Save Demos from 2004 auto-destruct
By Betsy Hart
We are days away from 2004, and it's a very important year for America. It's
the year we'll find out whether our country still has a vibrant, two-party system.
Or, should we cancel future elections, and just let the Republicans rule? A big "no thanks" on that one from me. But that's where we could be headed if the Democrats don't get their act together - fast.
Here's what Democratic presidential front-runner Howard Dean had to say in a major foreign-policy speech the day after Saddam Hussein's capture was reported: He said it offered America an opportunity to "move ahead," but "the capture of Saddam Hussein has not made America safer."
But what might be more telling is that on the day it was reported we had Saddam, Dean actually made comments that were complimentary of the administration and called Saddam's capture a great day for America.
But Dean said something else even more revealing, as Washington Post's columnist Charles Krauthammer reported: Dean told interviewer Diane Rehm he found something he heard to be to be a most "interesting" idea: that the Saudi government tipped off President Bush to the fact that the Sept. 11 attacks were coming. What?
Later, when pressed, Dean said he "didn't believe" it of course. No, but he was awfully happy to put that outrageous rumor out there.
And this is the guy with the "Big Mo" in Democratic circles? The latest polls show him ahead in the Iowa and New Hampshire Democratic primaries, only a month or so away.
What is going on? There was a time when partisan Democrats really thought America was great - that a strong America was a force for good in the world.
They wanted big social programs and all that, but one still got the impression they were on our team.
Perhaps that's why 50 years ago, almost half the electorate identified themselves as Democrats. But by 2002, it was only 34 percent.
Most amazingly, Democratic pollster Mark Penn recently revealed, only 22 percent of white men today identify themselves as Democrats.
Houston, we have a problem.
As David Brooks reported in the Weekly Standard in an article titled "Democrats Go off the Cliff," Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., recently said because of President Bush, "This republic is at its greatest danger in its history," and John Kerry said Bush "deliberately misled" America to start the Iraq war.
And there's a lot more where those came from. Think about what they're saying. "Greatest danger" to the republic? Bush lying to Americans to start a war halfway around the world?
Yes, there's Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., the presidential contender who condemned Dean's response to the Saddam capture. He seems to be the one sane Democrat running for president: pro-American, strong on national defense, fairly liberal on domestic policy without being for big tax increases.
But, Lieberman is bogged down in the Democratic presidential sweepstakes.
Of course, there is a Democratic "stop-Dean" coalition. But few Democrats seem to be listening. And that's the problem. It's the talk of Republicans - what in the world is happening to the Democrats? Is their hatred for Bush eating them alive or just making them irrelevant?
Here's the problem for people like me. I'm a conservative, not a partisan.
And as the Democrats become fully marginalized, the Republicans will, unfortunately but typically, move to take up their slack.
Witness the recent GOP-led, Bush-backed, largest expansion of federal entitlements in almost 40 years - the wholly unnecessary prescription drug benefit added to Medicare. At least a half-trillion dollars down the drain (probably more). Sigh.
Let's also please remember Bush is a huge spender and has yet to wield his veto pen over anything, even such dopey ideas as so-called "campaign finance reform." Double sigh.
I want, and conservatives should want, the political competition that a responsible Democratic Party provides. Contrary to what many Republicans might think, if 2004 is the year the Democrats fully implode, it will NOT be a happy new year.
* Betsy Hart, a frequent commentator on CNN and the Fox News Channel, is a columnist with Scripps Howard News Service, 1090 Vermont Ave. NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20005; e-mail: mailtohart@aol.com. |
