Divided Democrats make GOP's campaign job easy

[struggle4progress]

By Susan Estrich
Opinion Columnist
April 05, 2008 6:00 AM

... The latest poll from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal confirms the worst fears of Democrats: that what should be a Democratic year could become a Republican one. For the second time in a row, the pollsters have found that roughly 20 percent of Hillary Clinton's supporters and, yes, 20 percent of Barack Obama's say they will support John McCain if the Democrat who isn't their first choice ends up running against him.

Twenty percent of the Democratic base voting for McCain? The pollsters call it "some hardening of feelings among some of the most core supporters of both Democrats." I have a different name for it: political suicide.

This is how a Democrat could lose an election after eight years of a Republican administration that has taken the economy into recession and the country into an unpopular, costly and dubious war, and bailed out Bear Stearns instead of the thousands of hardworking Americans who were taken advantage of by subprime lenders and are now losing their homes and their life savings. This is how Democrats could end up snatching defeat from the jaws of victory ...

When it comes to the war in Iraq, Clinton and Obama are on one side, and McCain is on the other. When it comes to abortion, Clinton and Obama are on one side, and McCain is on the other. When it comes to access to health care or support for education or women's rights or civil rights, the reality is that Clinton and Obama are on one side, and McCain is on the other. When you think about whom they will appoint to high office, to the Cabinet and the courts and the Supreme Court of the United States, the bottom line is that Clinton and Obama will be looking at precisely the same pool of people, and McCain will be looking at an entirely different one; Clinton and Obama will appoint justices who share the values of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, and McCain will appoint those who share the values of Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas ...

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080405/A_OPINION0601/804050309/-1/A_OPINION

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1. The Economist has a virtually identical column this week

http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10961825
IT LOOKS as if Pat Robertson and his cohorts were right all along: God really is a Republican. The Democrats ought to have little problem retaking the White House this November, given the unpopular war, the weakening economy and the anti-Republican backlash. But instead of measuring the White House drapes they are engaged in what Bill Kristol, a Republican commentator, has gleefully dubbed a “rollicking demolition derby”.

The past month has seen the Democratic candidates hit by a couple of monster trucks in the form of Barack Obama's former pastor and Hillary Clinton's repeated fantasies about Bosnia. It is true that these would surely both have come to light during the general election campaign. You cannot associate with an America-bashing preacher or invent a story about braving sniper fire while landing in a quiet airport in Tuzla without paying a price. But the stories are much more damaging because fellow Democrats have been fanning the flames for months. The Clintons have been determined to define Mr Obama as just another “black candidate”. And the Obamaites have been whispering that Mrs Clinton is as untruthful as Slick Willie himself.

The Democratic candidates have also gone on record making explosive charges that they cannot now defuse. Mrs Clinton has argued that there are only two candidates in the race capable of being commander-in-chief—herself and John McCain. Mr Obama has argued that his “baggage” could be stored in an overhead locker whereas Mrs Clinton's would fill an entire plane.
>snip<

[struggle4progress]

2. Don't gotta be no rocket science genius nerd to see it