Alternate title–
Return of the San Francisco Democrats.
Gephardt’s head will be the first in the basket.
This means two things. One is that there will be a leadership battle in the House, which is likely to reveal very clearly the schism in the Democratic party, between the left, and the far left. Second is that the front-runner is Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), as in San Francisco. If the wing of the party that believes they weren’t “progressive” enough wins out, this is very good news for the Republicans. They’re really in a box. If they don’t move left, they’ll lose support to the Greens and the Michael Moore/ idiotarian wing. If they do, they’ll lose the Zell Millers, who will likely switch.
This is the lowest point of the Democratic Party in my lifetime, and they have Bill Clinton to thank. This is the culmination of his tenure. Like everything and everyone else, he used the party for his own narcissistic purposes, and then, like toilet paper, disposed of it.
1994 was the beginning of the end, after he put Hillary in charge of health care, and signed the anti-gun legislation (the latter was a much bigger factor than the press wants to admit).
2000 was the next phase, in which Gore lost because of the sleaze associated with Clintonism.
Now, in 2002, the destruction is complete. They’ve lost both the executive and the legislative branches of government, and the judiciary isn’t far behind, now that the Leahy firebreak is no longer in place. They’ve wrecked the party in one of its flagship states, New York, and their hand-picked DNC chairman is widely viewed as responsible for the national disaster. They dragged the party down into the sewer with them, associating it in the minds of many with corruption, cheating, disregard for the rule of law, and an almost nihilistic will to win at any cost, exhibited most dramatically at last week’s wake/rally for Wellstone.
That, more than anything else, is the legacy of Bill and Hillary Clinton.