Verrrrry interesting!
Posted on 08/03/2004 10:54:55 AM PDT by M 91 u2 K
Lack of Controversy May Come to Haunt Democrats Craig Crawford, Congressional Quarterly
(Aug. 2) - Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Since the end of the Democratic National Convention on July 29, I cannot forget that line from the classic film, "The Wizard of Oz."
It was the moment that Dorothy and her pals discovered that everything they believed about Oz was fake, that the awesome wizard was merely a confused man feverishly manipulating images behind the scenes.
The newly minted Democratic nominee, John Kerry, conceded his own confusion on the issues during a rambling acceptance speech on the last night in Boston.
"Now I know there are those who criticize me for seeing complexities -- and I do -- because some issues just aren't all that simple," Kerry said.
Democrats in Boston pretended all week to be something they are not. It was beautifully staged and finely scripted theater, even though they bungled the obligatory balloon drop at the end. There were no debates. Not even the slightest hint of disagreement.
If only the convention had heeded Kerry's words when he told the delegates, "Elections are about choices and choices are about values." If that's true, his convention was a bust. About the only hard choices these delegates made was deciding where to go to dinner each night.
With precision and few exceptions, the Democrats presented an image of a middle-of-the-road party -- on issues ranging from Iraq to gun control -- simply by avoiding discussion of quarrelsome policy matters.
But the image did not reflect the true consensus of the activist Democrats who came to Boston as delegates. According to surveys of these Democrats, they were overwhelmingly against the war in Iraq, in favor of gay marriage and in favor of gun control. Hardly the right stuff for reaching conservative-leaning swing voters.
Indeed, the delegates to this convention clearly disagree with their national ticket on whether Congress should have authorized President Bush to go to war in Iraq. Both John Kerry and John Edwards voted for it. It did not take polls to prove this. On the rare occasion when convention speakers said it was wrong to go to war, the delegates jumped to their feet and cheered.
The Democratic platform approved at the convention ignored the differences between Kerry-Edwards and their own party delegates. It merely noted that "people of good will" disagree on the rightness of the Iraq war.
Anything that might offend swing voters was off-limits at this convention. Even the issue of abortion rights, a staple of Democratic rhetoric, was barely mentioned.
GOP Opening
On the surface, it might seem politically wise to manage a convention free of unpleasant dispute and devoid of any agenda that might disturb independent-minded voters. But it is unimaginable to think that the Bush campaign team will let Democrats get away with this. Those at the Republican convention, beginning late this month in New York, now have an easy task to perform. Bush's faithful only need to tell the nation what Democrats really stand for on the wedge issues.
"'Elections are about choices and choices are about values,' said Kerry. If that's true, (Kerry's) convention was a bust." -Craig Crawford
Democrats did little to protect themselves at their convention. Instead of formally adopting politically palatable views, they simply dodged debate.
If Kerry wants to run on a more moderate platform, he should have shown the leadership to prod his party to the right. Instead he chose to pacify Democratic interest groups and bypass the tough choices.
Picking a fight with party liberals would have impressed swing voters, as Clinton did in 1992 when openly talking about "brain dead politics" in his own party. By contrast, Kerry performed a lobotomy on the party.
If Kerry truly agrees with liberal leaders on issues such as the Iraq war, he could have used this convention to renounce his Senate vote on the grounds that Bush misled Congress.
Former President Jimmy Carter was almost alone among the major speakers to speak plainly and forcefully against the Iraq war. As a result, Democratic delegates cheered him as I've never seen them do for him since he was first nominated for president in 1976. Carter also was not shy about making a not-so-veiled reference to the controversy surrounding Bush's missing days in the National Guard during the Vietnam War. He noted that Kerry "showed up when assigned to duty" and then paused for knowing laughter and applause.
Democrats are not alone in running away from their own unpopular views. In 2000, Bush ran on a platform of "compassionate conservatism," allowing voters to think he would not pursue an agenda many consider extreme. Once in office, the administration turned to the right on many fronts.
There is no way to prove what Kerry might do if elected, but I'll bet a month's pay that he would move much further to the left than his party's convention suggested. Democratic activists in Boston must know this, or they would not have kept so quiet.
With such deception at work in both political parties, who can blame voters for being cynical? Without candidates willing to say where they really stand, there is little chance of engaging the public in the healthy debate that presidential campaigns can be.
Despite their grand evasive maneuver, Democrats can expect the Republicans to relentlessly "out" them on issues they would rather not talk about.
If the Bush team is as effective as I think they will be at unmasking their foes during their upcoming convention, we'll probably be remembering a twist of another line from Oz: We're not in Boston anymore.
Craig Crawford is a special contributor to Congressional Quarterly and a news analyst for MSNBC, CNBC and "The Early Show" on CBS. He can be reached at ccrawford@cq.com.
Source: CQ Today Round-the-clock coverage of news from Capitol Hill.
©2004 Congressional Quarterly Inc. All Rights
Craig Crawford is no friend and no conservative. He must be disgusted with the Kerry operation. Seems as the Hillary knives are coming out early.
This is getting delicious.
I think there will be controversy but it will come in the form of disenchanted moderate and conservative democrats who were unwelcome at the convention.
Verrrrry interesting!
Hopefully they will play the Iraq Kerry flip-flop video several times at the convention and be strong in attacking Kerry.
RNCommunications@gop.com
Yes, that Craig Crawford. Windbag extraordinaire and full of himself.
Some of us actually watched the demcon and they did not present a middle of the road and reasonable face.
That is simply false.
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