Introducing: The Straw Man

Here's a question for you, HSTF. Allowing for the premise that "anyone the Left loves is bad news for the Party" (one I don't fully agree with -- maybe, "any candidate ONLY the Left loves is bad news for the Party" would be more palatable) what is the difference, in that case-scenario, between the Democrats and the Republicans. There's no doubt: George W. Bush has gone back time and time again to the far Right of the Party (continuously capitalizing that word makes me think I'm George Orwell) and, despite our opinion on the policies or the impact on the American public, one couldn't argue that the Republican Party isn't strong because of it. They own (read: dominate) all three branches of government -- including a mystical fourth that transcends time and space -- and they've successfully painted the Democrats as abject, mealy mouthed girly-men. If the Republicans' adoption of a candidate who swings to their far flank is so productive for them, why wouldn't the Democrats doing the same be smart tactics?