Democrats still on Queer Street

On the Democratic Party front, none of the usual nostrums for electoral recovery will work, say Democratic thinkers William Galston and Elaine Kamarck. Mobilizing the base will not do the trick; depending on increasing numbers of Hispanic voters will not do the trick; and ignoring national defense and focusing solely on providing government services will not do the trick. If the Dems are to become competitive with the GOP, Galston and Kamarck argue, they must abandon their radical adversarial stance and move to the (so-called) center. But as Powerline indicates, the core of the party remains hard left, so there’s no prospect that Galston and Kamarck’s advice will be taken. Powerline concludes on a point that echoes my endlessly repeated mantra during all of 2004 about President Bush’s prospects against Kerry: No matter how badly the Republicans are doing by the next election, no matter how much the Republicans will deserve to lose, they will win, because they will be running against the Democrats.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at October 17, 2005 09:33 PM | Send