Howard Dean 2008

[J. J.]

oh, and the ease with which he is charicatured rivals even George Bush.  And that ain't easy to do. 

The dems don't need to apologize for being too liberal, and go for a clintonesque centrist like Dean.  Because, unlike Clinton, Dean is not a particularly savvy politician.  They do need to find some message, whether it will be right or left is up to them.  And they certainly shouldn't follow Rove's strategy, as swing voters like myself find it a major put-off.  you'll hear all the talking heads go on and on about how the Dems need to lurch rightward and find a Clinton to be the standard-bearer.  While I'm not saying that won't work, they shouldn't feel the need to sell  out whatever principles they do have just to win.  For example, if you can convince me socialized medicine is a good idea, give it a shot, I'm not saying I'll buy it, but I just might.  Who knows?  What I won't buy into is GOP=lite.  We already have a real GOP.  They have to find some message and stick with it. 

And stay the f**ck away from Howard Dean.  (all the humiliation of GWB, and none of the moral clarity.  All the centrism of Bill Clinton, but none of the savvy.)

The thing you have to understand about the Democrats:

See, the Republicans are now one, big, happy, unified base.  The Democrats are a loose coalition of independent interests.  You have
-The labor Democrats
-The minority-causes Democrats (itself made of disperate sub-groups)
-The poor-advocacy Democrats
-The moralist Democrats (gay rights, hate crime laws, driven by Mainline Protestants)
-The environmentalist Democrats
-The abortion-rights Democrats
-The socialist Democrats

None of these groups is particularly interested in the causes of any of the others (even though there may be considerable crossover membership).  Environmentalists aren't necessarily interested in increasing welfare payments or abortion rights, and gay-rights activists aren't necessarily interested in bringing down Big Business or forcing Wal-Mart to unionize.  But everyone kinda agrees to get along and support one another's causes under the general banner of "liberalism."

So, it's no surprise that the Democrats lack a clear message.  The have a mish-mash of ideas - some of them I find to be great, some of them I find to be abhorrent.  Nothing that is going to energize and captivate millions of Americans.

And therein lies the problem.

Most Democrats fit in several, if not all of those catagories.

If they do, they are DOOMED.

The problem with Dean is that when he announces, the networks run the "scream" tape.