Get used to it. Even in victory. Because it's exactly what we've been missing for the past 6 years, and it's great that we have it back.
With all due respect to all the SYFPH requests that have been going on recently concerning the Carville/Dean tiff, the Lamont/Schumer tiff, and the Murtha/Hoyer tiff, I could not disagree more.
While we may legitimately argue about methodology and tactics, and the form that these debates are taking, I think it's a great thing that that we had a contest for majority leader. It's a great thing that we're having a public debate about the future direction of our party. It's a great thing that we're having a public debate about how our leadership interacts with our candidates.
I won't shut up about it, and I don't expect the public figures to shut up about it--even if James Carville is a total ass.
Follow me below the fold for more.
Look, everyone. It's very simple.
Do you remember what the situation was like four years ago? I certainly do. I remember when "Democrat" was a dirty word.
I remember back when the question "Are Democrats traitors?" was an acceptable form of mainstream political discourse.
I remember when public criticism of George Bush was met with a response more befitting Nazi Germany than a country with our first amendment.
I could list many more examples. I'm sure you all can too.
And now, what's the situation four years later? Even his most fervent supporters--the ones who actually do believe we should be strung up and hanged for treason--have turned on the President and the party.
From thereisnospoon's diary on the conservative reaction to Mel Martinez:
I mean...if competance is not an issue for RNC Chair - who is charged with the political lives of Republicans in 2008 - then surely he is willing to play these games with a next Supreme Court nomination. Hello future justice Connie Callahan.
Good grief.
Let's impeach Dubya now, before this gets any worse. I'm almost willing to let him be dragged before a war crimes tribunal if it will get him out of the White House, pronto.
So the question is: how can you go from one to the other in a matter of three short years? Yes, the corruption, the indictments, the incompetence. All those are true as the eventual causes that caused the Republicans to lose their majority in Congress. But taken individually, these are only symptoms of a larger illness. There's a unifying element behind all of the problems that led to the Republican downfall this cycle, and it is this:
A COMPLETE AND TOTAL LACK OF INTERNAL ACCOUNTABILITY.
The Republicans got to where they are now through complete and total obeisance to a leadership run by a cabal of ideologues who crushed any debate and dissent and ruled with an iron fist. They got to where they are now not just by telling everyone, such as Paul O'Neill and senior generals, to SYFPH--but they went out and actively enforced that policy through targeted smears and early retirement campaigns, aided by their water-carriers in the media.
And I don't want to have our party get to that point. I want to debate. I want to debate everything. I want to debate policy. I want to debate the future of our party. I want to debeate the future of our country. It's what democracies do, and we as Democrats--people who believe in Democracy, when all is said and done--should follow suit.
So I won't SMFPH. Neither should you--especially if you disagree with me and you think I should.
So next time you see a quote like this:
One would think that after their biggest electoral triumph in about a decade, Democrats would finally break their usual postelection syndrome -- a November loss followed by recriminations, finger-pointing and infighting.
Well, think again.
The Democrats are celebrating their big victory of Nov. 7 with recriminations, finger-pointing and infighting, no matter that they won control of the Senate and the House for the first time since 1994.
Next time you see something like that, be proud of it. Because you know what it shows? That for the Democrats, winning is not an end unto itself. It is a means to an end--and that end is figuring out the best direction for our country to go in, rather than gaining power for its own sake and squelching all dissent.
Caveat: James Carville is an ass. That said, however: The debate that we're having concerning the direction of our party is a microcosm of the debate that we'd like to have for our country. We're not content with victory. Victory doesn't satisfy us. Only improvement satisfies us.
So in short, it doesn't matter if we win. We'll keep on arguing anyway. And if the Republicans can't debate us because they've spent so much time doing obeisance to the halls of power that they've forgotten how, then we'll have the debate within our own party to figure out the best policies for this country.
Because that's what democracy is all about.