It has been interesting to read the paper in Washington. It is interesting to see which issues are different and which are the same. There was a particularly rabid piece of staff reporting this morning entitled "Party Leader addresses Republican Women" (July 25, 2003, Washington Daily News). Martha Jenkins described differences between Republicans and Democrats claiming, among other things, that
- Republicans thinks (sic) people can accomplish great things; Democrats try to keep people from doing great things.
- Republicans want people to be heroes; Democrats want people to be victims.
She provides a whole litany of similar vitriol and then at the end says
This little dissertation of mine is somewhat tongue in cheek. It does not represent the thoughts of the "rank-and-file" Democrat voter. However, I think it is emblematic of the hijacking of the Democrat party by radical, left-wing groups.
I've noticed over and over again that much of the Republican party line turns on sound bites, over-simplifications, and distortions. Rush Limbaugh was a master of that. My impression is that Democrats will never succeed at that game because, while Republicans are happy to find a simple idea and stick with it, no matter how brain-dead ("There's SURPLUS! Cut Taxes! There's a DEFICIT! Cut Taxes!"), Democrats are more interested in trying to understand and grapple with complex problems. They aren't looking for sound bites, they're looking for answers.