MEMO TO FILE: The American Left and the Democrats are now 80% the same

A quibble: the Venn Diagram is upside down. For the sake of accuracy, the Left should be at the bottom.

Posted by Gagdad Bob at September 3, 2008 11:14 AM

If you want to make one that way, I might use it. Just hacking in the Venn. Life being too short to learn new software every day.

Posted by vanderleun at September 3, 2008 11:21 AM

But, but . . . What happened to the VAST RIGHT-WING CONSPIRACY?

Darn, we could sure use one now.

Posted by Roderick Reilly at September 3, 2008 12:54 PM

I'm just hoping that Palin will be the catalyst that wakes the Dems up to the fact that they have been taken over. Ronald Reagan figured it out a long time ago ... before it got really bad.

"I didn't leave the Democratic Party. The party left me." (RR - 1962)

And then more recently we've seen Zell Miller and Joe Lieberman. There are Democrats who get it. Most of them still have their heads in the sand, though, and think they can weather the storm.

Posted by philmon at September 3, 2008 1:20 PM

Dear Sirs,

Party loyalty is exceptionally strong in this country. Witness the South. For five generations after the Civil War a Republican couldn't get elected dogcatcher. It finally flipped - not because of race as everybody seems to think, but because of the 1968 Democratic Convention and the anti-war movement.

Party preference is determined by, in descending order: family, friends, workmates, church, social groups and finally policy. Most people don't much pay attention to politics and habitually vote party.

When people do switch it is either for one election (Reagan D's) or for life - the South. The major reason people switch is not affinity but rather distaste. Reagan didn't win because he was Reagan. He won because Carter was Carter.

If Obama scares enough people this time it could trigger a sea change.

Regards,
Roy

Posted by Roy Lofquist at September 3, 2008 4:44 PM