Nov 19, 2004  |  By: Chris Crain  | COMMENTS     

well enough, and … I think we have to confront the problem.

“By and large, our message has been, ‘We can manage problems,’ while the Republicans … produce a narrative. We produce a litany. They say, ‘I’m going to protect you from the terrorists in Tehran and the homos in Hollywood.’ We say, ‘We’re for clean air, better schools, more health care.’”

It’s to be expected that a consultant like Carville sees “winning elections” as the point behind political parties, but in reality it’s that ultra-pragmatism that’s at the heart of the Democrats’ problem.

The reason Republicans have “a narrative” and not a “litany,” as Carville puts it, is that they know what they stand for and they consistently fight on those principles. So long as Democrats sacrifice their principled stands — and principled candidates — at the altar of “electability,” they will always fall short in the narrative department.

A Democratic Party that throws out principle in favor of electability will always look like what it is: the amalgamated product of focus groups and opinion polls, forever shifting with the winds. That was exactly the rub on John Kerry, and it was richly deserved.

It’s no secret that Carville and others in the party, including Bill Clinton — who earlier this year pressured Kerry to come out more strongly in favor of statewide ballot measures banning gay marriage — will be pushing party leaders to “moderate” and better disguise their support for gay rights.

In an appearance Monday on National Public Radio, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a longtime gay rights supporter, went so far as to complain that Kerry’s failure on gay marriage was one of communication, not substance. She argued, incredibly enough, that the Bush and Kerry positions on gay marriage were indistinguishable, since both were opposed to legalizing it.

If this is the “New Democrat” answer to the president’s re-election, it will most assuredly fail because the American people will see right through it.

Gay rights groups, which have also sacrificed far too much for electability and failed to articulate the case for our equality, should act now to buck up Democratic voices that are willing to stand up for gay rights, including legal recognition for gay couples.

Remember that the same infamous exit polls that supposedly signaled the triumphant rise of “values voters” also indicated that a substantial majority — 61 percent — support gay marriage or civil unions.

If gay rights groups and their allies in both parties would only find their backbone and actually make the case for our equality, we can win this mighty battle. But if we are afraid to try, we are surely doomed to fail.