2005: The Splintering of the Democratic Party

A Publius Essay | 3 February 2005 | Publius

[Paulus Invictus]

Extremely well thought out and spot on re the RATs. Congrats!

[Paulus Invictus]

I clicked and was surprised that you reside in the People's Republic of Washington. How can you stand the local press and constant liberal pressures?

I am also a leider lover and was saddened today to hear of the death of the incomparable Elizabeth Schwartzkopf.

[Zack Nguyen]

Thanks for your very thoughtful essay. Here are a couple of respectful disagreements that I have.

To most Americans in the Nineties, Bill Clinton’s behavior was not outside the mainstream.

I believe this assertion is false. I don't believe that in the 1990's most American men received oral sex from interns less than half their age and lied about it under oath. Clinton's behavior was not mainstream.

People did not favor impeachment because 1) Clinton successfully portrayed Republicans as sex-obsessed legalists (a popular charicature to hate) and corrupt to boot; 2) People held Clinton in personal disdain, but believed the lie that this was unconnected to his Presidential performance; 3) Because of these reasons, they saw it as "all about sex" and ignored perjury. All in all, it was a piece of Machiavellian art by the Clinton White House, maybe the greatest piece of political self-defense in American history.

By couching the 1998 election as a referendum on impeachment, Gingrich misread the situation.

I believe this to be a popular historical myth. I was working in politics during the 1998 campaign, and from my vantage point Newt Gingrich tied desperately to make the election about something other than Clinton's lies. His base wanted to hear about nothing other than that. Ergo the base refused to vote. I could be wrong, but that was my read of the 1998 campaign, the worst-run in my lifetime.

[Zack Nguyen]

At their core, these ideals are not American, but “UNeesian”, to invent a word. To UNeesians, patriotism is a vice. To UNeesians, America doesn’t have the right to lead because its hands are dirty, courtesy of slavery, Vietnam or some other flaw in its past. To UNeesians, America, like Israel, is a source of evil in the world.

I agree completely. Just noticed that this was written in 2005!

[Publius]

I didn't hear about Schwartzkopf, but I've been buried in work today, so I'll catch up tonight.

I count among my acquaintances a number of the Hard Left types, but we simply agree to disagree. Classical music is our common denominator. I'm comfortable enough in my beliefs to not worry about what the locals think.

[BamaGirl]

Wow thanks for sending that to me. What a great read! Thank you very much, I really enjoyed your essay.

[Porterville]

I gotta tell you man, that was a damn good analysis that was actually worth reading. It was much better than the garbage pumped out by the recently unemployed journalist from the LA Times and NY Craphole newspapers.

Good Job.

[monkeyshine]

bumped and bookmarked

[prognostigaator]

current now

[oldtimer2]

They are displaying a lot of a**holery aren't they.

[Amalie]

TR remains one of the most fascinating enigmas of American politics. In the presidency as the result of an assasination, he was a great man for his hour. I believe that his mediating on business and labor issues was a likely reason that the Prog/Com movement did not gather the radical popularity here as in other places. The what-if's of the 1912 election (with the Fed Reserve, income tax, and WWI on the horizon) are still unanswerable....

[Publius]

The what-if's of the 1912 election (with the Fed Reserve, income tax, and WWI on the horizon) are still unanswerable...

One part of that is answerable. When World War I broke out in 1914, TR wanted us to get involved on the British side immediately, which was pretty much the Republican Party's position, with Sen. Lodge of Massachusetts leading the charge. As president, TR would not have waited until 1917. (I'm not sure that would have been a good thing.)

[Shermy]

bump for later

[Publius]

Ping. I was 14 years too early.