MoveOn and the Dems

This LA Times article (sorry, registration required)about MoveOn.org's attempts to broaden its reach by recruiting creative liberals, such as Moby and Rob Reiner, to help spread the group's message, contains a quote from an unnamed "Democratic strategist" that perfectly captures why I have such a hard time becoming supportive of the Democratic party and its less than aweinspiring candidate. According to this strategist, MoveOn's "contempt for Bush is alien to most Americans; it's over the top."

It may be that MoveOn's contempt for Bush is alien to most Americans, but Bush has gone out of his way to earn it, and if this contempt is alien to most Americans, I'd say it's a key job of this strategist and others in similar positions to convey to Americans why so many of us on the left have such a visceral reaction to Bush. That people such as this strategist are so disturbed by MoveOn may lie in the fact that Kerry, as I noted in an earlier post (It's Got to Be Kerry, June 28) hasn't displayed, at least through his voting record over the last three years on subjects that have ignited the more liberal wing of the Democratic party, that his priorities and values aren't that different from Bush's.

I would like to believe that MoveOn represents the future of the Democratic Party, and it's large subscriber list and the success of many of its activities show that it is a powerful force on the left. From entries and comments I've seen on other "progressive" blogs, though, I've concluded that even among many who hate Bush, the agenda of MoveOn and even more so, the agenda of the Green Party, are too "radical" for them to be comfortable.