Liberals is an out-dated term. And it is even more out-dated since 9-11. Now refers to maybe 7.5% of Americans. The right-wing pundits work hard to bolster a mythical liberal "enemy" cliche ro run against but few people of that ilk actually even exist anymore. I know from first-hand experience at democrat functions, many former liberals are quite conservative now about some issues and moderate on many more. This is the new reality.
Right now you can count liberals by counting who supports Howard Dean and Al Sharpton. About 10% of Democrats which is about 5% of voters, then add in about 2.5% of Greens and other assorted left-thinking types. So about 7.5% of the voting population. On the right, 7.5% are far-right radicals advocating zero taxes, still obsessed with communism, racism, sexism, plundering of the environment ad infinitum, taking over the world. So it balances out.
Bushies love to attack those far-left types because they're easy targets, but they're an out-dated and insignificant target. Bushies avoid debates in the middle because they always lose. They are completely unsuccessful at taking on the fair debate in the center where most people are. Example, see how Gary Hart took Sean Hannity to the woodshed last eek oin Hannity-Colmes, completely shredded Hannity's cliched excuses for arguments.
Kerry, Hart, Edwards, Lieberman are not "liberals" now, though perhaps they were 20-30 years ago. They have moved on as the world has moved on and become quite moderate in their views, tougher than Bush on Homeland Defense, more fiscally conservative, better for business, and much more realistic, forward-looking and honest in their approaches to both foreign and domestic problem-solving. None of them support peace-marchers or have any desire to join in. They're much more concerned about troops now than anything else.
In fact their views regularly match those of McCain and the GOP moderates now on many issues. Look at the recent record since 9-11 at least and you'll see post-Clinton Democrat centrists voting very much in line with GOP moderates, including supporting the war, urging more diplomacy but still supporting it. |
