Okay, so I'm gonna come right out and say it. I don't give a damn whether the DCCC acted correctly in the Paul Hackett Campaign. I don't care if Michael Moore scares away moderate voters. I don't care if the DLC is reaching out to Pro-lifers. I don't care if Kos' feelings about mercenaries are unpopular. I don't care what Evan Bayh said. I don't care about the soul of the Party, and I REALLY don't care about the Netroots vs. the Establishment.
Why? Because the GOP is cannibalizing itself. They're devouring each other as we speak. And we're too busy fighting among ourselves to notice the opportunity we're being given.
More on the flip...
You wanna focus on the DCCC? You wanna ask if they entered the Hackett campaign too late and did too little? Well I wanna focus on
this But Mr. Hackett's showing was unexpectedly strong in this district, a Republican bastion that snakes along the Ohio River from affluent Cincinnati suburbs to struggling Appalachian hamlets. President Bush won the district with 64 percent of the vote last year, and Republicans have held its Congressional seat for two decades.
You want to focus on the DLC's attempts to embrace Pro-Lifers, and to wonder if that means they're abandoning Choice? I want to focus on this :
Frist, a Tennessee Republican and surgeon, last Friday endorsed legislation that would expand federally funded embryonic stem cell research, seen as possible cures to diseases like diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and others.
You want to focus on cowardly Democrats who shamefully voted for the Iraq War Resolution because they were afraid a "Nay" vote would hurt them politically? I want to focus on this :
Typical of the polls was a Newsweek survey released over the weekend. It showed Bush with a 42 percent approval rating, matching the lowest of his presidency. Only 34 percent approved of his handling of the war in Iraq. A remarkable 61 percent disapproved.
You want to focus on Dems who cast votes for Abu Gonzales? Who were too cowardly to oppose torture? I want to focus on this :
The Senate faces a potential showdown with the White House over efforts to set rules for the treatment of terror suspects and delay military base closings.
Senate Republicans have offered such amendments to a bill setting Defense Department policy for next year. That's despite the Bush administration's threat to veto the entire measure if any of those amendments are included.
The point? Republicans are weak, vulnerable, and they're absolutely cannibalizing each other. Poll numbers are down. The agenda is stalled. Social Security reform? Did they even propose that? I can't remember. Bush has gone from "mandate" to "meaningless" so fast my head is still spinning.
Now is not the time for in-fighting. the 2006 midterms are rapidly approaching. And the Republicans are absolutely ripe for the picking. Democrats of all stripes need to seize the reins, realize who the true enemy is, and attack with a vengance.
I'm not calling for agreement. I'm not calling for the progressives to sell their soul to the moderates, or for the moderates to see the light and run to the left. I'm just calling for understanding. Understanding that we agree far more than we disagree, and that one of the things we agree on is that the Bush Administration, and their allies in Congress, are absolutely destroying America.
There is common ground here, and it needs to be located. Iraq is a quagmire, and it's making us less safe. The Bush Administration needs to let us see what John Roberts really thinks. John Bolton is a jackass. Stem cells could hold the promise of a cure for millions, and people are dying while the Bush Administration blathers about "the sanctity of life". Democrats of all stripes agree on all of these things. The common ground between the factions is huge .
So dammit, let's locate it. Let's realize everything that unites us. Let's set aside the fight for the soul of the party long enough to realize that the soul of the Country is at stake. They're there for the taking. Let's not play dueling banjos while the country burns.