Fearmongering and lies? I believe you meant to say you are talking about the main reason Senator Kerry lost.

The left has made the mistake of trying to be the right. Because conservatism is what it is, the right fringe will soon have successfully hijacked the Republican Party, but the fringe left will never be able to hijack the Democratic Party.
Solution: The left should join the mainstream of their party, and the party should take (and refuse to compromise on) reasonable positions on important issues. (i.e.: Some types of abortion are unacceptble, but some are necessary. Not all social programs are achieving their stated goals and should probably be amended Some gun ownership is acceptable. Certain types of extreme pornography (not just child porn) should be controlled or eliminated Some non-military spending programs could be jettisoned. ETC.)
We can't be in the all-or-nothing (read NRA, Evangelical) mode if we hope to solidify the Democratic base and prevent unsatisfied Dems (the ones who voted for Kerry only because they hated Bush) from moving to the Republican side because there is no viable third party to go to. Likewise, we can attract those unhappy Republicans (the ones whose moral agenda isn't fixated on gays and abortion) who vote the party line because they see no give on the Dem side. We'll NEVER attract the true-believer or the bigot. We never had them, and we don't want them. But we can make our party a sweet-smelling haven for those who wish to escape the stench emanating from the extreme right.
Now the efforts that went into garnering 49% of the vote have to be used to convince party leaders that we can no longer have business as usual in DC- - -that something more subtle than partisanship has to come into play. Or we'll lose the people And the people will lose.

Interesting that you think the right fringe has hijacked the party. It is actually the opposite. People, the left especially, think that GW Bush is extremely conservative when actually he is a moderate. Just because he mentions God does not make him the religious right. I have not seen him try to enact legislation to put God in Schools etc. that would make him extreme right. Even though he does not approve of abortion, his stance is that abortion should be allowed in extreme cases such as mother’s health, rape, major birth defects, etc. Again not an extreme position. His fiscal policy on education and healthcare, namely the prescription drug plan, not conservative. His view on illegal immigration and wanting amnesty for all aliens, not conservative. Lets be objective, Regan was a true conservative. GW Bush is more closely aligned with John F. Kennedy than he is to Regan. The Republican Party has moved to the left and is now more moderate, that is why they are appealing to more people. The Democratic Party has moved so far left that only the fringe can relate. If Zell Miller and Lieberman represented the core beliefs of the Democratic Party, they would still be in power in the House, Senate and Presidents offices.

My wording was "will soon have hijacked the Republican Party." Not "has hijacked" the party. Bush's window-dressing moves--like the inadequately funded "No Child Left Behind" initiative (That concept is, btw, idiotic. In the real world there will always be children left behind. We're not all created equal physically, mentally, socially, etc.)and the prescription drug plan that benefits large drug companies are not true steps to the center until they're redesigned to accomplish what they're supposedly aimed at accomplishing.
The Evangelicals, etc. are waiting in the wings to use the "mandate" to push the party even further to the right edge. My contention is that a President can't cater to the extremists to get votes and then ignore their wishes. And I don't think he wants to ignore them. I believe that, like most politicians, he's interested in power. If the power drifts to the right, he'll pursue it.
BTW, just because he mentions God doesn't make him religious in any true sense of the word.

Thanks for that insightful comment! It makes interesting reading, especially when I need a payday advance .