CENTRIST CANUTIFYING

Centrist Democrats Warn Party Not to Present Itself as 'Far Left' (ADAM NAGOURNEY, 7/29/03, NY Times)

The moderate Democratic group that helped elect Bill Clinton to the White House in 1992 warned today that Democrats were headed for defeat if they presented themselves as an angry "far left" party fighting tax cuts and opposing the war in Iraq. [...]

"It is our belief that the Democratic Party has an important choice to make: Do we want to vent or do we want to govern?" said Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana, chairman of the organization. "The administration is being run by the far right. The Democratic Party is in danger of being taken over by the far left."

When a reporter asked a panel of council leaders whether Democratic woes were a result of Republican attacks or Democratic mistakes, Senator Bayh responded with a curt two-word answer that silenced the room.

"Assisted suicide," he said. [...]

Mark J. Penn, a Democratic pollster who worked for Mr. Clinton and is now advising Senator Lieberman, offered polling data to show that Mr. Bush was vulnerable but that the Democratic Party was also in a politically perilous position.

"We're at a postwar historic low of Democratic Party membership," he said.

Mr. Penn said that the Democratic Party now trailed the Republicans among people who earn more than $20,000, and that just 22 percent of white men called themselves Democrats.

"Among middle-class voters, the Democratic Party is a shadow of its former self," Mr. Penn said.

The perception, he said, is that Democrats "stand for big government, want to raise taxes too high, are too liberal and are beholden to special interest groups."

Most important, Mr. Penn said, the party has to prove itself credible on the issue of national security--something that many Democrats attending the conference here said would be impossible to do if the party were perceived as opposed to the war on Iraq.

Their pleas remind us of the frog who was prevailed upon by a scorpion to provide a ride across a river.

The frog protested, "But you're a scorpion; you'll sting me."

"No, I won't. I can't swim; that's why I need a ride. If I were to sting you, we'd both die.

So the frog let the scorpion climb on his back and started out across the river. On reaching the midway point, he felt a burning pain and realized the scorpion had stung him after all.

As they slipped under the water, the frog wailed: "Why did you do that? Now we'll both die."

The reply? "I'm a scorpion--it's my nature." Posted by Orrin Judd at July 29, 2003 10:10 AM