No, I don't mean to re-hash the question of just what was really said by whom at the Wellstone Funeral. Since when has Reality mattered to our friends at the GOP, anyway? What I mean is: we need
one more push to turn a good result, say, 19 House seats and 4 Senators, into a rout. And, like the Wellstone Funeral, we do it by putting the Republican Party outside the ethical mainstream on one small, insignificant item (even if, for the sake of argument, we take their story of the funeral to be true) and extending it into a narrative that makes voting for them unacceptable.
We're lucky. Rush Limbaugh was generous enough to provide us with that moment. You've all seen the video by now. That intellectual giant of the conservative movement, making fun of a cripple. When I was five, I imitated my grandfather having trouble with his new prosthetic leg. My parents sent me to my room. I guess Rush had liberal parents who never taught him right from wrong (not!).
So what we need to do is tie Limbaugh's ineffably despicable performance to the GOP. Not over just the stem cell research issue. But over what sort of people Republican candidates are. Namely, bullies. Unaccountable bullies.
If I were in charge of making just one national TV ad for the Democrats, the theme would be simple: You have this one chance to hold them accountable. For Katrina. For botching the War. For protecting Mark Foley. For thinking a crusader for medical research is faking it. And with that one obvious statement, a statement so clear it brings the rest of their lies and evasions crashing down on them, we win big. We end the GOP as a National Party.