(Cross-posted at
Needlenose.)
Rick Freedman of World on Fire has broken his post-election silence to make a brilliant point about the purge of CIA dissenters that the Orwell Bush administration intends to carry out in its second term -- however bad (if expected) this news is in actual terms, it can be a political opportunity for Democrats:
Christmas for Democrats came early this year, in the form of a stick of political dynamite that has the potential ... to illustrate to the American public that Bush and his cronies will gladly sacrifice our safety and the war on terror in the name of the Bush personality cult.
In mulling over the horror of November 2nd, Kevin Drum has been hammering on the need for Democrats to become "more credible on national security," and I've wondered myself how they can do this when they have so little ability to prove themselves by shaping policies.
The answer, I now realize, is to do exactly what the Party of Big Business and Bigotry did when they were locked out of power during the Carter and Clinton presidencies -- loudly complain at every turn that the incumbents are betraying America's safety. At long last, the Democrats should return the favor by informally choosing a couple of spokespeople from the Senate and/or House who will aggressively (nay, even obnoxiously) stand up for a stronger, less corrupt national security policy, beginning with this issue ... with the added moral benefit that they'll be telling the truth.
As Drum notes today, the next elections are coming closer every day, and the campaign to change the public perception of Democrats needs to start now. Kudos to Rick F. for seeing the opening to launch the much-needed counterattack.