Dem Dum Dems

I wish the Democrats would quit beating themselves over the heads trying to find an "identity." They already have one, and one that sounds pretty good. The Dems should sell themselves as:

- The party of tolerance.
- The party of individual rights and dignity.
- The party of compassion (the real kind).
- The party of religious freedom and separation of church and state (don't think for a minute you can have one without the other).
- The party of fiscal responsibility and prosperity.
- The party of enlightened foreign policy, one that balances security requirements with diplomacy and other tools of power.
- The party that deals in reality.

Over at Capitol Banter, cyber pal r. scott kimsey notes:

"The (Democratic) party comes across as shrill, as being more interested in personal attacks than policy..."

I think, scott, this is largely because they've been outmaneuvered by their opposition's propaganda machine. These days, my definition of "irony" is Ann Coulter calling Maureen Dowd a strident bitch. When it comes to shrill, personal attack, could anyone ever match Ann, Rush, Laura, O'Reilley, Hannity, Buchanan, and the rest of the Rovewellian echo chamber? If you want to see "nasty" and "vulgar," watch the tape of Dick Cheney's speech at the last GOP convention.

Remaking the Democratic Party into a mirror image of the GOP would most likely be a mistake. At some point, the center--where the margin of victory will come from--is going to get sick of the GOP (if it isn't already).

One thing the Dems need to come to terms with, though: if they want to pull in the center, they'll need to dump the Hollywood crowd, or at least ask them to tone it down. Whoopee and Chevy hurling obscenities at the GOP won't win over any new hearts and minds.