Quote of the Day

John Fund, commenting in today's WSJ Political Diary ($ email), about the decision by every announced Democratic 2008 Presidential candidate to attend (or, as Mr. Fund puts it, “to genuflect before”) the YearlyKos convention in Chicago this weekend:

There's a reason that the Democrats can still lose the 2008 elections even against a Republican Party that has lost much of both its elan and purpose. The party has gone over the ideological guardrails and may once again present a face to the American people that is too extreme. Watch the speeches of the Democratic candidates to the YearlyKos convention this weekend for clues as to just how far they feel compelled to have to bend towards the party's Loony Left.

Mr. Fund is highlighting what I think is the Democratic Party’s single biggest weakness: the lunacy factor. The “Kos Kids” are widely perceived as members of the tin foil hat brigade – they tend to be “truthers” (denying that al Qaida was responsible for 9/11), supporters (or even members of) “Code Pink” (or other similarly radical anti-war organizations, and so on. Ordinary Americans generally get rather queasy upon close examination of Kos and his ilk. I suspect they'll feel a little queasy about voting for candidates closely allied with the loony left as well.

I sure hope that's true, as otherwise I'm not confident of the Republicans fielding a candidate likely to win against Clinton, Edwards, or even Obama…