Advice from Inside the Liberal Cocoon

Molly Ivins is advising Democrats to be full-throated liberals, not Republicans-lite. This strategy has not been tried since McGovern’s landslide defeat in 1972 because of, well, McGovern’s landslide defeat in 1972.

She gives a lot of poll numbers to support her position:

What kind of courage does it take, for mercy's sake? The majority of the American people (55 percent) think the war in Iraq is a mistake and that we should get out. The majority (65 percent) of the American people want single-payer health care and are willing to pay more taxes to get it. The majority (86 percent) of the American people favor raising the minimum wage. The majority of the American people (60 percent) favor repealing Bush's tax cuts, or at least those that go only to the rich. The majority (66 percent) wants to reduce the deficit not by cutting domestic spending, but by reducing Pentagon spending or raising taxes.

The majority (77 percent) thinks we should do "whatever it takes" to protect the environment. The majority (87 percent) thinks big oil companies are gouging consumers and would support a windfall profits tax. That is the center, you fools. WHO ARE YOU AFRAID OF?

I don’t know where she gets those numbers, but if they are accurate, then an open, principled liberal should win in ’08 in a walk. So what’s wrong with the Democrats? Can’t they read poll numbers like Molly Ivins? She has an explanation:

You sit there in Washington so frightened of the big, bad Republican machine you have no idea what people are thinking.

Well, that explains it. The Democrats’ minds are so damaged by terror of Republicans that they can’t understand opinion polls.

Or maybe they know something about those poll numbers that Molly Ivins doesn’t know.

I would love nothing more than for the next election to be about the minimum wage, socialized health care, more taxes, bigger government and more regulations. Let’s have an exhaustive look at the arguments from both sides. Let’s just debate the issues and not have any politics of personal destruction from either side. Let’s get Paul Krugman to debate Thomas Sowell. Let’s get experts from the left against experts from the Ayn Rand Institute. I’ll take that any day.

Please, Democrats -- listen to Molly Ivins.

(HT: Real Clear Politics)

UPDATE: Mark Coffey and AJ at Strata-Sphere have thoughts on Molly Ivins.