By Christopher G. Adamo

This past weekend a gathering in Gillette, Wyoming highlighted the present, chaotic state of the Democrat Party. As Democrats around the country attempt to portray two faces to their constituencies, one representing moderation, and the other representing fire-breathing liberalism, Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal essentially renounced the basic philosophies of his party.

More stunning yet was that he did so in the presence of Democratic National Committee vice chairman Mike Honda. Honda then faced the daunting task of attempting to portray a bridge of commonality between Freudenthal’s pragmatic candor and the image presented nationally by the Democrats.

In front of an audience of roughly seventy-five Wyoming Democrats, Freudenthal blatantly distanced himself from Democrat Chairman Howard Dean, along with such fundamental party principles as gun control.

Honda, while desperately seeking to portray a facade of unity with the Governor, was clearly shaken and tried repeatedly to emphasize the Governor’s stance as being compatible with that of the party.

Freudenthal’s words were certainly not the first occasion of such antics among Democrats in the Cowboy State. Wyomingites still chuckle when recalling the 1996 Senate Race, in which Democrat candidate Kathy Karpan attempted to establish herself as a staunch protector of the Second Amendment.

Having been haunted throughout that campaign by a picture of herself, on stage with Bill and Hillary at the ‘92 Democrat Convention, Karpan recognized the need to impress voters that she would support their right to own firearms. So her campaign ran an ad in which she was portrayed on a duck hunting expedition, complete with 12-gauge shotgun.

Unfortunately for her, it was quickly discovered that the ad was staged in a Cheyenne city park where hunting of any kind was certainly prohibited. Ultimately, Karpan’s deceit proved that she had even more in common with the Clintons than previously known.

Freudenthal, ever the skilled politician, carefully avoided any similar snare. Apparently not wanting any record of an alliance with John Kerry, he invoked the standard excuse of “scheduling conflicts” as reason to forego last year’s Democrat Convention.

In Wyoming, a steadfastly “red” state, Freudenthal’s predicament is glaringly obvious. It is also highly illustrative of the split occurring nationally among Democrats.

On the one hand, the party’s elites regularly posture to the center in order to win elections. But in recent years, an idealistic and radical element has asserted itself. Blinded by an arrogant belief of absolute moral and intellectual superiority, this faction is convinced that it only needs to trumpet its countercultural and anti-American message with sufficient volume, and the rest of the country will enthusiastically follow.

Though both factions ultimately seek to advance the same agenda, they disagree sharply on strategy. And, all too often, the party’s career politicians are caught in the middle. The September 24 anti-war, anti-America rally in Washington D.C. provided yet more evidence.

Ostensibly a peace rally, it rapidly degenerated into a forum for every extreme element of the counterculture. Predictably, “mainstream” Democrats, such as Hillary Clinton, chose not to attend.

Such blatant exhibitions of liberalism make it extremely difficult for Democrat leaders to maintain a coherent and sellable message from a party that increasingly forsakes the character and patriotism of Zell Miller, replacing it with the rantings of Michael Moore and Howard Dean.

Dismayed though Honda may have been that Freudenthal would publicly disavow Dean (his statements certainly will not play well at the national level), the Governor was merely saying what Hillary and others were thinking as they offered their own excuses (“scheduling conflicts,” don’t you know...) for not attending the rally.

Consistently, Freudenthal seeks cover within the political framework of the Republicans. So intimidated is he by the prospect of publicly opposing them that, even on a topic in which such opposition would gain enthusiastic support from Wyoming’s conservative ranching community, he opts to remain uninvolved.

In the September 19 issue of the “Wyoming Livestock Roundup,” Wyoming beef producer J. Randall Stevenson excoriated Freudenthal for remaining neutral (or, as Stevenson bluntly expresses it “neutered”) in response to a USDA decision to open the nation’s borders to imported (and possibly tainted) beef.

Yet despite such posturing, Governor Freudenthal may continue to do well politically. Ironically, this is due in large part to Wyoming’s RINO dominated state legislature, which by its own rampant liberalism makes it infuriatingly easy for Freudenthal to masquerade as a “moderate,” or even a conservative. So he might sail through to reelection next year. Unless, of course, he faces a challenge from a real conservative.