" ...the democratic party has lost touch with it's constituency."

I dunno, Jerry. That's kinda vague. What IS its constituency? They went out and picked a candidate who got 48 million votes. Were they more 'in touch' when Gore got more votes 4 years ago?

Seems to me that the situation is that there is (roughly) a 40% block of Republicans that would vote Republican if Karl Rove sprouted horns and a tail, and (roughly)40% of Democrats that would vote Democrat if Al Sharpton had been nominated....but in between is this 20% or so of folks who respond to different criteria, and MY personal opionion is that the Republicans worked very hard pulling whatever emotional strings that are connected to a lot of those in between folks...many of them single issue or 'theme' voters...(war, abortion, gun control, 'security', patriotism, gay rights and marriages...etc.) They made every effort NOT to clarify what they intended on many issues, and to concentrate on just what would push buttons...(and keep some people FROM pushing voting buttons)

I have said before that I believe that the very conservative Republicans who dominate the party mechanism right now have embarked on a complex plan to UN-level the playing field in order to tilt the whole process in their favor. So, in this sense, I "blame the Republicans" for skewing the very concept of Democracy while promoting the idea. This is a hard thing to **prove**, and Karl Rove is too smart to nod in agreement with my suspicion.

Right now we see some murmuring in Republican ranks, as this war is looking more & more like it will cost WAY more money and lives for its value than even some Republicans can stomach....so, if some Republicans start blaming each other, we may get a 'course correction' in 2008...at least at the top!

I know there are Republicans out there that are NOT obsessed Messianic fools...that even if they were elected, it would not scare the living sh** out of me...but until they rescue their party from this idiocy it is mired in, I WILL blame them for pushing the whole country into a situation that is lose/lose, and making the entire political debate take twists & turns that bewilder well-meaning folks on BOTH side!