Last year’s presidential election should have signaled the end of the Democratic Party as it has been known since the 1960s. If Democrats were politically savvy it would have been. 2004 was a referendum on the party’s direction and it was given a brisk smack in the face.
However, they still refuse to listen. Democrats should have learned the key to winning elections is winning the moderates (which is what most Americans identify themselves as). Instead, they have chosen to continue their downward spiral into left-wing political obscurity.
The most obvious sign of this political suicide was the election of former presidential candidate Howard Dean to head the party.
Choosing a guy whom most Americans consider a far-left liberal was flat-out stupid.
A couple of weeks ago, Dean showed his lack of political tact by saying, and yes, this is a real quote, “I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for.”
Maybe it’s just me, but telling the 52 percentile that voted for Bush that you hate the values they voted for is not the best way to woo back voters.
Even if a lot of his base agrees with him, he should be worried about the lost millions in the middle.
For example, in foreign policy Democrats are unapologetically two-headed. Conservative pundits are right to point out President Bush’s policy is more akin with that of John F. Kennedy and Harry Truman than modern Democrats would ever admit.
Some act like Kennedy’s name is being befouled and his legacy disrespected by the parallels drawn between the two men. However, it’s the truth! Some Democrats just don’t want to admit that today’s party is different from Kennedy’s. No doubt this denial is due to the belief that he’s the grandfather of the modern Democratic Party.
For the past couple of years, leading Democrats have shown their opportunistic colors by painting Bush as a warmonger. They then turn around to criticize Bush for playing favoritism and leaving oppressed people in Saudi Arabia and North Korea to suffer.
Well, which is it? Should we be isolationists and let tyrants thrive, or should we have invaded Pyongyang instead of Baghdad?
Speaking out of both sides of their mouths is hypocritical and a huge turn-off to moderates.
Likewise, Senator Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., refusing to acknowledge progress in Iraq is out of touch with average Americans. He declared the Iraqi elections a failure three days before they occurred simply because he disagreed with the invasion.
Yeah Teddy, we all know you keep trying to portray it as the second Vietnam, but couldn’t you at least show some common sense and wait until an event is over before prophesying failure?
He and party members like him offer bad publicity, especially when things are looking up in Iraq. They sound more committed to President Bush’s failures than the success of our troops.