I wonder if this Paula Berinstein is this Paula Berinstein?

Let those Democratic leaders who think their party should show more religious faith and moderate its stand on abortion know this: If the Democratic Party does so, it will lose millions of lifelong members like me.

Moving to the right is not the answer. The Democrats got 48 percent of the vote in the 2004 presidential election. They don't need to change their positions. They need to take control of the debate, get their voters to the polls and make sure that Republicans don't pull dirty tricks.

If the Democratic Party moves to the right, I will defect to the Green Party, as will many of my friends and family.

Paula Berinstein
Thousand Oaks, Calif., Nov. 17, 2004

That's the problem that the Dems have. They may not be able to gain in the center without losing more heavily their base.

[Via Jim Geraghty]

What dirty trick(s) did the Republican/Conservative/Bush voters use? Why the oldest trick in the book!! The one where we showed up and voted for who WE wanted and where we did NOT vote for who THEY wanted. We excercised our right to choose the candidate we wanted and our candidate got the most votes. How dastardly, how underhanded, how funny!!

The problem here is one of perception. They, the Democrats, perceive that they have a RIGHT to lead. No one has that right, thats why we have a system of voting. We don't have Kings or Nobles, in name anyway. Saddam Hussein thought he had a right to lead, Hitler thought he had a right to lead, Mao thought he had a right to lead. Now I know I'll hear from some who say I am aligning the Dems with despots. Not me, history, folks, has done that.

I cannot find one instance where a true conservative thought he/she had a RIGHT to lead. It's a thought pattern that does not for the most part exist in conservatism. It's an elitist way of thinking. Elitism and Conservatism are two ends of the spectrum.

"They need to take control of the debate, get their voters to the polls and make sure that Republicans don't pull dirty tricks."

To translate the liberal-speak...

Control the debate = label anything we disagree with as politically incorrect hate speech or as radical fundamentalism or some such; ensure that the news media only put forth the liberal propaganda line; commit acts of terrorism against the opposition to eliminate their voice from the "debate"

Get voters to the polls = Ensure that every felon and/or corpse votes at least once; pre-load the voting machines with the votes of all those we feel would vote for us but won't show up

Republican dirty tricks = anytime those ignorant hillbilly fundies happen to expose a Democratic dirty trick

The whole thing is hilarious -- the neo-commies are apparently so stupid that they can't comprehend how far from the mainstream they really are.

- Eric.

Not stupid, Eric. Temporarily insane. And therefore more to be pitied than anything else, as well as helped when they can be.

Or they may able to. Whilst a formal split in the Democratic party, or a mass defection by the Petulant Left because of a move to the center, might hand the Republicans some fantastic-looking victories for an electoral cycle or two due to lack of a credible, organized opposition, a strong centrist party end up marginalizing both left and right

One more person who thinks Dems lose because they don't get the message out by "tak(ing) control of the debate..." or some other way. They get the message out just fine, and understanding it,more than half of the voters have rejected it in every election since 1976.

When advertising doesn't get the job done, you have to think about changing the product.

I don't know who's worse -- the triumphant right or the dogmatic left.

The last real Presidential winner with a major mandate was Ronald Reagan 20 years ago.

Might I suggest to people on both sides that you should address your opponents with respect and grace? Citing the faults of some of your opponents isn't a very attractive strategy.

If the two Paula Berinsteins really are the same person, I suggest that people who are commenting with so much hostility might have major areas of agreement with her. Why not try working on those areas rather than engaging in speech that seems more inflamatory than persuasive?

I sent an e-mail to Paula Berinstein (author of "Making Space Happen" asking whether they are the same person. But it is veru likely - her (business?) address is Augura Hills, CA, which is very close to Thousand Oaks, CA.

Perhaps they are mistaken. I would suggest they lost because they did get their message out.

It would be interesting indeed if entrepreneur Paula were the same as NYT Paula. It could be explained if her take on "personal" liberty isn't the same as her take on "economic" liberty. I don't really find it surprising that an economic libertarian would object to "more religious faith" in his party's leaders, or consider defecting to the equally iconoclastic Greens. And her odd statement on abortion could have a highly personal origin. (Also, the NYT could have edited her letter to bring out what the NYT felt were the most "relevant" points.)

The most surprising thing, however, if e-Paula = NYT Paula, is that e-Paula has built her career on cutting through hype and bullshit to critically evaluate the reasons for success or failure of a business venture.

Yet NYT Paula has swallowed whole the hype and bullshit by those in the DNC cocoon that the success of the GOP's 2004 election venture came from the religious faith (as opposed to moral principles) of its leaders and its uncompromising stand on abortion (as opposed to, say, fighting terrorism).

Of course, people can be dumb as rocks outside their field of competence. Perhaps that explains it.

On the larger issue, I think the entire furious argument among donks about "moral" issues is just a red herring, a way to soothingly talk the faithful into believing that the party was unable to appeal to a majority not because they ran a dumfuk ADHD campaign full of major oopses and run by corrupt empty suits, but because they took momentarily unpopular stands on deep principle.

This has nothing to do with reality, and isn't meant to. What they are trying to do is just shore up morale among themselves, not win new converts. Your first task in a leaking boat is to stop the leak -- then you start baling.

My e-mail to Paula bounced -- "relay denied", whatever that means.