In both debates, the candidates seemed willing to make almost any charge against Bush, no matter how outrageous, silly or downright unseemly. Al Sharpton, best known for his racist and anti-Semitic demagoguery, compared Bush to "a gang leader." Dick Gephardt was reduced to Jesse Jackson-style doggerel. "Like father, like son/ Four years and he's done," Gephardt rhymed. And Joe Lieberman seemed on the verge of losing his dinner: "The radical right direction George Bush has taken the country makes me sick," the usually mild-mannered Lieberman inveighed.
It's hard to imagine that even Lyndon La Rouche could have been more offensive than this crew if he'd been allowed to participate in the debates.
It is still early in the presidential nominating process, and Tuesday's debate was aimed at the Democratic Party faithful, as was the debate in Albuquerque, N.M., last Thursday. Most Democrats aren't yet paying close attention to their party's presidential contest. And the rest of Americans don't seem to have a clue what's going on in the Democratic Party. A poll out this month showed that two-thirds of voters couldn't name a single one of the nine Democratic candidates running -- which might be just as well for the Democrats.
Perhaps, the candidates can afford to act up now, playing to the most extreme elements within their party. But if the Democrats can't figure out a way to appeal to the rest of the voters by the time they pick their nominee, they can forget about defeating the man they so malign.