That sound you hear is me bumping my head on the desk

Firedoglake has a good entry about how no, we're not imagining it: Democrats are actually making a concious decision to do nothing about a little thing like the President Of The United States Of America authorizing illegal wiretaps on US citizens. Nothing.

Redd quotes an article by Walter Shapiro, in which he wrote

To underscore his concerns about shrill attacks on Bush, the Democratic operative forwarded to me later that afternoon an e-mail petition from MoveOn.org, which had been inspired by Al Gore's fire-breathing Martin Luther King Day speech excoriating the president's contempt for legal procedures.

For the record, I signed that petition. If you want to too, here it is. The more political operatives (for either party) show their contempt for MoveOn.org, the more convinced I am of the need to give them my support.

Back to Shapiro:

A series of conversations with Democratic pollsters and image makers found them obsessed with similar fears that left-wing overreaction to the wiretapping issue would allow George W. Bush and the congressional Republicans to wiggle off the hook on other vulnerabilities.

Redd Hedd replies:

Discussion like this makes me want to tear my hair out, because what consultants are really saying is "the hell with doing what is right or protecting the Constitution, it doesn't play well in Peoria."

Here's my response: maybe what hasn't played well up to now is the way you have been describing it. Maybe what we need is a better message.

You know, something like, "The President has already authorized illegal wiretapping. What's to stop him from authorizing house searches without a warrant, compiling a list of all firearms owners without any legal justification and other infringements on what you ought to be able to do as an American citizen?"

Sometimes, governing is about doing what is right, even if it requires you to do a lot of hard work that you wouldn't otherwise have to do -- and which might cut into your fundraising time.

It makes Redd want to tear her hair out. It makes me want to start a drive to get people to pledge that they will not vote for a Democrat unless one shows up.