GOP to Moderate America: Drop Dead. If Democrats are going to build a winning strategy from recent events they need to starting thinking strategically rather than tactically. That means getting away from personalities and targeting the Republican Party as an institution and an ideology. Bush, Cheney, Rove? The're symptoms -- of Republican fever. Don't atttack the individuals, attack the party that anointed them.
The Alito appointment is a great place to start acting strategically. Miers withdrew, but Democrats derived no real political capital from it. The Democratic message on Alito now needs to be clear, consistent, and unanimous: He's an extremist nominee from a Party that's been turned over to extremists. Dems should quote John Danforth and Christie Whitman at length on the hijacking of their Party by Fundamentalist kooks. The inmates have taken over the asylum, and the so-called "mavericks" and "moderates" have played along. That makes them implicit in the Terri Schiavo madness, in the tax giveaway to the rich, in Brownie's FEMA and Cheney's Halliburton -- all of it. And yeah, Giuliani, I'm talkin' to you.
Bush was not some maverick wildcatter from Texas, despite the media's eager adoption of that carefully crafted myth. He's the ultimate GOP insider, the son of a Republican President and grandson of a Republican Senator. His sins are the Party's sins -- or rather, the sins of the party the GOP has become: corporate cronyism, contempt for statecraft, disdain for basic managerial skills in government, and a break-the-people's-piggy-bank greed that turns surpluses into deficits and government contracts into party favors. Remember that Bush will never run for office again, so vilifying him won't help Democrats win future elections unless you tie his problems back to his party. The Democratic message shouldn't be that he's a drunk, or he's stupid, or he's mean -- it should be that he's the consummate Republican.
In this respect, Howard Dean's on the right track. The problem is that Dean, through carelessly chosen words, has given the impression that he faults all Republicans for the sins of their leaders. It's the politicos -- the cronies-in-office -- that need to be targeted. Alec Baldwin got it right: "Draft a blueprint and begin scripting the dialogue that will invite moderate Republicans away from the fundamentalist loony bin."
I happen to think that this dialogue includes some straight talk about Iraq, for a change -- but that's a topic for another discussion. The message to moderates is: The long national nightmare of extremism is over. Right now, unfortunately, Democrats have given the Republicans opportunity after opportunity to distance themselves from the excesses and flaws of their own party, leaving the impression that the only problem is a few incompetents and moral deviates at the top. People don't think of competence and corruption as party issues, unless you explain to them why they are.
Case in point: Those Democrats who voted to confirm Alberto Gonzales committed a political error as well as a moral one. A vote for Gonzales was an endorsement of torture -- period. Dems squandered that issue, and now McCain and other Republicans have claimed it for their own through their noble-sounding but essentially toothless 'anti-torture amendment.' Even liberal bloggers bought the spin, chiding the nine who voted against it as 'pro-torture.' They were, of course, but so were the Republicans who voted for Gonzales. The Democrats who joined them undercut their party and gave away a major issue to the so-called "maverick" or "moderate" Republicans. McCain looks like the country's leader on the torture issue, despite his support for the torturers. Let's hope Dems are smarter this time around.
The Democratic message should be: There are no "moderate Republicans" at the national level. With a few exceptions, the real moderates -- the one with ethics and values that wouldn't allow them to collaborate with this crowd -- are the Whitmans and Danforths who have been driven from the Party. If you voted for Gonzales, you're no moderate. If you looked away while your party was playing games with voter registration in Ohio, you're no moderate. If you failed to demand Rumsfeld's resignation after Abu Ghraib, you're no moderate. If you voted for the egregious bankruptcy bill (which some foolish Democrats also did), you're no moderate. Tax cuts for the wealthy in a time of war? Not a "moderate" position. Helping run up the biggest deficit in history? Hardly moderate. John McCain? Campaigned for the racists who slurred his child. Arnold Schwarzenegger? Stumped for the guys that made all this happen.
If the Dems keep dropping the ball, a href="http://nightlight.typepad.com/nightlight/2005/09/the_next_presid.html">I still believe some savvy pseudo-maverick like Chuck Hagel will step in and promise the housecleaning they should already be offering. You want a "frame"? Here's one: "There's gonna be a new Sheriff in town." The Democratic tone of voice should be calm, but the underlying message should be clear: Playtime is over.