Got it wrong, all wrong, right from the git-go:

Once upon a time, smart Democrats defended globalization, open trade and the companies that thrive within this system. They were wary of tethering themselves to an anti-trade labor movement that represents a dwindling fraction of the electorate. They understood the danger in bashing corporations: Voters don’t hate corporations, because many of them work for one.

Once upon a time? May be, but that Democrat Party simply does not exist anymore, and hasn’t for a good while now. And it ain’t coming back, either, near as I can see.

The stiff-necked Joe Lieberman, who holds fast to his principles on the Iraq war, recently abandoned his centrist economic credentials by appearing at an anti-Wal-Mart rally. No matter that Lieberman once served as chairman of the business-friendly Democratic Leadership Council. Now he proclaims his determination “to wake up Wal-Mart and say, ‘Treat your workers fairly.’”

After Lieberman, a senator from Connecticut, stepped down as chairman of the DLC, he was succeeded by Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana. Well, Bayh recently showed up at an anti-Wal-Mart rally, too, as has Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, who is the current DLC chairman. The Wake Up Wal-Mart campaign bus, which is trundling across the country on a 35-day tour, ensnares prominent Democrats in almost every state it passes through. Harry Reid, the Democrats’ Senate leader, appeared at an anti-Wal-Mart event on Saturday, and Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Bill Richardson popped up at earlier stops. When the campaign bus reaches Washington state on Labor Day, both Washington’s Democratic senators are expected to greet it.

How can supposedly centrist Democrats defend this betrayal of their principles?

Easy: the quaint idea of “centrist” Democrats is nothing more than nostalgic wishful thinking. These are the New Democrats we’re talking about here, viscerally hostile to even the mildest form of “mixed-economy” capitalism, openly socialist and anti-business and industry, and fellating the extreme Left at every possible opportunity in their desperate, grubby scramble to hold onto any power they can. This is no “betrayal of principle” at all; their only principle is lust for power, and as this sort of mindless, free-form hatred for American business IS one of the more notable and non-negotiable “principles” held by their fanatically anti-American and anti-capitalist base, it becomes of necessity one of the Dem’s principles too.

Lie down with Leftist dogs, get up with Commie fleas, all that. It’s an old story, really, whether or not this WaPo editorialist chooses to ignore it.

Update! Can’t believe I neglected to mention this quite ludicrously revealing slice of Leftard dementia over the horrendous crimes against humanity committed every day by the diabolical megametamechahegemonicalopolistic Locus of All Evil in the Modern World before now, but consider that oversight gleefully rectified. “How to handle Wal-Mart is among the two or three most important issues facing the country?” Only a liberal could think so.

But hey, maybe one of these days you super-geniuses will deign to get as serious about how to deal with jihadi terrorism — beyond just whining about it all being Bush’s fault, I mean — as you are about the threat to the American way of life posed by Wal Mart’s low, low prices. Sounds absurd to all who truly know you, I realize, but hope springs eternal.

Idiots. Hey, here’s a thought — let’s give ‘em control of Congress!