Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mithridates]

[Ya-ta Boy]

I don't see a drift of the Democratic Party to the left. My perception is that it is drifting to the right and has been since Lyndon Johnson left office. Neither Carter nor Clinton was a liberal in the same way Johnson was. They were moderate Democrats (and southern governors whose names both start with 'C').

While I'm as uncomfortable with knee-jerk anti-Bushites as Gopher is, I am even more distrustful of rabidly knee-jerk supporters of Bush. I've said before that the neocons who are so influential in this administration are not conservatives; they are revolutionaries.

In my view, the Republican party is in much more serious trouble than it was in the pre-Bush years. The Religious Right pretty much silenced the Country Club Republicans who have no where to go with their votes. They've become a major chunk of the Independent vote. What happened to the fiscal conservatives? They are outraged. Teddy Roosevelt was the last Republican who believed in an adventurous foreign policy--till the present administration.

We've had 25 years of Republican-dominated politics and have ended up with massive debts, an unpopular war with no end in sight, are diplomatically isolated much more than in recent memory and are deeply divided over social issues.

We are due for a political re-alignment. Whichever party comes up with a good communicator in the FDR/Reagan model will restructure the electorate for the next quarter century (or so).


WEIRD alert: If you type 'ites' after Bush, it gets deleted. How odd.

[Gopher]

[Milwaukiedave]

I don't don't believe Lieberman for a second that he'll meet with Demcrats. The Republicans will try to "buy" his loyalty. In a way they already have. They donated money and endorsed him because they know it will pay off in the long run.

[EFLtrainer]

Have to agree more with Dave than Gopher. I see him doing what he has so far: opportunism mixed with real stances. What is important is that he caucuses as far as setting up the leadership. I dont expect him to vote the party line, but I don't expect that of anyone.

That said. there are two indications that he's going to end up rethinking his stance on Iraq. He has no choice, in fact. His first wake-up call was the primary. His constituents kicked him in the ass on Iraq. His second is the 11/7 Tsunami. He's nothing if not politically pragmatic.

Finally, in his speech tonight he said this election was a message that not only did people want Congress to change direction, but they wanted Congress to change how it does business.

The upshot? He'll play ball overall.

[Gopher]

[huffdaddy]

[some waygug-in]