Fair enough, I'll look for a specific quote. In the meantime, I think this article puts things in perspective rather accurately.
Democrats Need Anger Management
by Thomas Lindaman
Feb 14, 2006
RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman recently said on ABC's "This Week" that New York Senator Hillary Clinton "seems to have a lot of anger" and warned Democrats that "voters usually do not send angry candidates to the White House." Democrats shot back that it was the Republicans who were the party of the angry, including comments that Mehlman was gay. (I swear, I'm not making this up, folks.)
Looking out at the political landscape right now, though, it seems the Democrats have their anger meter turned up to 11 (you know, because it's, like, one higher...). And it's not getting any happier in Demville. It seems as though George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, and the RNC have an answer for everything the Democrats try to throw at Bush. Threat of a fillibuster of Judge Samuel Alito? Democrats can't get enough votes to make happen. Don't want John Bolton to be UN Ambassador? Bush makes a recess appointment putting him in the position. The Supreme Court stops an invalid recount of Florida? The Republicans push for John Kerry to get the 2004 nod.
And after each defeat, the Democrats get angrier and angrier. Right now, they're the political equivalent of a throbbing blood vessel on Howard Dean's forehead when he's getting worked up. As the latest failure hits, the vessel throbs a bit more. This, in turn, causes the Democrats to get more caustic.
If you're unconvinced, take a look at former President Jimmy Carter. When Carter was President, he seemed calm and always quick with a smile. Even if you disagreed with him, you gave him the benefit of the doubt in most cases because he was, or at least acted like, a likable guy. Then, in recent years, he's gone from being Mr. Nice Guy to Mr. Hyde. Whether it was taking pot shots at America after winning the Nobel Peace Prize or making thinly-veiled assaults at President Bush's wiretapping program from the podium at the Coretta Scott King funeral, the smiling, likable man has turned bitter and mean. Give the man a microphone and a camera and he will blast the President and the US for everything from failures in the war on terrorism to the lack of enforcement of overdue library books.
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Carter isn't the only prominent Democrat who has traded reasoned discourse for a little more anger. DNC Chairman Howard Dean has said several unflattering things about Republicans, suggesting they are racist and actually saying "I hate Republicans." Illinois Senator Richard Durbin accused the troops overseeing Gitmo of crimes like those committed by Nazis, Josef Stalin, and Pol Pot. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have accused the Republican Party of creating a "culture of corruption" in Washington due to the Jack Abramoff scandal and others. John Kerry and Al Gore have frequently attacked the President's waging of the war on terrorism. At least, I think they have. Whenever I hear them talk, I get really tired for some reason and have to take a nap....
And all of this anger and bitterness is filtering down to the grass roots of the Democratic Party. Go into political chatrooms and you will find plenty of Democrats repeating "Bush Lied People Died," "Bush was selected not elected," "Bush is a Nazi," and my personal favorite, "Bush is a smirking chimp." And if you don't agree with them 1000%, you're called a "fascist," an idiot, or a "Bush sheep" even if you criticize Bush for other, more significant issues than whether Bush lied about tying his shoes. And in an odd bit of irony, this trickle down hate is coming from people who don't believe trickle down economics works.
But in all of this, Democrats aren't really taking a look at what Mehlman said about people not liking angry candidates. Regardless of how you feel about him or his alleged sexual orientation, he has a point. Anger undermines a candidate. If you appear to be angry about one thing or another, you look mean. That's what happened with Bob Dole in 1996. His mannerisms and speaking style made him look mad, while Bill Clinton looked happy, confident, and upbeat. When given that choice, people chose Clinton because he at least looked like he was having fun. And he was. Unfortunately, he was having fun with Monica and a cigar, but that's beside the point.
Today, the Democrats are acting more like a spoiled brat throwing a tantrum than a party out of power. But instead of addressing the anger issue the party clearly has, they brush it off as right wing rhetoric and continue to get angrier and angrier with each new scandal, each new defeat, each new opportunity President Bush and the Republicans take to show at least some level of leadership. The longer the Democrats do this, the weaker their party becomes. They need to realize that not every criticism of the party comes from partisan roots. I have no particular love for the modern Democratic Party, but I don't hate it. What I'm seeing from far too many Democrats today is hatred. Sure, they call it dissent, but there is a difference between dissent based on reason and dissent based on emotion.
Even if Mehlman's comments were partisan in nature, and there's no doubt in my mind that they were, it doesn't mean it isn't without a ring of truth to it. Hillary Clinton can be an angry-looking candidate at times. When she starts telling, her face is contorted into a mask of anger and the louder she gets, the more monotone she gets. The only other people I've seen do that are my parents, and only when they were really angry. And I'm pretty sure more than a few readers out there will say, "You know, my parents did the same thing." Either that or, "I hope Lindaman wraps this up soon. I need a sammich."
Well, gentle reader, I will be wrapping this up soon. Unfortunately for the Democrats, though, they will continue to have the image of the angry political party until they stop letting anger rule their decision-making process. As the wise Jedi master Yoda once said, "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."
Pretty profound for a Muppet, wouldn't you say?
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