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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SiouxPal who wrote (759)	11/6/2004 3:13:23 PM
From: Land Shark	Respond to of 362386

Bill: Dems demonized BY CELESTE KATZ DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Bill Clinton (r.), who returned from heart-bypass surgery to stump for John Kerry in campaign's last days, says Dems need to connect better with small-town and rural America. Bill Clinton has laid much of the blame yesterday for John Kerry's loss on his failure to connect with small-town Americans over gay marriage and other controversial moral issues. And the Republicans did a great job of using the "culture war" to leave the Democratic Party "demonized - cartoonized as aliens," Clinton said. In what is becoming a postelection ritual, the last Democrat to win the White House reviewed what went wrong and what the Democrats have to do to win four years from now. "If we let people believe that our party doesn't believe in faith and family, doesn't believe in work and freedom, that's our fault," the two-term President told a conference of the Urban Land Institute in midtown. "We have to be present with a compelling message in small towns and rural areas," Clinton said. In addition to the strategic faults of the campaign, he said, Kerry was seriously hurt by the Massachussetts Supreme Court decision on gay marriage, an issue the Bush campaign harped on throughout the race. Kerry could have made much more of an impact with small-town voters by emphasizing his opposition to gay marriage, Clinton stressed. "He said it once or twice, instead of 3,000 times in rural communities," Clinton said. In a slap at the Republicans' tactics, Clinton said that whatever national message the Democratic Party develops, it "won't have a theological message that basically paints the other guys as evil." By contrast, the GOP "had a clear message, and a great messenger," he said. Clinton, who looked a bit pale and tired as he continues his recovery from heart bypass surgery six weeks ago, only hinted at one possible scenario for the party. "I can't run for anything anymore. The only thing that I try to do is not occasionally say anything so stupid it could hurt Hillary," he said. His wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), is considered a front-runner for the party's nomination in four years. As for President Bush, Clinton called him "an immensely likable guy" who should lead in a fashion more in line with his campaign rhetoric. He urged Bush to concentrate on winning a Mideast peace deal. Resolving the conflict there "would take so much steam out of terror," he said. "They would have to think of a new excuse to murder people." Originally published on November 6, 2004