Way Off Base: PAUL KRUGMAN; Everybody Hates Don Imus: FRANK RICH + by PAUL KRUGMAN - THE NEW YORK TIMES Monday Apr 16th, 2007
KRUGMAN: On key issues, reluctant Democratic politicians are being dragged by their base into taking highly popular positions. THE COMPLETE ARTICLE AND MORE --> OP-ED COLUMNIST Way Off Base By PAUL KRUGMAN Published: April 16, 2007 Normally, politicians face a difficult tradeoff between taking positions that satisfy their partys base and appealing to the broader public. You can see that happening right now to the Republicans: to have a chance of winning the partys nomination, Republican presidential hopefuls have to take far-right positions on Iraq and social issues that will cost them a lot of votes in the general election. But a funny thing has happened on the Democratic side: the partys base seems to be more in touch with the mood of the country than many of the partys leaders. And the result is peculiar: on key issues, reluctant Democratic politicians are being dragged by their base into taking highly popular positions. Iraq is the most dramatic example. Strange as it may seem, Democratic strategists were initially reluctant to make Iraq a central issue in the midterm election. Even after their stunning victory, which demonstrated that the G.O.P.s smear-and-fear tactics have stopped working, they were afraid that any attempt to rein in the Bush administrations expansion of the war would be successfully portrayed as a betrayal of the troops and/or a treasonous undermining of the commander in chief. Beltway insiders, who still dont seem to realize how overwhelmingly the public has turned against President Bush, fed that fear. For example, as Democrats began, nervously, to confront the administration over Iraq war funding, David Broder declared that Mr. Bush was poised for a political comeback. It took an angry base to push the Democrats into taking a tough line in the midterm election. And it took further prodding from that base which was infuriated when Barack Obama seemed to say that he would support a funding bill without a timeline to push them into confronting Mr. Bush over war funding. (Mr. Obama says that he didnt mean to suggest that the president be given carte blanche.) But the public hates this war, no longer has any trust in Mr. Bushs leadership and doesnt believe anything the administration says. Iraq was a big factor in the Democrats midterm victory. And far from being a risky political move, the confrontation over funding has overwhelming popular support: according to a new CBS News poll, only 29 percent of voters believe Congress should allow war funding without a time limit, while 67 percent either want to cut off funding or impose a time limit. *** The only risk the party now faces is excessive caution on the part of its politicians. Or, to coin a phrase, the only thing Democrats have to fear is fear itself. --MORE-- http://mparent7777.blogspot.com/2007/04/complete-article-new-york-times-op-ed.html Labels: Bush, Democrats, grassroots, health insurance, Iraq, News, Obama, PAUL KRUGMAN, Politics, poll, The New York Times, war Everybody Hates Don Imus: FRANK RICH http://mparent7777-2.blogspot.com/2007/04/everybody-hates-don-imus-frank-rich.html Fallujah comes to California at US Army's 'model Iraq' http://mparent7777-2.blogspot.com/2007/04/fallujah-comes-to-california-at-us.html More Con Than Neo: MAUREEN DOWD - Wolfowitz http://mparent7777.blogspot.com/2007/04/more-con-than-neo-maureen-dowd.html And More http://mparent7777.blogspot.com/ http://mparent7777-2.blogspot.com/ http://mparent7777-3.blogspot.com/ http://www.wakeupfromyourslumber.com/blog/38 --------------------------------- All new Yahoo! Mail --------------------------------- Get news delivered. Enjoy RSS feeds right on your Mail page.
