Reply #33: The only way a Dem "could not win" would be if the Dem allows

[BurtWorm]

the Bushists to control the coverage of the election--in other words, not through some fault of the candidate, per se, except for a willingness to take what the Bushists dish out.

You may be thinking that the Bushists will manipulate the Dems, through sabotage of viable candidacies as the Nixonists managed, into picking someone they can easily portray as an effete lefty. That, I suppose is a possibility. But if you have in mind a particular candidate who is legitimately in the running for the nomination as being unelectable, I'm skeptical. I think there are at least four Democratic candidates who stand a good shot at removing Bush's boily ass from the White House. My main fear is that whoever the nominee is will allow himself (no Braun is not on the list, sorry) to be defined by the Bushists and their lapdogs in the media. Dean will be portrayed as a hotheaded, draft-dodging lefty from Ben and Jerryville. Kerry will be portrayed as a cold-blooded, lying aristocrat. Clark will be portrayed as a shapeshifter. The election will become about Dean's or Kerry's or Clark's or Gephardt's or whoever's character. (Sorry, Kucinich, Braun, Sharpton and Edwards supporters, but I don't see any of them catching fire.) (Oh, and Lieberman, too.) That is, it will become about character if the Democratic nominee hasn't learned from Al Gore's mistakes and forgets to fight back.