David Frum is worried about John Kerry's "opportunism," and what will happen if the Democrats lose narrowly in November.
After September 11, it looked for a moment as if America was returning to the foreign-policy consensus of the 1950s and early 1960s. But the Democrats' unexpected defeat in the 2002 congressional elections maddened members and leadership alike. Since then, Democratic opinion has not been led by the party's generally level-headed elected leaders, but by outside groups such as MoveOn.org.Posted by Alan at July 28, 2004 12:32 PMThose groups have incited rage and paranoia in party ranks. (Last week, Democrats were frothing about an imaginary plot by Mr Bush to postpone or cancel the presidential election - this based on a remark by a federal emergency management official that his bureaucracy was preparing contingency plans in case al-Qa'eda attempted to disrupt the vote.) And the Democratic leadership has indulged and even encouraged this incitement.
The true voice of this year's Democratic Party is not the jolly chuckle of Bill Clinton, but the strident ranting of Mr Gore. The mood in Boston will be uglier than the mood at any major party convention since the Democrats met in Chicago in 1968.
Democratic leaders whisper that they will promptly curb the passions they have loosed as soon as they win in November. But if they lose - and especially if they lose narrowly - the party establishment may discover that it has lost control of its increasingly hysterical base. It's a disturbing outlook - both for the Democratic Party, for America and for America's friends around the world.