Rove to Democrats: Extreme Left Does Not Beat Extreme Right

Democrats,

It started out fine enough, when an anti-Bush mother-of-a-dead-soldier decided to stage a mini-protest outside of "W's" ranch in Crawford. The first few days went really well; Cindy Sheehan got a lot of press, sympathy, and gave a face to the negative side of the war effort.

Now, however, the Sheehan protest experience is rapidly deteriorating due to the hijacking of her cause by a bunch of anti-war/anti-Bush groups, which causes a strategic problem: Democrats need the money and votes from Liberal Activist Groups (yup, that's LAG), yet you also need to steer clear of them because they are a burden to your attempts to recapture the respect and dignity of the vast Moderate Majority of Americans.

Sheehan started out with a very effective message and campaign. But like fruit flies to a rotting banana, the LAGs glommed on, pimping her out to prostitute for their more divisive and angry agenda. The net result: At best, a much less sympathetic figure of Sheehan has emerged. At worst, a complete backfire of what was a very effective campaign.

MoveOn.org, Michael Moore, and other "brands" are just as unpopular with regular Americans as radical conservative groups. The difference is, the radical conservative groups hide behind a church steeple, which most people respect and utilize as part of their spiritual lives. MoveOn.org and Moore are not attached to people's daily spiritual endeavors, so these institutions don't have the same ability to gain sympathy or empathy from Americans.

It's time for tough-love with the LAGs. Treat them as they are: very important base-warming institutions. Feed them enough to keep the base warm, but do not overfeed them, because the Moderate Majority will reject their anger and venom (unless, of course, "W" screws things up even more, in which case we're likely to go back to 70's-style liberalism thriving in America).

Senator Biden is striking the right tone now on Iraq. Don't worry about presidential politics now -- focus on 2006, and go speak with him before speaking out. Get on his message, and take better advantage of the awful mess this administration has gotten itself into through blind faith and ideological hubris.