This Wall Street Journal editorial hits the nail on the head in its analysis of the Democratic Party's current leadership, "which has arguably never been more overtly hostile to free markets, deregulation, tax reform and free trade than it is today."
And let's not forget, the party's current leadership "has made Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo its main policy touchstones for the war on terror." This week's outburst by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., comparing U.S. military terror-prison guards with Nazis is only the latest incident.
Which is a very bad thing, given that this is also the party that - at least rhetorically - favors gay rights. Unless the Democrats can be drawn back toward the center and away from reflexive obstructionism, they will become increasingly marginalized - with their support for gay rights being seen as just more evidence of their capture by the left.
A Republican Party dominated by cultural reactionaries, and a Democratic Party dominated by appeasement-minded, anti-market reactionaries does not bode well for anyone's future.
Update: This isn't new, but political columnist
Michael Barone (of U.S. News & World Report) makes some good
points on how blogosphere politics have driven the Democrats to the
left - and into an electoral cul de sac. He writes:
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.