Even
Noam Schrieber at (Democratic Weekly Standard)TNR sees how silly this Bankruptcy bill is!
But, even worse than that, support for the bill by Democratic moderates betrays a striking obliviousness to the most important debate underway within the Democratic Party. Moderate Democrats have been under assault from grassroots liberals lately for selling out Democratic values in their rush to appease conservative interests. I normally think this criticism is highly misplaced, and that moderates have exactly the right instincts when it comes to social issues and foreign policy, even most economic issues. But in this case the moderates proved the liberals' point for them, which could set back the cause of moderates within the party for months, if not years. It really is a colossal, inexcusable mistake.
Now I thought the purpose of electing Howard Dean to be the DNC chair was primarily to change the way the party is funded, from corporate donations, to grass roots donations, so why are you submitting to the view that corporate donations are necessary? Do you have some plan? I sure hope so, or what was gained with Howard Dean?
The real reason certain dems did this is that there is no potential political concequence for not doing it. We need to target the worst offender dem, to my mind Joseph Lieberman is the best target, and run a primary challenger. Make them fear the loss of a seat if they continue this route. On the other hand lets reward dems that don't do this stuff with plenty of net roots donations.
Also, you realize that this bill is actually going to harm our weak economy by putting the country into more debt. This may throw the country back into a recession. Think triple dipper. Remember, we are facing the double burden of high gasoline prices and a declining dollar, not to mention a complete halt to housing construction. This isn't the time for belt tightening on the financially strapped. One basic difference between Democrats and REpublicans is that Democrats tend to focus on trickle up economics rather than trickle down. I think this bill actually harms both causes in certain respects. The upside is that even Walmart will be harmed by tightening credit, but so will good retailers.
Maybe you are worn out from you vacation bout with flu but I am not going down that road with you, Kos. Atrios and Myddaren't conceding. Krugman is on our side. Even right winger Glenn Reynolds sees how atrocious this bill is. TNR knows there vulnerable on this issue, so you should see a political opportunity. I sure do!