How To Lose Without Really Trying

James Taranto in Best of the Web Today points out the new democratic strategy as urged on by the Boston Globe - appeal to conservatives by being more liberal! Sounds like a winner to me.

How to Win Conservatives: Become More Liberal!
A Boston Globe editorial offers advice to Democrats who "are worried that the party's traditional support for abortion rights may have contributed to their losses in the 2004 elections." The Globe opines that Democrats can reach out to pro-lifers even while continuing to oppose any and all restrictions on abortion by stressing "three areas of truly common concern that can significantly reduce the number of abortions: adoption, contraception, and compassion."

The Globe's specific proposals are as follows:

Reverse "outdated laws" that "still forbid adoption by unmarried or single parents and gay couples."

Improve "access to reliable birth control," which the Globe suggests would include handing out condoms in high schools, making "morning after" contraception available over the counter, and requiring pharmacists to dispense birth-control pills even if they have conscientious objections to doing so.

Provide poor women with "support in raising their children"--meaning more-generous welfare benefits--if they choose not to abort.

Whatever the merits of these positions, we'd venture to say that most abortion opponents are not supporters of gay adoption, high-school condom giveaways or bigger handouts for welfare moms. For that matter, many people support legal abortion and oppose these things.

If the Globe were offering a compromise--we'll get behind some abortion restrictions if you support some liberal measures in other areas--this might make political sense. But what the paper is proposing is that the Democrats be as rigid as ever on abortion while taking aggressively liberal positions on other social issues. This is advice the Democratic Party can't afford not to ignore.