In a November 15 USA Today op-ed touting the “decline of old school liberalism” within the Democratic Party, Fox News analyst Kirsten Powers wrote: “In a low point in Democratic Party history, Pennsylvania Gov. Bob Casey was banned from speaking at the 1992 Democratic Convention for being opposed to abortion rights. This year, his son, Bob Casey Jr., who holds the same views, was actively recruited by that same Democratic Party and unseated Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.” In fact, as Media Matters for America has noted, several opponents of abortion rights were given speaking slots at the Democratic convention. The New Republic's Michael Crowley noted in a 1996 article that “a slew of pro-life Democrats, including Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley Jr., Senators John Breaux and Howell Heflin, and five governors, did address the delegates in 1992.”

Also, Powers claimed that “without centrist Democratic candidates, it would have been President Bush and GOP strategist Karl Rove celebrating last week,” and predicted that "[m]ore than half of the new House members will join the New Democrat Coalition or the Blue Dog Coalition caucuses, known for their fiscal responsibility, business-friendly stance and generally more socially conservative views." Powers also praised the Democratic Party for “running fiscally responsible candidates.” However, in praising the New Democrats and the Blue Dogs for their “fiscal responsibility” and “business-friendly stance,” Powers baselessly suggested that Democrats who do not fit into her “centrist” mold are fiscally irresponsible or anti-business.

From Powers's November 15 op-ed:

It's more glacial shift than radical revolution, but change is afoot in the Democratic Party.

In a low point in Democratic Party history, Pennsylvania Gov. Bob Casey was banned from speaking at the 1992 Democratic Convention for being opposed to abortion rights. This year, his son, Bob Casey Jr., who holds the same views, was actively recruited by that same Democratic Party and unseated Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.

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Yet, without centrist Democratic candidates, it would have been President Bush and GOP strategist Karl Rove celebrating last week. More than half of the new House members will join the New Democrat Coalition or the Blue Dog Coalition caucuses, known for their fiscal responsibility, business-friendly stance and generally more socially conservative views. While most criticized the war, few have called for an immediate withdrawal.

In addition to running fiscally responsible candidates, the Democratic Party appealed to the vital center by slaying a few of old school liberalism's sacred cows: aggressive secularism and intolerance of anti-abortion views.