Hello Kossians, long time listener, first time caller.
Kos has developed a "Reform Democrat" meme, and usually he applies it to reforming the party. Many people have also tied that idea to reforming the federal government, which is a good way to increase electoral appeal, especially in areas where Big Government = Bad is a firmly entrenched concept (like much of Texas).
The Intelligence Reform Bill was modified today to appease some of the GOP holdouts, and looks to get done pretty soon. Good for the USA, but the Democrats missed a strategic opportunity here, big time.
Since most everyone here pays attention to these sorts of things, we know that the holdup has been that Hastert won't hold a vote until he has a "majority of his majority" on board. That is putting party politics ahead of national security, folks, and its bad government.
Ask yourself this: WWTDHD?
(What Would Tom Delay Have Done?)
More below...
To give you a little historical example, not so long ago here in Texas, the Republicans gained control of the state Congress, and set out to do an off cycle redistricting to further their electoral advantage.
In an attempt to stop the redistricting, the Democrats in the state Congress refused to appear in the Capitol, denying the quorum needed for a vote (the only way they could stop it). Since they knew that the Republican governor could compel them to come into the Capitol by sending Texas Rangers, they left the state (once to OK, the other time to NM).
You know all about this story - the shameless attempt to change the redistricting rules should have been a scandal. So, were people around here outraged at the abuse of power by the GOP? No, of course not. The story heard here was how the Texas Democrats weren't showing up for work - those terrible Democrats and their bad government.
People around here actually got the idea that the Democrats weren't doing their job by not showing up at the Capitol - which fit in perfectly with many people's disdain for government in general. Since you have to be paying attention and think about it for a minute (not the average American's strong suit with politics) to realize that they were representing their constituency and trying to protect the rights of the minority, that frame of the events never took hold.
The recent Intelligence Bill shenanigans were a perfect opportunity to fit the GOP into that bad government picture, and Democrats only murmured.
(You may want to chalk my Texas example up to Texas being a Red state and people siding with the Republicans because they are Republicans, but it hasn't always been that way. We had Democrats in power for a long time, and only recently did the GOP take over. The average Texan is, probably like most Americans, not really paying attention to politics.)