People like to disparage framing projects as “just words” or the like. But what to do when your own are fooled by the other sides false dichotomies?
Will Marshall writes:
Democrats themselves seem unsure of their true identity: Are they the anti-war party or the party of tough-minded liberals, the party of Gov. Howard Dean or the party of Sen. Joe Biden?
To which Matthew Yglesias reponds:
Dean’s not a pacifist — he supported military action in the Gulf War, in Bosnia, in Kosovo, in Operation Desert Fox, and in Afghanistan — and Biden doesn’t want America to invade any more countries.
I agree the Democratic party needed to conference and conclude a solid position on Iraq. A document labelled Democratic Position on the Iraq War could have shortcircuited these mishmash of divisions within the party.
Rather than hawk vs dove, the factions would become orthodox vs unorthodox. The party itself would have fallen within the more global hawk-dove categories, but positions within the party would be more value neutral. Suddenly, intraparty fighting becomes more opaque to outsiders and less advantageous to Republican vultures.
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