Text 13223, 78 rader
Skriven 2005-06-01 22:28:00 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
Ärende: Liberals
================
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,158351,00.html

Progressives Vow to Take Back America
Wednesday, June 01, 2005

WASHINGTON  In some quarters of American politics, liberals stand accused of
having no ideas  but that hasn't stopped those on the left from plotting to
shift the balance of power.

In Washington on Wednesday, the most liberal wing of the Democratic Party
salivated over the prospect that President Bush is in deep trouble and
Democrats have a prospect of winning back ground lost in the last two
elections.

"They have a big problem. America is not buying what they're peddling," said
Robert Borosage, co-director of Campaign for America's Future, which is hosting
the Take Back America 2005 conference. "Americans aren't buying what they're
selling because they're being mugged by reality. The policies of Bush, (Senate
Majority Leader Bill) Frist and (House Majority Leader Tom) DeLay are failing
this country; they're weakening America."

The three-day meeting is part of a brainstorming strategy for developing the
plan to throw out Republicans. In extensive polling for the conference,
Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg (search) said he found deep disenchantment
with the war in Iraq and President Bush's proposals on Social Security as well
as uneasiness over his economic policies.

By a margin of 55 to 37 percent, poll respondents said they believe the country
is headed in the wrong direction. In a separate question, 55 percent said they
want the country to go in a significantly different direction than it is now.

"Only 41 percent of the American people today say they want to continue the
direction George Bush is going," Greenberg said.

But responses about the direction of the country measure far more than the
president's policies. The most recent numbers were essentially the same as for
the year preceding the 2004 election.

The president's approval rating  at 49 percent in this poll  is also about
where it was on Election Day 2004, say Republican backers of Bush.

"These are the same folks that said the president's approval rating was too low
to get re-elected; that the right track, wrong track was going to make Kerry
win," said Republican pollster Matthew Dowd (search), referring to the
president's opponent, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry.

Instead, Bush won by 3 million votes, 51-48 percent.

"He won Republicans, won independents and won some Democrats," Dowd said.

Even if the president were in as much trouble as Democrats hope, they readily
acknowledge voters have doubts about Democratic candidates.

"In 2004, voters came away from the election without a clue for what John Kerry
stood for," Greenberg said.

Democratic polling shows that one thing voters do like about Bush is the
clarity of his ideas, something they do not see in Democratic candidates.

"They don't know their policy direction, they don't know their underlying
values, they don't know who they fight for. And there is a reason. It's not
because of bad communication, it's because they have not in fact run with
conviction," Greenberg said.

Dowd agreed with the assessment.

"If you saw this as a football team, they need a new playbook and they need a
new quarterback. They don't have either," he said.

The activists gathered in Washington said Democrats need a bold agenda of new
initiatives, and most of all, need to fight the president and his allies in
Congress on every front.

One speaker said the Democratic base will not come around if Democrats
compromise, suggesting the partisan divide in Washington may get even deeper.

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