David's Daily Diversions

Humorous Quote of the Day

"We need to maintain a moral high ground that we had before this administration took over." - Howard Dean, the new Democratic National Committee Chairman.

Is he talking about a President who earned the sobriquet "Slick Willie" in more ways than one?

No, he's taking the Democratic message to the red states. He's trying to prove to the Christians that elected Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress that Democratic positions on helping the poor and protecting children are consistent with their values.

The problem is that voters in the red states don't think helping the poor means stealing from everyone else. Theft is not charity. There may be a tradition of Christian socialism in Europe, but in red states this is an oxymoron.

And protecting children? I'm not sure what the Democratic policies on protecting post-natal children are and how they differ from Republican policies. Those aren't clearly enunciated.

We know what their policy is on protecting unborn children. But Dean wants to rephrase their policy to make it more palatable. He says no one is "pro-abortion." How disingenuous or naive. What? Have NOW and Planned Parenthood left the party? Instead, he says, "We are the party in favor of allowing women to make up their own minds about their health care." Does he think that somehow the voters in the red states will be fooled by this?

"We are the party that has always believed in equal rights under the law for all people," is the new way of supporting gay marriage. Does that mean they support the rights of brothers and sisters to marry each other? Contrary to the characterisation of some red states popular in the those small pockets of blue, this will not be a vote-getter. But you can't be consistent and support one without the other. And I think they would be hard pressed to show that the Democratic Party has always supported gay marriage. James Loewen's theories of President Buchanan's sexuality aside, can you imagine Andrew Jackson, Grover Cleveland, or Harry Truman supporting gay marriage?

Howard Dean and the Democrats can try to redefine morality all they want. They don't want to appeal to voters by supporting what the voters support. They have no intention of actually changing any positions that the majority of Americans find repugnant. Despite their Newspeak PR campaign, the views of the Democratic Party remain plain and obvious.