Question for knowledgable Democrats

[Jefferson Davis]

1860.

[Ralph]

What year(or approximate time frame) did the democrat party go from a viable American party to a party of losers, screw-ups and communists?

[WantaghDem]

Real funny.

That an ENEMY of the United States such as Jefferson Davis...probably the worst enemy and greatest traitor the United States has EVER seen...would even MENTION 1860.

The Confederacy was and remains an ENEMY of the United States....an ENEMY of the Constitution.

This is an ENEMY who betrayed the United States and all that it stands for, slaughtered United States soldiers and citizens, and almost DESTROYED this great country.

How does it feel to pretend to be the worst enemy the US has ever known? Like a traitor? It SHOULD.
________
VISA GIFT CARDS (http://bestfreegiftcard.com/visa-gift-cards/)

[Malph]

Approximate time frame?

Around the same time Republicans turned into the bunch of hypocritical, tax, borrow and spend racists that now rule the current GOP.

So there!

[Abe Lincoln]

Indeed, your intellect rises to the level of Andrew Johnson. Jefferson Davis was one of YOURS. A Democrat to the core. Why don't you have a nice BBQ with Senator Byrd.

[WantaghDem]

Jefferson Davis no more belongs in the category of "Democrat" today than feeling caring individuals belong in the category of "Republican."

Abraham Lincoln and Dubya don't belong to the same party, no matter what the letterhead says.

Davis was a racist southern ENEMY of the United States - someone who was against progress, didn't believe in the Constitution, especially not the Bill of Rights - who believed that African Americans are subhuman and that the federal government had no rights in the South.

In other words, he would be a Conservative Republican today.
________
Rhode Island Medical Marijuana Dispensary (http://rhodeisland.dispensaries.org/)

[Chairman Mao]

I could have used someone like you during the Cultural Revolution. You're so adept at spouting the party line!

[G Henle Verlag]

Right after Clinton left office. Gore bumbled the election by not letting his b*lls hang out.

When they went Southern. The slide started in 1976 and really avalanched in 1992,

[Denominator]

The convention reforms that gave us McGovern & Dukakis and that are now propelling Dean to the forefront. The Dems must appeal to the most radical left-wing voters, who are motivated to vote, to win presidential primaries then they wonder why they don't have a viable candidate. Democracy doesn't work when the majority voting is not representative of the whole. Lieberman is trying to say that today, but no one is listening.

[South Shore]

Let's see, our last elected president clinton, sat over the greatest economic period in the countrys history with a 240 billion dollar surplus when he left office. We now, after 3 yrs of bush have a projected deficit of 330 billion for next year...great job republicans. By the way Ralph, when did the Nassau county republicans first become a band of stealing crooks?
________
Second hand volcano vaporizer (http://vaporizers.net)

[Ralph]

My question was not meant to be sarcastic. I am told that there was a time when hard-working, law-abiding, tax-paying, patriotic, and decent citizens comprised the Democratic Party. What happened and when?? Was it the 1960's? Did JFK and LBJ destroy the party??

[Your answer]

Mostly during the Nixon years. During that time the Dixecrats turned republican which acted as a counterweight to the more radical progressive democrats. They are now the conservative christian republican base. Consequently the internal structure of BOTH parties changed. The whores of both parties thereafter tailored thier messages to the changed bases

[An Honest Answer]

Your question refers to the rise of the Left in the Democratic Party. I would not blame JFK or LBJ. These were traditional Democrats, one an Irish Catholic from the Northeast, the other a Texan. The polarization began in 1972 with McGovern. The early seventies also marked the beginnings of affirmative action, the "pro choice" and the feminist movement, which also angered mainstream americans, such as the Southern Baptists and Conservative Catholics who supported Democrats. Reagan's realignment of the Republican Party in the 1980s forced quite afew Rockerfeller "liberal" Republicans to ally themselves with Democrats, pulling the party leftward. Reagan also benefited from disenfranchised conservative protestant and Catholic voters leaving the Democratic party. As a longstanding opposition party in 1980's, the Democrats became defined by the special interests groups. A number of personality politicians, such as Jesse Jackson, further identified the Party in the minds of many people as being too far leftward. Arguably, with the defeat of Jacob Javits in 1980, and the death of Nelson Rockerfeller in 1979, the liberal Republican had nowhere to go but to the Democrats. Ronald Reagan defined and defeated the American Liberal simultaneously.

