Democrats: New Faces, Same Old Song?

Young Democrats Sharpen Tactics Against Old Rivals

New Breed on Hill Works Aggressively To Snap GOP Grip

By Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff WriterSunday
October 23, 2005

With the Capitol all but deserted last Monday night, the Democratic "30-Something Working Group" seized the House floor and took aim at their Republican adversaries.

As C-SPAN cameras beamed their performance around the country, Rep. Timothy J. Ryan, 32, of Ohio and Rep. Kendrick Meek, 39, of Florida recited a litany of GOP misdeeds -- mismanaging Hurricane Katrina and neglecting education and health care, for example -- and offered the Democrats' alternatives.

Their conversation even veered to religion, a subject many Democrats are afraid to touch. Ryan described the problems of the poor as a moral obligation and asked of Meek: "Where is the Christian Coalition when you are cutting poverty programs? They are fighting over Supreme Court justices."

The two newcomers -- who have served a combined six years in the House -- are part of a new generation of Democrats who are working to try to topple the GOP. Their fresh ideas, modern media skills and aggressive political tactics have inspired a party that has drifted for much of the past decade -- wedded to old notions and seemingly incapable of capitalizing on White House and congressional Republican miscues.

As part of the new approach, House and Senate Democrats are devising an alternative agenda of key policies. Ryan is pushing proposals aimed at drastically reducing the number of abortions over the coming decade by offering support and services to pregnant women. Others are crafting a plan for reducing U.S. dependence on imported oil by using more domestic agricultural products, an approach that would have significant appeal to Midwestern voters.

Democrats with fresh ideas? I'd like to hear this. Democrats haven't had a new idea since Roosevelts socialist revolution in the 30's. If by fresh ideas they simply mean cloning Republican ideas, then at least their making a move in the right direction. If their simply going to float the same worn out threadbare ideas of their party with new cosmetics, new catch words, then they are whistling in the dark.

Full Story: "New Democrats?"

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