Stones Cry Out

You cannot have a functioning civil society when half the members of that society have decided the other half seriously intends to institute the equivalent of a new Nazi regime.

This stuff started as simple hyperbole, and both sides were equally guilty of using it. There's even a cute little Internet custom that says the first side who resorts to a Nazi analogy loses the argument. Ha, ha. Yet at some point a scarey-large number of people missed the joke. And then a scarey-large political party told those same folks to come on in.

It's not like the left has always been this way. And I'm not even claiming this is a common belief even now. It's just too d*mn easily tolerated by those who should know better.

When a political ally says, "I think President Bush is trying to make the United States just like Nazi Germany, so I oppose him," the proper response is not, "Well, that's a bit of a stretch for me. But since we both agree we don't want him elected, let's join forces." The proper response is "Get away from me you freaking lunatic! I don't want anyone mistaking my rational opposition with your nutjob ravings!"

Like Doug, I've seen friends become seduced by the anti-Bush nutjob ravings, and I've given up trying to hold a civil political conversation with them, because such a thing is impossible.

The Republicans need a loyal opposition if only to keep them honest, but somewhere along the way, the Democrats forgot the "loyal" part, and settled on being simply the "opposition."

With Howard "I hate Republicans and everything they stand for" Dean in charge of the DNC, I doubt we'll see the Democrats regaining their sanity. The sooner a third party can gain enough support to replace the Democrats, the better.

Howard Dean was chosen partly for his ability to raise funds for the DNC, but funding alone won't put anyone in the White House. Michael Barone has a great column that touches on what the prominence of lefties like DailyKos and Howard Dean mean for the Democratic party. (Hat tip: Th' Anchoress.)

The Democratic Internet constituency was and is motivated by one thing more than anything else: hatred of George W. Bush. To see that you only have to take a look at dailykos.com, run by Democratic consultant Markos Moulitsas, which gets 400,000 page views a day--far more than any other political weblog--and which received funding from the Dean campaign (which Moulitsas disclosed). It seethes with hatred of Bush, constantly attacks Republicans, and excoriates Democrats who don't oppose Bush root and branch. When four American contractors were killed in Iraq in April 2004, dailykos.com wrote, "I feel nothing over the death of the mercenaries. They are there to wage war for profit. Screw them." This repulsive comment produced no drop-off in page views. This was what the left blogosphere wanted. Kos was an early enthusiast for Dean's campaign for Democratic chairman and disparaged other candidates.

For 12 years, Democratic chairmen were chosen by Bill Clinton. He built a new generation of fundraisers who relished contact with the Clintons. Now the big money comes from the left blogosphere and Bush-hating billionaires like George Soros. Dean gives them what they want. As Dean says, "I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for." Hate. But Bush hatred was not enough to beat Bush in 2004--while Democratic turnout was up, Republican turnout was up more--and doesn't seem likely to beat Republicans in 2006 and 2008. The left blogosphere has driven the Democrats into an electoral cul de sac.

We can only hope. Because the alternative is a party in power that's motivated solely by hatred for the "other." And that is one of the scariest things I can imagine happening to this country.