I wrote this over at the comments of
Winds of Change:
I don't think any significant majority of Democrats read Michael Moore or his ilk; despite Dean being in the lead I continue to think that a vast majority of Democrats are sane people who favor a strong defense but just want things done differently than how Bush is doing it. I might not agree with them, but their voices should be part of the discussion.
The problem is that these people are being crowded out by the Bush Is Evil people who are putting Dean in the lead, and forcing the other candidates to pander to them (did anyone foresee how dovish Clark would be?). Some might say that this is the result of the primary process where only activists and true believers bother to participate, but this problem doesn't seem to infect Republicans. In 1996, when the right wing crazies hate Clinton just as much as Bush is hated by the lefties now, the Republicans ended up with Dole, a mediocre candidate but one who isn't going to set the party back for 5 years (instead of, say, Pat Buchanan). The Democrats need to figure out why their party continually come up with electoral disasters (McGovern, Mondale, Dukakis) while the Republicans don't.
