You may consider this a manifesto of sorts.
The chaos that has erupted over the FISA bill is threatening to go too far. The comments that I have read on the subject, threatening primary challengers for everyone voting for it, withholding support for Democrats based on this one singular issue, are out of line. Some have threatened to withhold their support for Barack Obama because he did not inject himself into this particular vote. This is insanely stupid. Let us not forget a major reason why we won back control of Congress: the conservatives decided to overreach. The Club for Growth decided it would apply litmus tests to Republicans and fund primary challengers because they weren't "pure" enough, in their eyes. Do not forget the story of Icarus - he tried to fly too high, too close to the sun, and his wings melted. The moral of the story is, DO NOT OVERREACH.
Something that is frequently used as a rallying cry around here is "More and Better Democrats." I would ask you, fellow Kossacks, to look again at that oft-used phrase. MORE comes BEFORE Better. I would ask each of you to never forget that. EVER. What we want, more importantly than Better Democrats, is MORE Democrats. And sometimes, that requires compromise on some issues. Because, fellow Kossacks, as much as we'd love to have a Congress full of people who agree with us on every single issue, there's a whole country out there full of people with different ideas. In some districts, you simply can't win if you're a pure liberal. You have to make do with what you've got.
I have been particularly pissed off by the hand-wringing and indignation over Barack Obama's cutting an ad for Rep. John Barrow of Georgia. "But he's a stinky Blue Dog!" some have said. "He's gonna vote for the FISA bill, let's support his primary challenger!" some have argued. May I remind my fellow Kossacks that John Barrow won his district in 2006, an overwhelmingly Democratic year, by a mere 864 votes. Again, we come back to "More and Better Democrats". MORE comes before Better. We want every seat we can get, fellow Kossacks. And in this case, we need John Barrow in this district, or Don Cazayoux in his, or Travis Childers in his. We NEED them. Should we turn ourselves into the Democratic version of the Club for Growth, we will find ourselves back in the minority just as soon as we left it. Fellow Kossacks, before you rush out to defeat your Representatives with ideologically "purer" candidates, consider this: should the more left-wing challenger lose in November, you'll end up with a Republican representative in Congress who not only would have voted for the FISA bill anyway, but who will disagree with you on almost every single issue, if not every single one. Remember the story of Icarus, and remember the words of Benjamin Franklin: "Politics is the art of the possible." And may cooler heads prevail.
UPDATE: Let me clarify something here. I'm as pissed off as everybody else here about the FISA capitulation. Don't think I'm not. However, our energies must NOW be focused on stopping this bill in the Senate, which, after all, is where bills are usually supposed to "go to die" in the first place. Call your Senators. Tell them how outraged you are. THAT is where the focus must be for us.