February 11, 2005
PRECINCT 13:
Democrats Aren't Giving Bush a Break This Term: Dean's likely rise to power is another sign the party is sharpening its differences with GOP. (Ronald Brownstein, February 11, 2005, LA Times)
[T]he Democrats' newly assertive tone may reflect more anxiety than confidence."What's going on is Democrats are coming to recognize and accept that we are not the majority party anymore," said Simon Rosenberg, president of the centrist New Democrat Network and a former challenger to Dean for the party chairmanship. "Democrats recognize we have to fight harder for our values and our ideas."
Republicans believe the shift opens Democrats up to charges of obstructionism. The Republican National Committee is already branding the Democrats as "the party of 'no.' "
"I don't know of any party that has done well as the party of objection," said Matthew Dowd, a senior strategist for Bush's reelection campaign. "I think it's a big risk and it has a lot of political downside."
Yet some Democrats believe that by following a more partisan course, the party is merely emulating Bush's strategy of primarily pursuing policies that motivate his political base.
Sure, except that the Democrats have a smaller base and the matters they're being obstructionist on often alienate them from even that base--like blocking black and Hispanic nominees. Posted by Orrin Judd at February 11, 2005 8:33 AM
"What's going on is Democrats are coming to recognize and accept that we are not the majority party anymore," said Simon Rosenberg
Who knew.
Posted by: AllenS at February 11, 2005 8:54 AMThis is a very natural phenomenon. Parties shrink from the margins inward, thus the more centrist members are the first to go, the more marginal seats are the ones lost. The remaining party officeholders are more likely to be 'true believers' from safe seats and they will adhere to a greater orthodoxy than would otherwise exist. Maxine Waters and Jim McDermott could get on the air and tell us that the Bush Administration is made up of evil brain-eating space lizards from the planet Zenon and it wouldn't cost them their seats.
The Democrats are where the GOP was in 1960. They lost the election but didn't really understand why. The GOP was however in some ideological ferment where new ideas, introduced by Goldwater but germinated by Reagan, became the basis of a majority party. I don't get the sense that the Dems have decided to be anything other than a loosely connected bunch of special interests and professional nay-sayers.
Posted by: Bart at February 11, 2005 9:21 AMDid I hear somewhere that a few moderate Dems threatened to walk if Dean took over the DNC? Does anyone remember specifics, or am I just making up happy memories?
Posted by: Timothy at February 11, 2005 11:19 AM"Maxine Waters and Jim McDermott could get on the air and tell us that the Bush Administration is made up of evil brain-eating space lizards from the planet Zenon and it wouldn't cost them their seats."
They haven't?
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at February 11, 2005 12:28 PMAssert away, but negation is not a program. To make matters worse, what they favor can't be voiced without provoking revulsion. If they truly believe their problem is tonal, one of amplitude and modulation, all we can say is "Testify brother!"
Posted by: Luciferous at February 11, 2005 2:34 PMThe analogy is not with the GOP of the early sixties, but the GOP of the 30s. Used to being in power for decades, they suddenly find themselves in the minoritty (in the 30's, a tiny minority), and had nothing to offer as an alternative but a dislike of FDR. All that got them was minority status for the next half-century.
As for the McDermott's, the problem there is gerrymandering coupled with the unwillingness of the Dems to jettison liabilities like him and Maxine back in the 90s, and now those liabilities have become indispensible and in charge.
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at February 11, 2005 3:27 PMQuestion:
Why didn't the GOP fade from existance in the early 1930's as the Whigs did in the late 1850's?
There was no alternative party of the Right.
Posted by: oj at February 11, 2005 9:43 PMAlso, FDR had lot of enemies within his own party as well. Had the Democrats been more 'unified', collapse of the GOP would have been more likely.
Posted by: jim hamlen at February 11, 2005 10:29 PM