Everyone from left to right seemingly has put their two cents in on this story, with the right-wing blogs amplifying the Washington Post’s preconceived notions that there’s any sort of idealogical battle between Democratic politicians (in the “center”) and liberal bloggers (”on the far left”).
I’m kind of tired of this sort of thing, but what the hey. It’s fallacious, untrue, and a misrepresenation of reality. The vast majority of liberal bloggers are not advocating the party make a turn to the left. I can certainly speak for myself and say that isn’t what I’m advocating or have ever advocating. Frankly I’m quite fine with the party’s positioning on practically every major position (though I’m personally to the Democratic left on social issues and to the right on justice and fiscal issues).
I don’t care if you’re a liberal, moderate, or conservative Democrat - I just want you to open your yap. The Democrats seem to believe that sitting down like dumb ninnies even if they agree with Bush is a smart way to go about things. We’ve lost two national elections doing it that way, believing the predominant beltway/consultant consensus that the Republicans will hang themselves if we give them enough rope (but hey, the Democratic consultants get paid so what do they care - although you’d think they’d like to have a larger rather than shrinking pool of clients). That’s just ridiculous.
Eight years of Clinton showed us that even when President Clinton did nothing wrong, the Republicans found some reason to go to the press and make noise (at various times he was accused of being a drug dealer or a rapist, his wife was accused of being a lesbian, and they said his daughter looked like a dog). Sadly, the Bush Team has given us tons of material to work with and Democrats refuse to make hay with it — the simple act of issuing a press release seems to be beyond the capacity of the Democratic press secretaries.
If you don’t make any noise, the media has nothing to cover, and Bush’s policies are assumed to be without opposition and the press reports that “consensus” has been achieved.
By God, if issuing a press release is now tantamount to wide-eyed liberal madness the Democrats deserve to have even smaller constituencies than they already have.
Will the last Democratic senator please turn out the lights? Thanks.
(I do think its funny that advisers to the Gephardt and Kerry presidential campaigns are giving out advice on how to win. Right after that the Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings are going to give us a chat on how to win Superbowls.)
BY THE WAY: As far as Tim Kaine doing the Democratic Response to the State of the Union? I don’t care. It is simply useless. It was lame when we had Pelosi/Reid do it, and it was lame when the Republicans wheeled out J.C. Watts to do it when Clinton was President. The response is useless and it would be better if we just didn’t have one and issue a press release saying that the steaming pile of nonsense he shoveled up in the State of the Union wasn’t worth a response.
But sending out press releases is Michael Moore business, sorry, I forgot.