Fred Barnes:

DEMOCRATS HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE. In the early 1970s, they rejected their hawkish tradition on national security with the nomination of George McGovern for president. The resulting weakness on national security issues has haunted them ever since. Democrats didn't recover until the 1990s when the Cold War was over and national security was no longer the paramount national issue.

Now, after 9/11 and with Islamic jihadists still threatening America, Democrats are purging the hawkish remnants in their party. That's the meaning of the primary defeat in Connecticut yesterday of Senator Joe Lieberman to Ned Lamont, an antiwar Democrat. Lamont is the epitome of a peace Democrat: force averse, naively trusting in diplomacy, and firmly opposed to a strong national security policy.

The Islamofascist threat couldn't be more apparent with Hezbollah raining down rockets on Israel, and threatening America with terrorist attacks, but the core of the Democratic party still seems oblivious to both the threat and the actions needed to fight that threat. It will be the job of Republicans to once again remind Americans this fall why this Democratic party must not be allowed to come close to power again until and unless it is able to credibly anunciate a mature, sane and effective national security stand.