Hatred of Bush unites angry Democrats

Democrats are so united in their determination to derail President Bush in 2004 that they are willing to bypass candidates whose views are more palatable or whose personalities are more likable in favor of the man they deem most electable.

It’s a pragmatic strategy that values victory over ideology and one that is driven by a hatred for President Bush. Still fuming about their defeat in 2000, some Democrats say winning isn’t everything.

It’s the only thing.

Hatred for Bush is the common denominator.

“Presidents are almost always disliked by members of the other major political party, but in American history only a few are truly hated by a large number of their partisan adversaries,” University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato writes in his monthly “Crystal Ball.”

In the past half-century, he said, only two presidents have been deeply loathed by the other party — Republican Richard Nixon and Democrat Bill Clinton.

Democrats wanted Nixon banished, humiliated and impeached. Republicans wanted the same for Clinton.

Bush has now won admittance to the Nixon-Clinton category of hated presidents.

This “is not fair, not wise, and not good for the nation,” Sabato says. “But it occurs from time to time because politics, and the international and domestic policy choices of presidents, stir strong emotions. More importantly, certain presidents have personal characteristics that inflame the opposition: Nixon’s untrustworthiness, Clinton’s sleaziness, and Bush’s cocksure arrogance.”

In this primary season, Democrats seem to be voting their heads, not their hearts. Activists are passing over their first choice and selecting candidates they believe can win.

Exit polls show 32 percent of voters in the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary cast ballots last Tuesday for U.S. Sens. John Edwards of North Carolina and John Kerry of Massachusetts because they felt either could beat Bush in November.

A USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll last week showed Kerry beating Bush 53-46 percent, and Edwards edging the president, 49-48 percent.

These have been bad times for the president with revelations about weapons of mass destruction not being found in Iraq, rising concern — even among Republicans — about rising deficits, and smaller than expected numbers of jobs being created.

Kerry appears to have been the chief beneficiary of an electability bounce. But Edwards remains a viable — and electable — option.

Charles Dunn, a political scientist at Grove City College in Pennsylvania, formerly of Clemson University, says an Edwards candidacy would make Bush’s re-election a bit more difficult “because the Democratic Party will likely challenge Republicans in the South in a way they don’t expect.”

Tucker Eskew, a consultant to the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign, says Democrats have run a nasty campaign.

“Our opponents have spent eight months and $20 million running personal, vicious messages,” he says. “They didn’t offer any hope or solutions.”

Sabato says hate is more powerful in politics than love, and it is driving the Democratic nomination. The Bush White House ignores that at its peril.

The next couple of months could be a rough and tumble time for Bush as Democrats dominate the news coverage during this primary season.

“The Democrats’ unity of opposition to Bush on every issue has kept the campaign a symphony rather than a cacophony, building toward a crescendo of anti-Bush fervor,” Sabato says.

“Democrats are pumped. The Bush White House appears blissfully ignorant of that reality.”