No, they don't:
Leading Democrats, stung by election losses, are signaling they want the party to embrace antiabortion voters and candidates, softening the image of the party from one fiercely defensive of abortion rights to one that acknowledges the moral and religious qualms some Americans have about the issue.
House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat who is one of the most ardent supporters of abortion rights in Congress, has encouraged Tim Roemer, a former representative with a strong voting record against abortion, to run for the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee. The Democrats' new Senate minority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, opposes abortion rights.
No prominent Democrat has suggested that the party change its long-held stance that a woman should have the right to an abortion if she chooses. But as Democrats assess what went wrong for them in November, some are urging a 'big tent' approach that is more welcoming to those who oppose abortion. Democrats say that attitude might be especially useful with Hispanics, a critical constituency that tends to be Roman Catholic and whose majority support for Democrats has slipped in recent elections."
They just don't get it, do they? This won't help them. Just like moving to the Right on every other issue has not helped them. The Democrats have spend the last 12 years struggling to move right and they've got one of the weakest periods in the party's history to show for it. George Lakoff has it absolutely right when he says the Democrats take a
"marketing" approach to politics:
They pick a number of issues like prescription drugs and Social Security and ask which ones sell best across the spectrum, and they run on those issues. They have no moral perspective, no general values, no identity.
I agree that the abortion issue is a problem for Democrats, and I've written about
this issue before. But caving in to the Right is not the solution. The solution is reframing the debate in a way supportive of your position.
