In a stunning burst of illogic, several of the nine ninnies seeking the highest office in the land have chosen to attack President Bush as being soft on national security. Citing recent numerous terror attacks on our shores...what? No attacks? Tell it to the Dems. Inasmuch as President Bush's administration has been pre-empting such attacks by killing, capturing and drying up the resources of the would-be perpetrators here and around the globe, most folks would think national security is his strongest suit. But not those over at donkey headquarters. That the president's opponents continue to underestimate him comes as no surprise. It is their total lack of understanding of the American people in general and a growing population in their own party that will soon be their undoing. As many have pointed out, the mood among the electorate has been much changed since the events of September 11, 2001. This was reflected in last year's elections when, in defiance of the "gridlock rule," the good people of this country saw fit to grant control of both houses of Congress to the president's party. For many years, one's party affiliation was a birthright, handed down from generation to generation as a treasured family heirloom. And this tradition had endured, even up till the 2000 election where the narrow margin of victory closely followed party lines. But while liberals like to point out factions on the right, constantly inventing new eonholes such as neocons and paleocons, the deep and foreboding fissures are in their own camp. They are in imminent danger of losing what I call the Diaper Dems. The Democratic Party for years represented itself as a safe haven for and guardian of the average American working man and his family. This was especially true of certain ethnic groups and religions. In the Northeast where I grew up, a Republican Catholic or Jewish American was almost unheard of. This big tent also included rank-and-file union members, almost all of whom were blue-collar workers. One imagines the average Teamster a generation ago; probably a veteran, flag decal on hard hat, good to his wife, tough on the kids in a fatherly way and most definitely a Democrat because that's what his pop was before him. Today, other than his union affiliation, that man is no more representative of the "new" Democrats than Tom DeLay. Many people who were born into the Democratic Party, including yours truly, have taken a good, hard look at its course and jumped ship during a hard turn aport. Other Diaper Dems are sure to follow--the moderate leadership of Nancy Pelosi notwithstanding. The problem is, even without the lunatic ravings of the far left, they have only two things to offer; fear and loathing. The fear is packaged like this; vote Republican and old folks will be thrown into the streets, children will be deprived of an education, blacks will be returned to the plantation, and women will lose their sacred right to kill the unborn. The loathing can be summed up in three words; George W. Bush. This twin-pronged strategy was a winner with the uninformed until 9/11. Now the fear and loathing is directed at a deadly, non-partisan enemy. But it goes much deeper than that. Democrats now have too many single-issue voting blocs that conflict with each other. Abortion must be supported to keep their dwindling gender-gap alive, while blacks and Hispanics find this contradicts their religious beliefs. Big labor is asked to coexist on the same platform with environmental activists who mostly hate and despise industry of any kind. Diaper Dems who become soccer moms must deal with an ever-growing, in-your-face gay lobby that seeks to become their children's teachers, preachers and Boy Scout leaders. Middle-class Reagan Democrats who want their share of the American dream must deal with racial quotas on the job and affirmative-action when their children enter college. Add to this mix the well-founded perception that Democrats are soft on crime and national defense, stir in a recovering economy, toss gently with nine nincompoops and you have the recipe for an electoral disaster in 2004. Pull up a chair and bon apetit.