From: Paul Sharpe [mailto:Paul@SharpesWeb.com]
Sent: Sunday, July 09, 2006 8:56 AM
To: 'steve.lopez@latimes.com'
Subject: Steve Lopez - AKA Paul Revere
Steve,
I usually bypass your
typically liberal writings, but this one piqued me. Here you hit the nail
on the head. I wish you could rally the Dems to stand for something to wake
up the Republicans. I am a dissatisfied Republican because of the
immigration stand Bush has. The House has it right, but Bush is slow to get
it.
When you come out with an
article like this, it gives me the �random reinforcement� to continue to
check out your column. Whether I agree with your positions or not, you are
enjoyable to read.
Keep up the good work.
STEVE LOPEZ POINTS WEST
Democrats' Fundraising Letter Is Bankrupt on Ideas
Steve Lopez
Points West
July 9, 2006
It's not often that I reach into my mailbox at home and find a letter from
Ted Kennedy, so I was eager to see what was on the mind of the
saber-rattling senator from the great state of Massachusetts.
The letter began "Dear Friend," which is a little impersonal, if you ask me.
When my friends at the Republican National Committee wrote to ask me to sign
President Bush's birthday card � and send along a few bucks � they began
their letter, "Dear Steve."
Kennedy, you'll be shocked to know, was also hitting me up for money, in
this case for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee.
"Yes, Senator Kennedy," said the contribution form I was supposed to check
off and return, "I share your concern over the arrogance and incompetence of
the Bush Administration."
In anticipation of my generosity, Kennedy enclosed a complimentary bumper
sticker:
HAD ENOUGH?
Vote Democrat in '06
As a matter of fact, I do share Kennedy's concern about the Bush
administration, and so I was eager to read the four-page letter and other
enclosed materials to find out more about the alternative vision being
offered up by the Democratic Party.
Page 1, however, contained no such clues. It just fired more bazooka shots
at the president and his "extreme right-wing allies," so I figured the fresh
ideas from the Dems had to be on Page 2.
Wrong again. Page 2 was nothing but groveling for money for contested races
in Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Minnesota.
("It's urgent for each of us to do as much
as possible as soon as possible!")
Page 3 suggested the Republicans will burn in hell for sins against humanity
("They've poisoned our air and water"), and Page 4 warned, "They'll never
stop unless we stop them.
They're shameless!"
That's quite a cavalry call, but it seems to me the Democrats are
once again rushing to the front lines with empty muskets.
I'm not asking for the Democratic equivalent of a 10-point Contract With
America, having lowered my expectations while on the campaign trail with Al
Gore and bearing witness to his nationally televised identity crisis.
I'd settle for a five-point "Contract With Western Blue States." Heck, I'd
be happy with a warmed-over crumb of an idea or two.
Instead all we get from the Democrats is the reminder that they stand for �
wait, let's see, where was that platform draft?
Oh, yeah. They're anti-Iraq war, or at least they are now that it's turned
out so miserably.
And they're passionately � hold on a second. What else was there?
Anti-Republican. That's it.
Write a check today because
"They're shameless!"
Craig Smith, a former speechwriter for Gerald Ford and the first
President Bush, said the Kennedy letter is a direct response to polls that
show declining support for the war in Iraq and for the president.
But he finds it astounding that the Democratic Party still can't move beyond
its attack strategy and figure out how to define and sell itself with a
specific, alternative agenda.
Smith, who teaches campaign persuasion at Cal State Long Beach, has a simple
piece of advice for his political rivals:
Go back to your roots.
"They have not been the loyal opposition," said Smith, who believes
Democrats sold their souls under the influence of the Democratic Leadership
Council, which pushed the party toward the center after Walter Mondale was
blown out by Ronald Reagan.
There's an intellectual distinction to be made in the essence of what it
means to be a Republican or a Democrat, Smith said, and Democrats ought to
embrace the difference.
"For me, it always goes back to this: If you put a gun to a Republican's
head and say, 'Choose between individuality or equality,' they'll pick
individual freedom. A good liberal will pick equality over individual
freedom."
Democrats, he said, need to get back to the social agenda. They ought to put
healthcare reform back at the top of their to-do list, and not cut and run
the way Bill Clinton did.
They ought to be screaming about wages that keep millions in abject poverty,
and they ought to put up or shut up on education, doing something more than
attacking Bush's "no child left behind" program.
It's a sad day in America when a Republican can deliver a more coherent
agenda in a single paragraph than Ted Kennedy can in a four-page screed.
I guess what I'm trying to say here is that instead of writing a check to
Mr. Kennedy, I tossed his letter � along with the bumper sticker � into the
can.
My decision was endorsed by Ken Khachigian, the GOP consultant who worked
with Reagan. He recalled Kennedy's speech at the 1980 Democratic National
Convention, referring to it as the speech "left-wingers" love to quote:
"The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream
shall never die."
"So," Khachigian said, "regarding this letter, these are my questions for
Ted: What work goes on; which cause endures; where does hope live; and, by
the way, what IS the dream?"
Reach the columnist at
steve.lopez@latimes.com and read previous columns at
http://www.latimes.com/lopez.
