I'm going to take an optimistic point of view right now. Bush is tanking...his approval ratings are at an all time low. The Republicans have little to promote themselves with, except fear, and this seems to be losing its effectiveness.
So, what are the Democrats doing? Promoting liberal/progressive ideals? Calling for health care reform? Major education reform?
No. We're talking about having John McCain (a republican...duh) as our VP candidate. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Now is the time for democrats to sweep into office riding a wave of liberalism designed to save this country. Now is not the time to "bridge the gap" between right and left, it's the time to save our country by getting rid of everyone associated with this administration, and we're not going to do this by nominating (or even hinting about nominating) a republican VP candidate.
We seem to be establishing the idea within our party that it's not the republicans that are the problem, it's George Bush and his cronies that are the problem. While I certainly agree that George Bush is largely responsible for the debacle we're in right now, the Republican party is certainly not an innocent bystander. We have a real opportunity to turn this country around, and I'd hate to see us lose this chance by moderating our party so much that we basically become what republicans were before GWB.
Am I wrong? What are we doing to keep the democratic party from shifting to the old republican ideology? Where are the progressive/liberal ideals that we like? We need to stop this talk about McCain becoming VP- Kerry should choose a nominee ASAP and make sure he/she is a solid democrat