Parties Offer Lessons On How To Guarantee Losing

Which party is better at eating its own young, the Democrats or the GOP? Sometimes it's hard to tell.

President Bush has done a stupendous job of making it well-nigh impossible for another Republican to win the White House for the greater part of the next two decades. Let's put it this way: With his public approval ratings in the Nixon zone (high 20s), he has set up a florid target for Democrats to run against and defeat for decades to come--better, in fact, than any affirmative action or policy stance Democrats have taken recently to win public favor.

Then there's Cindy Sheehan.

She's threatening to run against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi if Pelosi doesn't get the impeachment machine rolling against President Bush within the next two weeks. I'm sure Pelosi is getting a good laugh out of Sheehan's threat. Cindy Sheehan can make a statement, but she cannot believe she has a realistic chance of unseating longtime San Francisco pol Pelosi. Notwithstanding Sheehan's sliverlike chance at victory, progressives should be screaming two words at her: "Ralph Nader."

There's only one thing keeping Democrats from winning the White House and sweeping in an even larger majority in both houses of Congress next year: themselves--and their famous inability to work together.

By Bonnie Erbe