Democrats...We are a minority party in representation but not in participation.
And, unfortunately, rushing headlong deeper into the minority pit. It may well be that this time next year, democrats will not even have the votes to keep a senate fillibuster going.
Republicans have squandered their party to fear, pandered to hate and prostituted their principles to the highest bidder.
Again, unfortunately, I don't see this. The hate I see is comming from the "hate bush" democrats, trying to pander to seniors fear over the drug bill and selling their soul to foreign interests in raising campaign money ( Canadians for dean and other wonderful such tactics and yes I know they've shut down but WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?). And don't think the country didn't notice the democrats voting to allow illegal (lets stress that -- illegal) aliens to have a drivers license (!!!!) to pander to the hispanic vote.
This election is a clear referendum on American policy, both here at home and abroad.
Not abroad -- abroad has nothing to do with our elections. I know its fashionable to think we're all a global village but we're not. We are a government that's elected by our citizens, not frenchmen, not germans, not canadians. Pander to the "abroad" community and we'll really see how deep that minority pit can go.
As for the referendum, 2/3rds of American people support the war in Iraq and 80% believe it's made us safer and probably more now that lybia has capitulated. The democrat's strategy of becomming the anti-war party will not play well in the next election and while I get the sense that many people on this forum are hoping and praying for another domestic terrorist attack so they can say "I told you so", being the anti-war party when this country is under attack is even worse than being the anti-war party when 2/3rds of American's support our present actions.
So yes, the election is a clear referendum on American Policy and it's my belief that the Democrats are going to get smacked pretty hard.
The last three years has seen an unprecedented assault on basic American institutions. Meicare has been gutted. Social Security has been targeted for privitization. Environmental safeguards have been overturned or sidestepped. International agreements have been abandoned. Basic constitutional rights for American citizens have been diminished or denied. Anti trust laws have been circumvented to accomodate corporate monopolies. Foriegn policy has become a corporate/national security enigma.
Yes and none of this will play well during the next election because it will all be overshadowed by the war on terror and the economy, and really since the number one concern of American's is dealing with the terrorist threat to this nation, the economy will have to tank REALLY hard to become an issue (which all indications say it will not, quite the oposite in fact).
Medicare will continue to function and will function with a drug card and the promise of drug coverage at the next election, any problems with it are future unrealized problems so it's a non-issue until something actually breaks. Ditto for social security. Seniors have been ooga boogaed about social security not being there for them since it was founded to the point where they won't be concerned about anything until their checks stop coming or are less than they were before.
American's don't care squat about international agreements, the vast majority of American's would very much like to see the UN dismantled, aren't overy thrilled with nafta, and probably give a small prayer of thanks every time they pay their winter heating bill that the kyoto protocols failed (and btw you can thank france for the kyoto failure, it wasn't the US that broke it). But the only big agreement we actually broke was the anti-ballistic missle treaty and American's really strongly support missle shields (even if they are imperfect) so there's no political points there. And big business has long since taken over the world, we're all pretty resigned to it.
Yes I know you can argue how the world will end on each and every point, but politically they're non-issues for the reasons I mentioned.
Democrats, across the spectrum, have presented alternatives to these policies. Each candidate running for the Democratic ticket has a response to the Republican agenda. More importantly, each candidate has a Democratic agenda for the country.
But the Democrats don't have an agenda for the important issue. I've watched dean bash the Iraq war but not once has he come up with an alternative. Nor will he say how he'd address the proliferation of WMD in the arab states or the rampant anti-americanism and terrorism being fostered by those same arab states. You do know, do you not, that palestinian textbooks from kindergarten to high-school preach hatred of YOU -- yes YOU, not just jews, and but of the entire west and America in particular, the same is true of syria, egypt, saudi arabia, and formerly of Iraq and Afghanistan.
It's not enough to say "the war in Iraq was a mistake" you've got to say how YOU would make the world safer. But the democrates aren't and that's a REAL problem come election day.
I'm a yellow dog democrat but right now I'd vote for a yellow dog before I'd vote for anyone save Leiberman who is the only candidate that actually seems to not drive me into a blind rage over statements that are tantamount to treason and comfort to our enemies in a time of war (yes war, there are people over in Iraq putting their lives on the line every single day and one of them is my Cousin) and it sure isn't patriotic to be saying that they're wrong to be over there and it was a mistake to be over there.
Unfortunately Leiberman isn't going to win the democratic party nomination as the party moves so far to the left its driving its conservative core to the republicans out of total disgust.
So don't plan any big parties next year. It's not going to happen because the Dems do not have a message that's going to play.
Which is bad for the dems and bad for America.
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