Just got done reading Joshua Muravchik's detailed analysis of the 2004 election in the new print version of Commentary, and was glad to see Taranto had linked to the online article, (which I wasn't able to view without sending them some more money). Muravchik deals more with how John Kerry lost in 2004 and only secondarily with his title, "Why The Democrats Keep Losing".
He does cite the Party's ongoing inability to articulate "a worldview that makes a thematic argument about where America is headed and where we want to take it.", in the words of Kerry speechwriter Andrei Cherny. Also complicating the Democrats' long term problem is the waning view among Americans that Democrats are preferable to Republicans on economic policy. Add to that the demographic shifts of population from blue to red states and the picture is one of possible long term Republican dominance, at least in Congress. Read it all.
Posted by dan at December 31, 2004 02:49 PM