Political Expediency in the Schiavo Case

Terry Neal has a terrific piece in the Washington Post about how both parties essentially screwed themselves in their behavior on the Terri Schiavo case. I talked with him for a while about it, and he quoted me. Here's what I said:

Democratic strategist David Sirota said the Schiavo case creates three impressions. "Firstly, Republicans are zealots," he said. "Secondly, where the hell are the Democrats? And thirdly, well, at least the zealots believe in something strongly. And that's the problem for Democrats right now on this issue, and a whole host of others. The party seems unwilling to stand up for anything controversial."

"The calculus by Democrats is that they don't want to offend anyone," Sirota said. "But in trying not to offend anyone, they lose support from everyone. What many Democrats haven't yet learned from Republicans is that it is better to be loved by some, and hated by others, than try to be liked by everyone. Because when you do that, you are liked by no one."

I really believe what I said is true - Americans, above anything else, want authenticity from their political leaders. When Democrats refuse to take controversial stands, they set themselves back in the quest to be seen as a party with conviction. That has to change.