The Conservative Zone

This article, Base Dogma:
Left-wing bloggers observe the Alito hearings from an alternative universe has some pretty good advice on what the Democrats should do if they want to return to power.

The Left has nothing to stand on besides anger. They have no position other than "WE WOULDN'T DO IT BUSH'S WAY" and no way to rationally discuss the ideas that need to be discussed. Their first tool in trying to win the debate is to call the Right "Anti-choice, anti-civil rights, homophobe, sexist" and the worst of all, "bigots." This is like a four year old trying to win an argument with an adult by calling them a "poopy head."

And that's the heart of the problem with our party and its angry activist base. It's not so much that we're living in a parallel universe, but that we have dueling conceptions of what's mainstream, especially on abortion and other values-based issues, and our side is losing. We think that if we simply call someone conservative, anti-choice and anti-civil rights, that's enough to scare people to our side. But that tired dogma won't hunt in today's electorate, which is far more independent-thinking and complex in its views on values than our side presumes.

That point was driven home in an incontrovertible analysis of the 2004 election results by Bill Galston and Elaine Kamarck. They found that the American polity has undergone a great shaking out, where conservatives now vote almost universally for Republicans and liberals for Democrats, and that Republicans have won the presidency twice in a row because they're doing a better job of pulling moderates/independents their way--in particular married women and white Catholics who are uncomfortable with the Democrats on values issues. Judging from the dreadful tack our party took in the Alito process, it's clear that we haven't yet internalized these political realities--most likely because our anger at George Bush continues to blind us to them. Many Democrats just don't want to acknowledge that he's president and is going to pick conservative justices...

When Clinton was President, his judicial nominees got near unanimous votes from the Senate, because the Republicans believed that he should get who he wants. Now that the tables are turned, the Democrats are literally behaving like a four-year-old and threatening to hold their breath if they don't get their way.

Their old saw about Republicans "cutting Welfare, Social Security, school lunches, et. al.," has been proved patently false. Outside of the hard Left, no one believes what the Left says anymore, because they are spewing rhetoric, instead of laying out a plan, putting forth good ideas and trying to win the hearts and minds of the voters by reason and logic, not by name calling.

And of course, those who subscribe to moonbat sites like Daily Kos are not going to hear this. They are going to stay angry, sling mud and call names. Which is going to get them precisely less than what they have today. By history, the out of power party always picks up a few seats in the midterm elections. Unless the Dems change their tactics and start debating the issues, they will lose seats this year.

Which is fine by me.