I hasten to add this was posted in the 'Houston Chronicle'. :wow:
Democrats the Party of 'Normal Americans'
By Froma Harrop
DAVENPORT, Iowa -- One of Newt Gingrich's favorite verbal firebombs was calling Democrats "the enemies of normal Americans." We will ignore the nasty code contained in the former GOP House speaker's remark. But suffice it to say, Democrats used to spend much time catering to narrow interest groups at the expense of the middle-class masses.
That was then, and then is clearly not now.
Democrats have emerged as champions of horse sense and competent governance. And they're on the offensive, accusing Republicans of downright weirdness in their fiscal recklessness and seeming obsession with the interests of the richest few.
Nowhere was this turning of tables more evident than at a recent AARP forum on health care and economic security held in this scenic city on the Mississippi River. Smack in the middle of Middle America, five Democratic presidential hopefuls ridiculed the Republican leadership and promised to put ordinary Americans back on Washington's agenda.
They made no specifically racial appeals or references to sexual matters. Iraq was only briefly discussed -- mostly in terms of what the money spent on that unnecessary war could have bought at home. And the Democrats' audience went well beyond Iowa caucus voters. Iowa is a battleground state. A third of the electorate here identifies as independents, and they've been strongly trending Democratic.
The candidates jumped on the outrages against working folk that were allowed to flourish in the Bush era. Delaware Sen. Joe Biden suggested a way for government to protect private pensions. Citing American Airlines' decision to "wipe out" its workers' pensions while giving top executives $100 million in bonuses, Biden proposed: "I'd change the bankruptcy code to say, hey, look, you go ahead and take away a pension, you lose all those benefits, you, the CEOs, are going to have. ... You'll change their minds quickly."
more...
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/09/democrats_the_party_of_normal.html 
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