Clinton was an interesting mixture of a politician who understood the disenfranchisement of the rank in file Democrat, and was able to do a very cautious balancing act between interest group politics and maintaining a mainstream image. He was very successful with respect to redefining his opposition as extremists, much like Reagan did. Unfortunately, Clinton's personal behavior was hardly mainstream, and he could not contain his wife's penchant for Northeast Liberalism.

It will be interesting to see how the Supreme Court's sodomy decision and this Gay Bishop controversy will play out politically. My personal feeling is that mainstream American is not ready for this yet, and that Bush and the GOP will make significant gains in the South, the Rust Belt, and the West (except for California). You may be beginning to see a 2004 national GOP victory that may rival Nixon 1972 or Reagan 1984.

[Good going]

Well thought out -

[Proud Dem]

The National Democratic party has its ups-and-downs like the GOP. Today, the Democrats feel down, but have great opportunity to win if they would just grasp it.

What puts the Democrats at a disadvantage today is the successful publicity campaign over the past few decades on all levels by the Republicans to label Democrats as always Liberal and Liberal as always Bad.

Newt Gingrich and boys were liberal to the point of being radical. But they are heroes because they wore the conservative label. The founders of the neo-conservative movement (Irving Kristol, Nathan Glazer, Norman Podhoretz, etc.) were all ex-communists. But they now wear the conservative label, so their still-Socialist views are no longer feared, but embraced.

Bill Clinton gave us an economic boom and, after Somalia, learned about hard-nosed foreign policy and saved Bosnia and Kosovo. He gave GBII the finely honed instrument known as the US Armed Forces that defeated Afghanistan and Iraq. Yet he is vilified (personal failings aside) because he wears the liberal label. Al Gore championed smaller government with the "Reinventing Government" initiative and, when he left office, the US government provided better services with fewer employees. But he is dismissed because he wears the liberal label.

Until the Democrats take back the use of language and definitions from the Republicans and stand their ground in face-to-face confrontation with the Republicans with no apologies, the Democrats will be at a disadvantage in a country that mistakes passion for truth and only wants simple black-and-white answers to our most complex problems.

It speaks volumes that the Democrat's most erudite spokepersons at the moment are comedians Al Franken and Mike Moore. It is time our politicians spoke as forcefully, logically and clearly as these two men.
________
Demon Concept (http://www.dodge-wiki.com/wiki/Dodge_Demon_Concept)

[Proud Dem]

You must suffer from conservative tunnel-vision since you focus on one small comment to structure your insulting rant. Put my comment back in context and THEN reply.

Mike Moore is no different from Ann Coulter, a clear talking confrontational pitbull for their side. It doesn't matter if you agree with what they say or not.

I stand by my post. One strong forthright Democratic candidate ala Bill Clinton will clean the free-spending crony-enriching mumble-mouthed shrub's clock in 2004.

Unfortunately for the nation, this candidate doesn't yet seem to exist.
________
Toyota TF104 history (http://www.toyota-wiki.com/wiki/Toyota_TF104)

[No Affiliation]

Ralph,
Here is a brief but accurate answer. If the Dems represent what might be considered the poor, some(hopefully all) of them will be successful and no longer be democrats. The democrat constituency would therefore be temporary. By establishing a base of, as you put it "losers and screw-ups" you make your base permanent. Communists are added to that base of losers and screw-ups because of their permanance also. This is the only way the Dems can maintain a permanent base.
________
Aromed Vaporizer (http://www.vaporshop.com/aromed-vaporizer.html)

[BornAmerican]

Quote:It will be interesting to see how the Supreme Court's sodomy decision and this Gay Bishop controversy will play out politically. My personal feeling is that mainstream American is not ready for this yet, and that Bush and the GOP will make significant gains in the South, the Rust Belt, and the West (except for California).

There are many polls that show America doesn't have as big an issue with gay rights as they do with the right to work, raise a family, and pursue life, liberty and their own happiness free of the governments fleecing of this great country.