At 01:47 PM 9/16/2004 -0700 David Brin wrote:
>HAVE
>BEEN NO LEFTWARD POLICY SHIFTS BY THE DEMOCRATS.
>NONE!
Leftward, Brin?
Even accepting the "Left-Right" dichotomy this quote presupposes ;-)....
there is no doubting the fact that from FDR to Kennedy, the Democratic
Party was perceived as the Party of a strong national defense and
international engagement.
The Democratic Party, on the other hand, has been the center of the
opposition to almost all strong defense policies since the time of Richard
Nixon - opposition to Vietnam, weakness on the Iranians in the 1970's,
opposition to Reagan's defense buildup, opposition to the smaller
engagements of the Cold War, and most critically - opposition to the First
Gulf War. (And Kerry never voted for that one before he voted against it.
;-) A lot of Americans still believe the Kosovo engagement (fought with
a depleting supply of cruise missiles, a fiasco deployment of helicopters,
and an open acknowledgement that we would never use ground troops) as at
best a blip on the continuous Democratic weakness on defense. Opposition
to the Iraq War seemed to confirm that for many Americans - that quite
simply the Democrats are weaker on defense.
Gautam also pointed out the vast litany of social issues on which Democrats
are perceived as having moved left - abortion, gay marriage, religion in
the public square, defense of pornography and obscenity on television, etc.
JDG
_______________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"The liberty we prize is not America's gift to the world,
it is God's gift to humanity." - George W. Bush 1/29/03
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