But if there’s one group of people who make the job of the modern conservative movement easy as pie, it’s the Democratic party. There are some people in the Democratic party - Senator Clinton and Senator Biden, for instance - who have this misguided notion that it’s still 1996 and we exist in an environment that simply being less evil than the Republican party is the cure for what ails us. I seriously wonder if these folks and the people who work for them were even awake for the last four years. There is no middle ground with the right. They do not care what Democrats think about anything — not just in the people in Washington, but in the entire country. George Bush considers himself not the President of America, but the President of Red America.
There are two responses to a President like this. One is to be Joe Leiberman, to become just another appendage of the right, sitting stupidly on Dick Cheney’s lap as he operates your mouth with his bloody hands. Or for once you can stop buying into the conservative propaganda that blankets the mainstream press and stand up for what is right.
Look, the Democratic party needs to pull its collective head out of its collective ass. Waging war in Iraq was a mistake, and while there is no way to bring back the lives lost, there is still ample time to end our mistakes there. I wish nothing but success for the people of Iraq, but to be blunt I care more about New York, Washington, Miami, Los Angeles, and Chicago than I do about Baghdad. And I think the Democratic party needs to realize that their jobs, the reason they are in D.C., is to stand up for America and to do what’s right. There is no moral victory or political gold to be found in simply being just a little less evil than the right - it’s a loser on all fronts. The Democrats have made themselves into losers for years now, offering milquetoast responses to Republican nonsense.
And unfortunately...you know, earlier I remarked upon what fun it was to see the big right-wingers stumbling around. It's not so much fun when it's the party to which I belong (if only by default).
From The Washington Post via Suburban Guerrilla:
Strong antiwar comments in recent days by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean have opened anew a party rift over Iraq, with some lawmakers warning that the leaders’ rhetorical blasts could harm efforts to win control of Congress next year.
Arghhhhh! As SG Susie points out, how can being on the side of most people in this country harm efforts to win control of Congress?
In HBO's documentary about the first year of Air America, there is a scene filmed on election night, when most there had been smugly confident the Democrats would win. As it becomes increasingly clear that events are not going their way, an unidentified young woman is seen tearfully throwing up her hands and saying "Have I been living in some Democratic bubble or something?"
I know how she feels, but in this case I feel like I, and other bloggers in the Democratic base, are the ones outside the bubble. It's like we're standing there, holding signs, screaming at the ones who are supposed to represent us. "Hey! Hello! Over here! The people are on our side! The facts are on our side! The law is on our side! We have actual information that will prove it if you'll just come over here and listen to us, for god's sake listen to us, instead of giving creedence (again) to proven incompetents and liars."
And they just go back to planning their bi-partisan cotillion.
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