The Democrats are squandering two opportunities to gain political ground on the GOP....
The Istook Amendment of the omnibus bill brought forth some of the problems with 3,000 page appropriations bills. The ensuing controversy Saturday on the Senate floor presented Democrats the opportunity to make the bill's size and the many appropriations-unrelated clauses in it (e.g. the Weldon Amendment) important news issues. Instead of seizing the initiative and making the Republicans look bad, Senate Democrats let them escape unscathed. All we got in return were four lousy hours of debate and a yes-no vote on the Weldon Amendment in April (a vote which we will lose). Watch the evening cable talk/news shows carefully tonight, for you might hear only a sentence or two about the Big Brother Is Watching Amendment.
All because we wasted the opportunity to capitalize on this Republican blunder. We gave the Republicans a compromise so the Senate could go home. The Istook Amendment gave us solid ground to say "We cannot have a vote on this bill yet because we do not know what else is in it. We need time so our staff can actually read this bill." What would Frist have done then? Forced the bill through the Senate amid the controversy? If we had treated the length of the bill as a serious issue rather than an inconvenience, the Republicans would be forced into an uncomfortable position. But we blew it.
Fortunately, we have not squandered our second opportunity just yet. As you all know, House Republicans blocked the Intelligence Reform Bill, which passed the Senate 96-2. What our leaders need to do now is get on the talk shows and berate Tom Delay and Dennis Hastert for blocking a bill so important to our national security.
If winning elections is important, the Democratic party must be opportunistic. When the Republicans make a mess, we should not help them clean it up; instead we should show the mess to America, and show them who made it. The Republicans aren't going to give us or our agenda any more time then they have to. The talk shows would rather talk about breastgate or towelgate than Delaygate. We need to worry less about making laws and more about making news, because if we only make laws, we aren't going to unseat any Republican incumbents in any election. We have a clear message, we have the language in which to present it, and we have the people to give it. Mark Dayton's speech in front of the Senate Saturday was superb, combining both emotional appeal (he talked about poor children) with a harsh admonition of House Republicans. Our problem is that the leaders of the Democratic Party are too cautious to take the initiative and attack the Republicans.
Look at the last election cycle. The pundits were all surprised when the exit polls showed that moral values played such a large role. Who are they kidding? Look at what they've been covering in the last year: Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl, Paris Hilton, gay marriage, partial birth abortion, and "under god" in the pledge. The Republicans and their agents on television and radio squeezed every last drop of political opportunity from these issues. Republicans have been throwing around labels like "liberal elite" for a long time. They won this election because they stuck Kerry with that label, and they did a damn good job of it. Hannity, O'Reilly and Scarborough all talk about George Soros, Al Franken and Michael Moore being left-wing liberal wackos. The Republicans pinned the "liberal elite" label epitomized by Moore, Franken, and Soros on Kerry's back, so it followed him wherever he went. All of the "moral values" issues, from gay marriage to indecency in halftime shows were pinned on Kerry and the Democrats, even though Kerry always insisted that he felt marriage should be between a man and a woman. By November 2, the Democrats had become the party of judicially imposed gay marriage, the party that wants to take "under god" from the pledge, and the party that brought us Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake.
The Republicans, you might say, pinned the tail on the donkey. So when issues like ethics, the size of government, and privacy are raised; and when the Republicans corrupt and expand government and bring it into the home, the Democrats need to pin the tail on the Elephant. The American people will then see far-right Republicans for what they are: Beasts who stomp with their four feet on ethics, intelligence reform, privacy, and freedom.
If we want to win in 2006 and 2008, we can't keep returning the political gifts the Republicans give us. When we have a chance to capitalize on their mistakes, we must take it. Most importantly, we must attribute their mistakes to the Republican Party in general and right-wing Republicans in particular. The Republicans have punished Democratic missteps for the last ten years. Its about time we return the favor.