SF Gate: The looming fight for the heart and soul of the Democratic Party

[drumwolf]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/10/10/INGEF94FCU1.DTL

This is a really interesting article in the San Francisco Chronicle about the resurgence of the left and their increasingly vocal presence in the Democratic Party. It suggests that, regardless of whether Kerry or Bush win this coming election, the Left is going to be making itself more and more vocal and assertive in the near future.

It also talks about how many on the Left are doing exactly what I've said they should be doing, which is building the movement from the ground up for the long term and not focusing exclusively on short-term electoral victories.

Fights over a political party's future are common after the party loses a big election. But John Kerry figures to face a fight over control of the party from fellow Democrats even if he beats George W. Bush on Nov. 2. Influential figures on the party's left wing are planning a long-term campaign to move the Democrats to the left, just as right-wing activists took over the Republican Party and moved it to the right over the past 30 years.

<snip>

Ironically, the left's strategy is consciously modeled on the campaign that right-wing activists mounted to take over the Republican Party, explained Robert Borosage, the director of the Campaign for America's Future, at the "What We Stand For" conference.

Beginning in 1964, said Borosage, after conservative Republican Barry Goldwater's landslide loss to Democrat Lyndon Johnson, key right-wing figures decided to rebuild the conservative movement from the ground up. They recognized the importance of thinking big, planning long-term and building enduring institutions. Thus they went on to invest in think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and grassroots organizations like the Christian Coalition.

Soon, the combination of Reagan's charisma and the right's continued activism -- and especially its subsequent creation of a right-wing media infrastructure dominated by Fox News and Rush Limbaugh -- had shifted the entire nation's political center of gravity to the right, in ways that remain obvious today.

[drumwolf]

1. kick

[kentuck]

2. The looming fight for the soul of the Republican Party....

If they lose? It is about the loser of the election. The Party that wins is in much better condition than the one that loses...

[DinahMoeHum]

4. Methinks the GOP will crash and burn faster than you think. . .

Check out this story:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0410.wallace-wells.html

Have fun!


:kick:

[drumwolf]

6. Thanks for the link

I've thought for some time now that Bush is turning out to be for the GOP what Jimmy Carter was to the Dems -- an unpopular president with a troubled administration that marked the end of his party's dominance.

And the article didn't mean to imply that the Dems would be in disarray after the election. Hertsgaard's point is that, whether we win or lose this election, either way the Howard Dean/"Democratic wing of the Democratic Party" contingent is going to assert its presence in the party and butt heads with the centrist DLC elements.

[IrateCitizen]

3. Good article -- Hertsgaard is an insightful author.

I don't really have too much to add to this. Thanks for the find.

[Q]

5. It's a natural evolution for the 'party of the people' to move left...

...to counter the GOP's move to the far right.

- GOPers fear this more than anything because it will show a CLEAR CHOICE between parties.

- And really...when we talk about moving to the left...it's nothing more that the party moving BACK to where we began: the party of workers, environment, minorities and yes...the poor and disenfranchised.

[T Town Jake]

7. First things first - let's win this thing then sort the rest out...

...starting Nov. 3rd. Let's stay focused for the next 20 days.

[IrateCitizen]

8. Ummm... did you actually READ the article???

That's essentially what the article was talking about. The piece profiled the vast numbers of "leftist Democrats" that have gotten involved in this election, supporting Kerry. And the overall train-of-thought seems to be that we work like hell to get Kerry elected, celebrate the night of 11/2 when he is elected, and then begin working to reform the party on 11/3.

[T Town Jake]

9. Ummmm...yes I did. Did you read my post? It reflected...

...exactly what the article said in a summarized fashion. Exactly. Methinks you're so eager to get a flame-fest going that you're trying to find criticism on my part where none exists.
You have an apt DU user name, BTW.