The Socialist, Hillary, got left out.
We are at a shifting point in the political landscape.
Look at the history of political parties in this country, and you'll see a pattern: at times of stress, the major parties fracture, and many smaller parties form, but rather quickly the different factions re-arrange themselves once again into two major coalitions but with a new focus than before.
It appears to be happening again. The names Democrat and Republican may go on, but their meaning is changing.
Besides the ascendance of the far left in the Democrat party, among the Republicans we see the small-government conservatives in disarray with the "RINO" John McCain now at the helm and serious talk of the very real possibility he could choose "DINO" Joe Lieberman as his running mate! Though the odds of that may not be great, that they are non-zero is an important signal.
Predictions:
(1) A new "centrist" party of RINO/DINO moderate Republicans and Democrats will form if John McCain is elected and he picks some Democrats for his cabinet as a unity gesture. Maybe this party gets a new name but probably it will keep the Republican name. This party will probably spend too much but with luck will have a vigorous hawkish neo-con foreign policy. It might even embrace the separation of State and Federal government (the new rallying cry of the 21st century?) and select judges who believe the Constitution says what it means and means what it says.
(2) An even more furious far-left contingent of Europhile high-tax pacifist Democrats (the Kucinich, Obama, Gore & Kennedy types) who are really neo-Marxists will become even more extreme, and split from/alienate the rest of the party.
(3) Some small-government conservatives will waste their time getting behind paleo-conservatives like Pat Buchanan or wacky libertarian-types like Ron Paul. They might make a go of a third party nuisance for a while but won't amount to much unless they get under the Republican umbrella again.
(4) Evangelical types seem to be splitting, with the pacifist/socialist leaners looking to the far-left Democrats, and the social conservative family-values types left with the Republicans.
Some highlights from the Kucinich speech at the DNC tonight that brought the crowd to a roaring fever pitch:
Kucinich electrifies convention arenaI suppose Government is supposed to take over health care, drug prices, and Wall Street?
It will become known as the “Wake Up, America” speech.
“Fellow Democrats, are you ready for November?” he asked.
“It’s election day 2008 and we Democrats are giving America a wake up call. Wake up, America!”
In 2001, the oil companies and the war contractors seized the country and added four trillion dollars to the national debt.
“Millions of Americans have lost their jobs; trillions of dollars for an unwarranted war paid for with borrowed money; tens of millions of dollars in cash and weapons disappeared into thin air at the cost of the lives of our troops and innocent Iraqis.”
Meanwhile, with the U.S. helping to rebuild infrastructure in Iraq and Afghanistan, “there is no money to rebuild bridges in America.”
Then he launched into a “Wake Up” litany:
“The insurance companies took over health care. Wake up, America!
“The pharmaceutical companies took over drug prices. Wake up, America”
“The speculators took over Wall Street. Wake up, America!”
With each refrain, the delegates grew more frenzied.
What a disaster that would be!
He played on the terror alert level “color chart.”Yeah, the alert level is all a big joke.
“Every day we get the color orange while the oil companies, the insurance companies, the speculators, the war contractors get the color green. Wake up, America.
“This is not a call for you to take a new direction from right to left; this is a call for you to go from down to up.Gag.
“Up with peace!” Kucinich yelled to approving roars. “Up with prosperity! Up with education! Up with Democrats!
The delegates continued to cheer through the first part of the next speaker’s remarks.
More like Up with Chuck!
Update: Must be something in the air, just saw these relevant comments at Belmont Club to the effect of McCain salvaging what remains of the traditional Democrats:
wretchard:
Mike Moran recalls George McGovern’s rueful remark after Chicago, the exact moment when something had perished. “I opened the door to the Democratic party and 20 million people walked out.” Maybe the significance of Denver is that what begun in 1968 has finally been achieved in 2008. Ayers is now inside the tent. But where will all the 20 million go? I realize that John McCain may know in his bones that he can’t be the candidate of the Republican Party as conservatives would like it because the Democratic party as we know it has already died, and he must hasten to pick up the pieces.
whiskey:
Also, yes Wretchard you are quite correct.
The old, FDR-LBJ party is dead. McCain does know, that he can only win with Democrats, including Clinton-ites. Not even Bill Clinton is persona grata in the Hard Left Democratic Party.
Eventually, the Republican Party will fissure, but the rump of the Democratic Party, the Hard Left Rich (same thing) will still dominate the wealthy metropoli with the hard left angry minorities: San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Chicago, Atlanta, Philly, etc.
