There has been a lot of talk lately about Substance.  Hillary is claiming Obama lacks substance, whereas she is supposedly full of it.

When someone says substance, what exactly are they talking about?

I've been reading Daily kos for a long time.  Back in 2003, I remember there was a lot of time spent here following the Louisiana Governors race... Blanco versus Jindal.

I remember at the time looking at the records of the two candidates, and feeling that Blanco seemed somewhat lacking.  But in the end I was happy that a Democrat had won in a year where we hadn't won many fights.

But I think we were wrong.  Maybe not in a Democrat winning over Jindal, but in supporting a candidate like Blanco.

The old 1994 Assault Weapons Ban seems to cause a lot of misunderstanding.  People scream and shout, how could you possibly want this gun in the hands of people:

The problem is, when gun people look at the AWB, that's not what they're thinking about.  The 1934 Federal Firearms Act required a license to own a machine gun.  But in 1986, the Firearm Owners Protection Act banned the manufacture of machine guns for individuals.

So this gun has been effectively illegal or at least very hard to get for quite some time.

As a Limousine Volvo Driving Liberal with an extensive collection of CDs from the Metropolitan Opera, sitting here this morning enjoying a cup of double soy latte no-whip decaf, I came across this lovely piece and felt I should pass it along.

First, to introduce the piece.

"Nessun dorma" is an aria from the final act of Giacomo Puccini's opera Turandot.

If you are not familiar with the words, there will be a 4 day workshop on Italian and it's place in Opera at yearlyKos that you are more than welcome to attend.

And now for today's performance, on the flip side of the diary:

I got into a discussion with my friend yesterday.  He's more of a moderate such as myself, but doesn't quite understand how politics works and often falls into the frames of the MSM.  He voted for Amy Klobuchar for Senate, but he says that he hopes the Democrats don't overreach and try to push a radical liberal agenda, or he'll vote against them next time around.

Now when I say my friend doesn't understand politics, I mean he doesn't understand how you change ideas.  The very concepts that thereisnospoon brings up today in his diary It's Up to US, Not to the Leadership: More on Overton Windows.  thereisnospoon is right, you win by convincing and shifting the debate, not by having focus groups.

But what does this have to do with Congress?

I have been wanting to wade into this territory for quite a long time, perhaps several years.  It's not easy, this topic is perilous and prone to misinterpretation of those in the discussion and those standing outside looking for weakness.  Regardless, this is the Democratic Party and our discussions appear in the open, not behind closed doors.  Hopefully the good ideas rise from the chaff and strategy is born.

As many probably know, Barack Obama gave a speech at a conference on faith last week.  It was reported by the Washington Post as "Democrats Must Court Evangelicals".  The full transcript of this speech is available from Obama's website.  This diary is in part about how the Post got it wrong, but also discusses some good points I think Obama made.