Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe believes that President George W. Bush sent American troops into battle in Afghanistan at the behest of the Unocal Oil Corporation, so that it would be able to build a pipeline there to carry oil from Caspian Sea wells drilled by Dick Cheney's Halliburton. Michael Moore told him so, in his new movie, Farenheit 9/11. We learn about McAuliffe's epiphany in Byron York's June 24 article on National Review Online. McAuliffe tells York,

'I believe it after seeing that.'

Oh? If Moore had made a film chasing Neil Armstrong around with a camera and microphone, positing that Apollo 11 landed in a desert rather than the surface of the moon, would McAuliffe believe that, too? McAuliffe added to York that citizens who see the movie would be convinced that Bush is not fit to be President.

Is this really what has become of the Democratic Party? Is Michael Moore the arbiter of the truth for these people? Senators such as Tom Daschle, Ernest Hollings, and Debbie Stabenow joined Congressmen Charles Rangel and Hussein homeboy Jim McDermott at the Farenheit 9/11 premier. York quoted Sen. Tom Harkin:

'It's important for the American people to understand what has gone on before, what led us to this point, and to see it sort of in this unvarnished presentation by Michael Moore.'

Harkin thinks the public needs Michael Moore to explain why we are at war?

The depth to which the Democratic Party has sunk is astonishing.

Nearly 44 years ago President Kennedy promised to 'pay any price, bear any burden' to protect the homeland and the free world from aggressors. That was followed by President Carter's bold declaration that we should put on a sweater and turn down the thermostat, President Clinton turning the White House into a personal brothel, and now a presumptive nominee who doesn't show up for work, and is most effective when staying out of sight with his mouth shut.

The most effective elected Democratic voice is that of President Kennedy's youngest brother. He will have his day of honor during the convention, when it opens on the 35th anniversary of his court date for leaving the scene of an accident.

The Democrats' new call to arms comes from Moore, a filmmaker with a questionable ability to distinguish between fact and fiction, and who employs clever editing to ridicule his opponents. It is only a matter of time before Moore's own tactics are used against him. The great advocate of the working man once fought an attempt of his employees to unionize, and will not suffer the indignity of an ambush interview, a technique he has exploited repeatedly. 

But what of the Democratic Party? It is important to have a serious political organization to provide opposition to conservatives, thereby sharpening political arguments, and giving voters a clear choice. America needs a competition of between legitimate ideas coherently argued, and it needs its major parties to be serious about protecting the United States from its obvious enemies.

The Democratic Party is quickly becoming a parody, led by bitter, screeching fools who cannot come to grips with the fact that a duly elected President is boldly leading the fight against those who would destroy us. They cannot see past their own lust for power, and want power only for its own sake. They can't or won't recognize that the President is betting his political life on doing what is right. It's a foreign concept to them.

The leadership won't even listen to one of its own, Zell Miller, when he warns of the party's impending demise. They have nothing to offer except their rage, pessimism, and tired proposals. If the party is not saved from the likes of McAuliffe, the Clintons, and their dimwitted imitators, it will cease to exist, sooner or later. 

There is a faint hope for the party in such persons as Rep. Harold Ford of Tennessee and Barack Obama, their nominee for the Senate in Illinois. These two are the opposite of the current leadership — dynamic and smart, as well as unwilling to merely step back and call the Republican Party names, or see how much horse manure they can throw at the wall until some of it sticks. Both also have a demonstrated record of being able to actually work with political adversaries to get things done. It is doubtful they would be so stupid as to argue that Michael Moore is somebody who should be taken seriously. The Democrats would do well to put these two out front and find others like them — if they exist. Otherwise, it's curtains. And America loses.

Matthew May is a freelance writer in Detroit