Thursday, December 26, 2002

Sleeping With The Enemy

Former HUD Secretary and failed Democratic primary candidate Andrew Cuomo is writing a "What Went Wrong For The Democrats" book for Random House, Newsday reports. Cuomo is soliciting contributions for the book from Peggy Noonan and J.C. Watts, in addition to Democrats. He is also quoted as stating "[w]e didn't have a philosophy. ... We had a critique of the Republicans, but we didn't have a Democratic vision."

Sounds like Cuomo's got J.F.K. Jr. disease: putting self-promotion above principle. Why would any sane Democrat solicit advice from a lunatic whose last bit of advice for the Democrats was "to get a good psychologist and a good holy man or woman...." (To add slander to insult, Nooner was claiming to speak for Paul Wellstone, one week after his death.)

If Andrew can't find a vision for the Democratic party, he might want to try this one:

[T]he first principle of our Democratic commitment ...[i]s the politics of inclusion, the solemn obligation to create opportunity for all our people. Not just the fit and the fortunate....[Para.] All the people, from wherever. No matter how recently. Of whatever color, of whatever creed, of whatever sex, of whatever sexual orientation, all of them equal members of the American family, and the neediest of them deserving the most help from the rest of us. That is the fundamental Democratic predicate. Surrender that Democratic principle and we might just as well tear the donkeys from our lapels, pin elephants on instead, and retreat to elegant estates behind ivy-covered walls, where, when they detect a callus on their palms, they conclude it's time to put down their polo mallet.
Sound familiar, Andy? Your pals Peg and J.C. call it "class warfare." Others call it economic justice.

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