Yesterday's news today

Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean told the press last week that the Republicans are a white Christian party. Thank you, Captain Obvious!\nNaturally, everyone is jumping on the Dean-bashing bandwagon. The seats are still warm from last time. Dems are saying that Dean's comments don't represent them, and Republicans are pointing the spotlight on both of its prominent members who are not both white and Christian. They've got a couple Jewish guys and some blacks, apparently. Not that you'd be able to spot them at an all-Republican ethnic diversity parade anyway.\nBash Dean all you want, but when you step back and look at it, has he really said something that isn't true?\nIt feels like only a few weeks ago, when I saw Ned Flanders say in an episode of The Simpsons that Christians and Catholics should "unite to fight against (their) common enemies: monogamous gays and stem cells!"\nWhat a coincidence! Those happen to be common enemies for the Republicans, too! In fact, that platform got a lot of Republicans elected to various political offices only nine months ago!\nI can't imagine that anyone out there didn't already know the GOP was a white, Christian party. But, just in case there were a few who didn't know, thank God for people like Howard Dean, who bring you yesterday's news today!\nOne news report quoted a Democrat as saying that Howard Dean, while some times flamboyant, is still important for the party because he is a "lightning rod." Let me translate that from political gibberish: It means Dean is willing to say what those who'd vote for him are already saying. He may be only nine months late, but at least he isn't plagued by the cowardice that prevents the other Dems from speaking their constituents' minds.\nUnfortunately for the entire American left wing, the fact that he's aired these sentiments is not productive. Jon Stewart said it best Monday night, in a mock-whisper as if in response to Dean: "Psssst. You're talking in a white Christian nation. They can hear you."\nAnd Stewart is right. In fact, we are more of a white Christian nation than we were five years ago. Public opinion polls on gay marriage in 2004 leaned more to the right than they did merely two years earlier. Everything from public opinion polls to election results shows that liberalism in America has become a minority.\nTalk about being screwed, too: liberals have little influence because they don't speak their minds. But if they do speak their minds, they tend to piss people off, so no one listens.\nNormally, I would suggest what could be done. I don't like people who simply point their finger at something and say, "that's not right," and then not do anything to fix it. But let's face it: the American left is caught in a catch-22. The only thing we can do is wait for the tide to turn.