Democrats Doom

Well Conservatives haven't warmed to Senator Kerry as a candidate and now, Bruce Bartlet, Conservative Commentator, has attacked Howard Dean.

Now you might be saying that Conservatives have been mocking Dean for months, ever since he suggested that this war was being taken under false pretenses and might not end up the best for the United States. You'd be right. But Bartlett, as opposed to most other attacks, takes Dean a bit more seriously.

But not too seriously. He sees Dean as a combination of McGovern and Goldwater. The McGovern analogy is obvious (he wants us all to believe that Dean cannot win), but Goldwater comparison might be a little less obvious. He states, "Republicans did the same thing in 1964, when they nominated Barry Goldwater on the slogan, "a choice, not an echo." They saw that Lyndon Johnson was unbeatable that year and preferred to lose with someone who would represent principled conservatism. However, although Goldwater lost as expected, his long-term impact on the Republican Party was profound. Never again would the party nominate a candidate for president who ran as a moderate. . . .

"Therefore, Democrats should be wary of supporting Dean as a protest against the blandness of Kerry, Gephardt, Edwards, et al. They could end up putting the Democratic Party on a course from which it will be difficult to change, one that will make it extremely difficult for an electable candidate to get the nomination in the future. "

Interesting theory by Bartlett. In other words, what turned out to be a good thing for Republicans (i.e. getting back to their core principles and ideals) would be bad for Democrats. Democrats can only win if they run as Republicans, apparently. Kind of works out well either way for Mr. Bartlett.

I also think it's fascinating that he says no Republican since Goldwater has run as a moderate. What exactly was "compassionate conservatively," if it wasn't an attempt to appeal to the moderate liberals? Of course we know that President Bush's version of Compassionate Conservatism was much more a slogan than a reality, but it's still a feint towards the middle.