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Democrats seem intent on losing a presidential sure-thing, don’t they?

For many years I have been proud to call myself a Democrat. As a student of history, I decided that the Democratic Party, at least since the days of FDR, represents most clearly the "progressive," "pro-people" approach to government which I believe is the right and the best way to run a country. (In my more "liberal" or "progressive" moments, I think I'm probably closer to a Socialist than just a liberal Democrat. That's a whole story I won't get into right now.)

The Republican Party, on the other hand, seems to be to have been pretty much "bought out" by the idiotic bunch of people who've called themselves, or been labeled, or both, "Neo-Conservatives," or "neo-cons." I cannot abide the smug, self-righteous, people-hating, hurtful, downright "silliness" that I hear spouting from the neo-cons. But, anyway, all that isn't the point of my "rant" here.

The purpose of all this is to say: Why on earth does the Democratic Party seem so intent on losing the presidential election? Which is exactly what I think they're going to do if Barack and Hillary don't end this silly campaign and find a way to unite the party. Again today, I've seen some recent CNN polls (I think it was CNN?) indicating a substantial percentage of the registered Democratic voters surveyed will NEVER vote for either of them, but will vote for Sen. John McCain instead.

No, that doesn't adequately explain the survey. Let me try again. Something like 19 percent surveyed said they would vote for McCain if Obama is the Democratic candidate. Something around 25-28 percent (that may be wrong; I don't recall the exact numbers) said they would vote for McCain if Hillary is the Democratic candidate.

What a sorry mess. We have a country mired in a war in Iraq which we never should have started, we have obscenely large budget deficits because the Republican president doesn't comprehend the basic idea that you CAN'T cut taxes while vomiting money into an obscenely large Defense budget and a multitude of other government spending. (He's created, in my mind, a quaint counterpart to the old "tax and spend" adage Republicans always threw at Democrats. In Bush's case, the phrase is "cut taxes and spend anyway.")

Given all that, the Democrats should be a walk-in for the White House. But my best guess? If they pick Hillary, McCain wins in a landslide. If they pick Barack, McCain wins anyway, but probably in a closer election.

Cynical? Yup. As I mentioned last week, I probably am going to vote for Ralph Nader. Or stay home.
[tags]Democratic candidates, 2008 presidential election, Iraq war, economic troubles, just a guy who reads the papers[/tags]