Friday, August 05, 2005

Shhhhhhhh!

What's this? An historically liberal newspaper giving good advice to the Democrats?
Democrats, change your ways - The Boston Globe:

"Democrats continue to fight the last campaign, while Republicans are planning for the next two. While the Democrats are busy bashing Bush -- a second-term president who is not running for anything -- the Republicans are working on their strategy for victory in 2006 and 2008. Ken Mehlman, the Republican National Committee chairman, continues the GOP outreach to Latino and African-American voters. Dividing up the Democratic base and conquering even a small piece of it helps Republicans in future elections and hurts Democrats.

Already, Democrats are beginning the familiar waltz down losing paths, courting liberal activists in Iowa and New Hampshire. Why? If Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack runs for the Democratic presidential nomination, the Iowa caucus is irrelevant. If Kerry runs again, the New Hampshire primary is also less important.

Democrats should spend more time in places like Ohio, and it should be quality time. They should be listening, for once, to what voters are thinking, not telling voters what is wrong about their thinking and their past choice on election day."
This article is filled with suggestions for the Dems that might actually work. Like trying to split the Republicans over stem cell research. Or actually supporting issues that people care about insteand of being "not Bush". It makes me wonder what the Democratic party will be like when Bush isn't president anymore. So much of their platform is centered around a "get Bush" attitude. The level of passion they can drum up against him is amazing. So what will they do when he is gone? Who will they hate? And the news media, how will they report once Bush is gone? They choose their headlines based on how bad it will make Bush and by extension this government, economy and nation in general look. No I don't have any faith that the Democrats will become more positive in general. The other half of the Democratic platform is telling people how miserable they are and how they are entitled to more than they have.

We'll see what happens. It should be an interesting three years or so. We'll see how influential the Kos Kids are. Regardless of what happens I don't see much civility returning to the political scene any time soon.