THANK YOU SIR, MAY I HAVE ANOTHER. The Poor Man advances the thesis that the national Democratic Party hasn't been McGovernish enough.

The national Democratic Party needs to shift to the right, culturally, in order to compete nationally. No choice. Wah wah wah, I'm going to go vote for Nader, wah wah. You should have voted this time. What this means in terms of actual issues is probably not much: not standing up for abortion rights, gay rights, or separation of church and state. It would also be worthwhile to try to get poverty issues considered as a "moral", rather than just an "economic", issue. In order to do this, however, there needs to be a credible figure in "moral issues" circles who can try to make this case, and, as far as I know, there just isn't one right now.

The problem, dear Poor Man, is that the national Democratic Party has taken the morality out of poverty issues. As in avoiding being "judgemental" about bastardy, drug use, or being foolishly "authentic" is more important than noting the value of a few simple things, such as learning one's sums or being careful about who one gets naked with, or simply showing up, in avoiding to be poor.

Cosmetically, this is a bigger job. People don't respond to complicated "on the one hand, on the other" arguments about policy, and they don't respond to lengthy word problems about the economy.

Wrong argument. People have heard this sort of "we're more thoughtful" chin pulling for years, seen the results, and said enough. These are not the days of Lyndon Johnson. These are not the days of Franklin Roosevelt.