dean is being considered to take Terry McAuliffe's place as head of the Democratic National Committee! The Dems just don't get it! Ultra leftists won't win the Presidency in America. Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton won because they were more centrist than the national party. Until the Democratic Party returns to the days of JFK, HHH, LBJ, RFK and others, they will never win another national election. I have been reading some speeches by and campaign literature of both by Scoop Jackson and RFK. If one didn't know, one would think they were modern day centrist Republicans. Much of what I read echoes quite a bit of President Bush's statements. I propose the Democratic Party divide. Those on the far left--Dean, Hillary, Kerry, Edwards, Teddy, et. al.-- should join the Green Party. Those more towards the center--Bayh, Lieberman, Lincoln, Breaux, Landrieu, Salazar, Clark, Gephart, et. al.-- should take back the party of Jack and Bobby!
I think that would be a blow to the Clintons if McAuliffe were replaced. He's their guy and I assume they're still calling the shots in the party. Maybe not. I agree that they still don't get it. For the past couple of days I've heard the pundits making excuses for the Dems, saying things like they didn't get their message out, or Kerry ran an unorganized campaign, or the Christians are taking over. How 'bout the idea that Bush whipped 'em. That more people in America agree with, feel safer with, and trust W more than anyone the left can run out there. It was a good ol' fashioned ass kickin'.
Listening to the news yesterday I heard that Newsweek will run an article on the Kerry campaign and how Kerry, his wife, and one of his daughters sabotaged the campaign. Accroding to the reporter, Kerry kept changing his mind on strategy. He would listen to his advisors, agree with them, then get on his cell and call numerous others and then change his mind again. According to the reporter, the inner circle of Kerry's staff tried to muzzle Teresa on numerous ocassions, all to no avail. The inner circle felt she was the campaign's worst nightmare. According to the reporter, the picture of one of Kerry's daughter being photographed nearly naked, caused such a commotion in the inner circle that they hired fashion designers which took money from the campaign. According to the reporter, Kerry said, "I cannot believe I am losing to that f****** idiot," when the polls showed Bush ahead by double digits at one point. Word of this got out and some left the campaign. It will be interesting to read the article when it comes out.
If one were to take the popular vote aside, this was still one of the closest races in history. If one looks at Ohio, as it stands right now, Bush won by only 136,000 votes. If Kerry campaigners had only been able to get those younger democratic voters to the polls, things may be a bit different right now. Look at Florida too, Bush won by 300,000 votes--a large margin to be sure, but still that is very close in proportional terms. I think what defeated Kerry in this election is the Democratic party itself and its base. They have no leadership, they allow the Republicans to define who they are, they don't have any direction, and they are the worst organizaers in history. Look at the national numbers of registered Republicans and Democrats. In this country there are 204 million eligible voters (age 18 or older) 63 million registered Democrats 47 million registered Republicans and 32 million registered independents. Factoring in that half of the registered independents will go to each party (More independents usually go with democrats) the Democrats still would outnumber republicans 79 million to 63 million. WHY ON EARTH ARE REPUBLICANS KICKING THE DIRT OUT OF DEMOCRATS? Because none of them bother to vote! Republicans are incredibly organizaed when it comes time to go vote, doing everything in their power to get people to the polls, even if they have to drive them themselves. Democrats are terrible at it, as they have such an individualistic mindset. With numbers like these Gore should have crushed Bush, as well as Kerry. Ergo, to reiterate, its Democrats whom are beating democrats, and republicans should love every democrat they meet--they are winning elections for them.
If only, if only... Well, in politics as in baseball, there's always NEXT time! Besides, as some here have pointed out, even if Senator Kerry won, we'd still be stuck in Iraq, Iran would still be presenting a GENUINE NUCLEAR threat, the economy would still be in the tank... We'd lose Ashcroft, of course, but he looks set to depart anyway! And if they REALLY WANT TO, the Dems in the Senate can block really odious judicial appointees. I dunno. Maybe it's a GOOD thing to have Mr. Bush clean up his own mess. And maybe, just MAYBE, accomplish what he says he set out to do; create a democratic (small "D") Iraq. That would be cause for celebration.
"Creating" democracy... Good posts all.... However, I take some issue with the notion that we can "create" democracy in nations that we either conquer or otherwise control. Democracy is the end result of a lengthy process of socialization and development of a culture of democracy, which started for the US in the 12th Century in a little town in England where the Magna Carta was signed. For us to assume that 8 centuries of development can be canned and packaged, and exported to places like Iraq and Afghanistan is ludicrous at best, and likely to lead to more war and violence, not less. Do I have a solution? Not really. But one thing for sure - we'd better have our eyes wide open when we consider invasions in the future, as well as a willingness to listen to all sides of the debate among our excellent intelligence community with their years of experience, historical perspective, and professional knowledge of regions & peoples. I think this is perhaps Bush's biggest failure - to not listen to the experts, and go it alone with a small group of yes/henchmen egging him on.... Let's hope he has learned to listen as a result of the debates and the closeness of both of his elections...
However, on the other side of the coin, Bush lost Michigan by three points, Minnesota by three points, Pennsylvania by two points, and Wisconsin by one point. A few thousand more votes for the President in all of these states and Bush would have had a landslide victory.
Evidently the report now is that Kerry didn't use the "f" word in this quote but everything else is accurate. We will have to wait for the edition of Newsweek next week to see the actual quotes. One thing I did find interesting that seems to have collaboration is that Kerry offered McCain the V.P. and told McCain if he accepted and if they won, he would also offer the Secretary of Defense position to McCain giving him total control over foreign policy! And Kerry wanted to be the Commander-in-Chief and told America he could handle the job! "I'm John Kerry and I (saluting) reporting for duty." McCain is said to have told Kerry he was crazy and that he didn't think they could get away with it constitutionally. This has been fun. I have been on vacation for some time but come Monday, it's back to work!
Well, we are where we are and I don't really think, despite my OWN hyperinflated rhetoric, that the republic is in danger from the Republican Revolution. I liked what Molly Ivans said in today's column, though. She referred to the power of "God, guns and gays" as political issues. She meant it as a slam against the Republicans but really, the same issues carry the same emotional impact among Democrats as well, just in the opposite direction!
