Wednesday August 9th 2006.
Today the Republican Party will start a new talking point they hope will frame the 2006 Midterm Elections. They hope to convince the American people that Ned Lamonts historic victory in CT last night was proof that the looney left has hijacked the Democratic Party and the only way to stop them is to vote for Rubberstamp Republicans.
The Republicans will claim the "Anti-War wing" of the Democratic Party is going to replace good, strong, national security minded Republicans with whiney, weak, "cut and runners" unless the voters re-elect them and their failed policies this November. The best way to counter this spin is with the facts of the matter.
First off if it was all about pulling the party further to the left would we have also replaced Cynthia McKinney with the far more moderate voice of Hank Johnson last night? Would we have elected Jon Tester as the nominee in Montana just weeks ago? And if we're so "weak" on security why are we supporting roughly 30 (that I've counted) Veterans as Democratic candidates in the Midterms?
The fact of the matter is if we were trying to suddenly yank the party to the very edge of the left, we're doing a really bad job so far. In fact I could be wrong but I'm fairly sure the blogosphere tends to support Democratic candidates that best represent the constituents of their district/state and therefore have the best shot at winning. And by helping those candidates win we can hopefully help influence the choices they make in office more than the lobbiest do.
What a concept eh?
The Republicans are getting really really desperate. You might say they're pulling a Lieberman.