> I also don't think the average person is a stupid idiot who continually
> acts
> against their interests, which leftists who denounce Clinton, Gore or
> Bradley as the enemies of blacks, workers or women must assume, since
> workers, blacks and women keep voting for people like this in
> disproportionate, sometimes overwhelming numbers.
>
Nathan you've hit the crux of the issue. Workers and blacks -- especially blacks -- like Clinton precisely because he is represented as the liberal "choice" in the two-party system. (Of course, this abstracts from Clinton's strictly personal "charisma" and often-alleged negritude.) In opinion polls, people estimate Clinton and his policies to be much more liberal than they really are -- this is especially true of his supporters, especially blacks. Perhaps if the public were similarly given a forced choice between John Chafee and Newt Gingrich, blacks would rally to Chafee in the same way. Or to John McCain against Bob Barr. Or to Bob Barr against David Duke.
An important goal of left politics must be to make people sharply aware that they are being given false choices -- that Clinton/Gore's rhetorical commitment to blacks, workers, etc. in fact masks a betrayal. In other words, there has to be a strong attack on the center from the left. But the DSAers-for Bradley style of politics runs directly against this strategy. (See Marc Cooper's article in the Nation, which reports on a union meeting in Iowa at which Paul Wellstone tries to convince the rank-and-file that a vote for Bradley is really a vote for Wellstone.)
As for personal attacks, I'm against them.
Seth