What is one to make of a political party in which, according to the Boston Globe, over 90 percent of the delegates oppose the Iraq war -- the defining issue of this election -- while the candidate and the platform support it. And there isn't even a murmur of complaint? The easy answer is that it's just about power. The Democrats will do anything to get back into power, so it is said. But that is not it. Of course, both the Democratic and Republican Parties can't stand being out of power and yearn to regain the power, the patronage and the sheer pleasure of being in office. But until now, neither party has been willing to go against its most heartfelt convictions to gain power.

 No, I think the clever boys and girls in the backroom of the Democratic Party have created a monster in this carefully manufactured Bush hatred. Let's remember where this hatred started-in Florida. From Al Gore, through the DNC and into the mouths of rank-and-file Democratic congressmen and senators, the word went out that the Democratic Party would not respect the election results. They methodically asserted that Bush was illegitimately in office because Gore actually got more votes in Florida. Even after the major liberal media outlets did their own recount and found Bush won Florida fair and square, the knowingly false charge was slammed into the brains of Democratic Party true believers. Bush was "selected, not elected" became the slogan.

 They carefully nurtured this resentment into a small hatred. Then they compounded it by ridiculing the president's intelligence -- even though Bush got better grades at Yale than Al Gore, while still enjoying a vigorous frat life. They repeated endlessly their contempt for Bush's Christian faith -- which apparently induces contempt and hatred amongst the Democratic Party faithful. And all of this was before Iraq. This carefully cultivated little hatred was elevated to industrial strength with the accusations that Bush lied his way into war. While disproven by bipartisan findings, the charges persist. Al Gore accused Bush of "betraying" the country. Kerry used the word lie just enough to keep his lunatic pack happy.

 The result is a hatred of Bush by the party activists that has consumed their policy passions and convictions. They hate Bush more than they hate the Iraq War. Their great intellectual battle of the 2000s -- whether they should stay in the Clinton center or go back to their liberal convictions -- has been temporarily subsumed by their common hate of Bush. Should the American voters succumb to poor judgment and elect Kerry, a united Democratic Party may face the plight of the son in the Nazi story of hate and meaning. Bush hate is the glue that holds the party together. If he leaves the scene -- the party may quickly fall apart.