Anti-War Base

There's a phrase I keep hearing: "appeasing the Democrats' anti-war base." I heard it again this morning on NPR, describing some Republican congressman's complaint after the House vote to put an April '08 deadline on troop withdrawal (which Bush will veto). Here it is set out at The Intellectual Conservative in February of this year:

The problem for the Democrat candidates for President is that they must appease their large anti-war base, yet maintain a mainstream facade; all the while appearing to be Commander-in-Chief material.

I can't understand why they keep calling this a Democratic base, when polls are saying that 70% of the American public wants troops pulled out of Iraq. Seventy percent of Americans are not Democrats, much less a Democrat base, the way the Christian Right forms Bush's base (and at this point perhaps virtually his entire column). The anti-war base may be there, but pulling the troops out has support of much more than just those opposed to war in general.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

It Was Inevitable

Inevitable, and not a bad thing.

For the fourth straight month, the number of people identifying themselves as Republicans has decreased. For the third straight month, the number of people identifying themselves as Democrats has also decreased.

[...]

30.8% now say they’re Republicans

[...]

36.3% say they belong to [the Democratic party]

[...]

As a result, the number not affiliated with either major party has jumped to another all-time high—32.9%. That’s up nearly nine percentage points since Election 2004 and means that there are now more politically unaffiliated adults than Republicans.

  Rasmussen Reports

Too bad neither party will know why.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.