(2004-03-28) — After enduring criticism for his failure to make his mark on the Democrat party, or even have a blueprint for his own presidential campaign, John Forbes Kerry today unveiled a platform he called ‘Dispassionate Liberalism: An Agenda for America.”
Taking his lead from President Bush’s successful “compassionate conservatism” platform in the 2000 campaign, Mr. Kerry said his “dispassionate liberalism” similarly blunts the usual assaults on Democrats.
“Just like Bush reversed conventional wisdom by proclaiming that Republicans actually care about people,” said Mr. Kerry, “my agenda declares that it’s okay to be a bleeding-heart liberal without the bleeding heart part.”
Democrat National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe said it’s all part of the “New Aloofness,” a Democrat sensibility that says “It’s okay to be for big government and higher taxes without having to justify it by claiming to care about people who are many rungs below you on the economic ladder.”
“It’s really a very liberating philosophy,” said Mr. McAuliffe. “We can be millionaires, seek to extend the reach of government into the personal lives of Americans and not even have to pretend to relate to the ordinary proletarians.”