During the McGovern-Mondale era, the Democrats were exactly where the Republicans are now: the party had been taken over by its most extreme liberal faction, and it had lost touch with the core concerns of the middle class, just as the Republicans have now. When I spoke to Whitman this week about what the Republican Party needed to do to become a more inclusive, less rigidly dogmatic party, she said, “It’s going to take some kind of shock therapy.” Those terrible losses in 1972 and, especially, in 1984 were the Democrats’ shock therapy. Just eight years after Mondale’s loss, Bill Clinton was elected president.
What happened in the interim? In effect, moderate Democrats wrested the party back from its most liberal wing. Moderates like Richard Gephardt and Charles Robb began meeting weekly to rethink what the party stood for. One of the people involved in those discussions was Al From, who would later go on to create the Democratic Leadership Council, which became the platform for new Democratic ideas — and, for that matter, for Clinton’s presidential run.
Interesting. I always thought the Times considered that McGovern and Mondale lost because of the incompetence of their respective campaigns--certainly not because of their political beliefs. By way of John Hinderaker at Power Line, here is what the Times had to say in 1972 about McGovern:
The New York Times urges the election of George McGovern for President of the United States. We believe that Senator McGovern’s approach to public questions, his humanitarian philosophy and humane scale of values, his courage and forthrightness can offer a new kind of leadership in American political life. …
A McGovern administration, the Times believes, would reverse the unmistakable drift in Washington away from government of, by and for the people. …
On virtually every major issue from the war to taxes, from education to environment, from civil liberties to national defense, Mr. McGovern…seems to us to be moving with the right priorities, with faith in the common man, and within the democratic framework.
And here is what they said in 1984 about Mondale:
[Mondale's] election would mean franker, fairer decisions on the hard economic choices that the President has concealed during the campaign. Mr. Mondale would offer an enlightened and humane conception of what Government should, and should not, do. Most of all, he would bring to the White House the will to control nuclear weapons. …
Walter Mondale believes in a sturdy defense. He also stands in the middle of the bipartisan community that long ago learned to abandon the fruitless quest for nuclear superiority. In this election, he represents all those Republicans and Democrats determined to tame the nuclear threat.
Lawyer Mondale offers pragmatic skill at making the best of reality. … Walter Mondale has all the dramatic flair of a trigonometry teacher. His Nordic upbringing makes it hard for him to brag. The first debate may have been the high point of his political personality. But there’s power in his plainness.
Precisely by not dramatizing issues, he has consistently produced consensus and agreement, as a Senator and as Jimmy Carter’s Vice President.
Seems a little bit different than what Nocera maintains, doesn't it?
Nocera interviewed Christine Todd Whitman for his op-ed, and her evidence for the rightward drift of the Republican Party in recent years was the fact that in 2008, “'John McCain got two million more self-identified social conservatives than George Bush in 2004, yet he was soundly defeated. Constantly looking for ways to drum people out of the party is not a long-term, successful strategy.'" I am sure this assessment got the silent nod of approval from Nocera. But here is what the Times had to say about McCain just as far back as 2008, before he became the extreme and ideologically rigid Republican nominee:
Mr. McCain, who has delighted in sticking his thumb in the eye of mainstream Republicans throughout his political career, is now accumulating a base of support among party regulars who see him as the strongest general election candidate in the remaining Republican field.
[...]
Many object to his moderate views on immigration. Pro-business conservatives have attacked his positions on the environment, pointing to legislation Mr. McCain has co-sponsored to address climate change. Conservatives have also attacked his high-profile criticism of Republicans in Congress over pork barrel spending and of President Bush on the early conduct of the Iraq war.
I think the next thing to be eliminated at the Times, along with all pretenses of objectivity, is the search button on their website.
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