I wrote a column in August which I lovingly referred to a piece by John Brummett. Lovingly, because I agreed with him. The gist of his column was that the national Democratic Party is pitifully inept. Brummett nor I come to that conclusion happily, or without evidence. I think it is safe to say it grieves us both. But the proof is all around us. The analysis he offered was of a Wall Street Journal poll which demonstrated that "A majority of the American electorate is wise to the fact that Trump, even with some seeming economic and foreign-policy success, is a frightful wild egomaniac, but the Democrats can't lock up that majority because too many in it think Democrats are worse."

I receive constant criticism (as does Brummett in the comments I see on his columns) from readers who call me woke, a radical leftist, libtard, socialist, communist, fruitcake; you name it. I am used to it by now. When I ran for office in 2020 as a naïve old-fashioned Arkansas Democrat, primarily concerned about public schools, the rural economy, and health care, in my blood-red district I was labeled a Demon-rat baby-killer hell-bent on taking everyone's guns. One friend lamented how I had taken on the banner of Satan. My opponent sent out flyers with my picture in a row alongside Bernie Sanders, AOC, and Nancy Pelosi.

No reasonable person would interpret my politics as such. One learns to ignore the haters and/or the delusional, or try anyway. But I was surprised when my Aug. 8 column that echoed Brummett's received pushback from a few Democrats who are my good friends, and one I don't know well but whose work I greatly admire. His email said this:

"Who are these radical Democrats to whom you and others so often refer? Anybody in Arkansas you can name who's in, or a candidate for, an elected office? I think it's a straw man artfully created by the Republican spin machine. And I'd add that a supposed centrist ideal strikes me as even more elusive.

"If a centrist represents a majority view of the populace, polling indicates that would be someone who supports abortion rights (albeit with some limits); gay marriage; immigration, particularly of the hard-working variety; higher taxes for........

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