BILL'S PARTY:

Are Dems insane on Iraq? (Dick Morris , Sept. 12, 2002, Jewish World Review)

Even before Bush makes his case against Saddam, 65 percent of Americans support military action against Iraq. When the questions are loaded and biased, reminding voters of the chances of great casualties and focusing on the opposition of our allies, a solid plurality, and usually a majority, back invasion in the polls.

When Bush, Colin Powell, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice and Donald Rumsfeld have finished making the case for invasion, and when the intelligence data we have gathered is spread throughout the nation, the support for an invasion will certainly rise into the 70s and could hit 80 percent.

But the Democrats have backed themselves into a corner. They cannot defeat pro-invasion sentiment. The feeling is too deep and the danger to them of making Saddam's case too plain for them to speak out against military action. And they cannot seek to change the subject back to more comfortable turf. Having invited a national dialogue on Iraq, how can they turn the subject back to healthcare once again?

Why did the Democrats adopt so suicidal a course? They let the liberal media spoon-feed it to them. The media, not the politicians, began the lament that Bush had not "made his case" for invading Iraq to the American people. The media intended the charge to be a negative on Bush, not an invitation. But, in the hands of the politicians, it turned into a request for information, a request that hands Bush just the tool he needs to dominate the national dialogue leading up to the election.

Politicians cannot usually win arguments about issues. The die is usually cast before the debate begins. But most of the time they can determine what the debate is going to be about. Now Bush has the debate just where he wants it to maximize his chances in the fall elections - thanks to his opponents.

The post-Bill Clinton Democrats have a huge problem. Having conceded many fundamental issues to the Republicans--from the efficacy of free markets to the advisability of reforming government programs to the need to get tough on crime to the importance of including religion in public life--Democrats are left with only a few issues that truly define them and they are mainly unpopular: abortion on demand, racialism, internationalism, and higher taxes. Even worse, they continue to believe that these issues work for them and, having already entered their run up to the '04 presidential race, their party leaders, all of whom are contenders for the nomination (Daschle, Gephardt, Hillary Clinton, Al Gore), are forced to play to the base rather than to the general public. This is especially dangerous, as Mr. Morris point out, where the coming war against Iraq is concerned.
Posted by Orrin Judd at September 12, 2002 2:36 PM