Ok. So with all the diaries about Karl Rove, and all the diaries about voter disenfranchisement, and all the diaries about election fraud, and all the diaries about October Surprises, and all the diaries about weak-kneed Democrats and blind electorates, I think it's easy to lose sight of a few very simple facts; your work matters, your money matters, your vote matters, and none of that is going to be taken away.
The reason? These guys just aren't that brilliant.
More on the flip...
Way back in ancient history (ok it was about a year ago), I made one of my first comments on this site, scolding someone for talking about a Rovian master plan behind everything. I think the comment went something like
we're talking about an administration whose response to falling poll numbers was to say the same thing over again, only louder. That's not brilliance, it's stunning incompetence.
Nothing that has happened in the following year has changed my belief in that fact. The Iraq War, Social security reform, John Bolton, the filibuster compromise, Bill Frist, Harriet Miers, Hurricane Katrina, Jean Schmidt, Liddy Dole's candidate recruitment, Curt Weldon, George Allen's racism, the comedic gift that is Katherine Harris, Lynn Swann, Plamegate. Tom DeLay, Mark Foley and Duke Cunningham (oh my!).
I mean honestly, what in that list of catastrophes and blunders and political gaffes makes anyone at this website think they're craftier than we are? The guys who turned a 10 seat majority in the Senate into a major impediment to legislation? The guys who gave us Tom DeLay AND Mark Foley, then tried to claim Democrats weren't fit to lead? The party with a sitting Congressman stupid enough to reference NAMBLA in a post-Foley debate? What exactly are we supposed to be so scared of?
I'm not saying we shouldn't be vigilant, and I'm not saying that we should in any way easy our foot off the gas. I completely agree with Bonddad on this one.
All I'm saying is, there's absolutely no reason to psyche ourselves out. These people just aren't that scary. We're going to donate money that will get to candidates and make a difference. We're going to knock on doors and drive people to the polls to vote in elections where their votes are actually counted. We should watch our backs to make sure nothing goes wrong, and complacency will absolutely kill us. This isn't over by a long shot, and we need to keep that in mind. But we shouldn't find ourselves paralyzed by nightmares of our own creation, either. Cause I promise you, the nightmares some people are dreaming up are worse than anything that this crop of politicians can actually pull off.
I know I'm mostly preaching to the choir on this one, that the percentage of people who think the election is a lost cause because of the Karl Rove machine is a tiny one. But I still feel that it's worth saying: this is the most favorable political environment that Democrats are going to get at any point in the forseeable future. Guarded optimism is certainly warranted, and no one wants to get their hopes dashed. But pessimism and defeatism just don't make sense. We wouldn't be in this position if these Republicans were a tenth as crafty as they have everyone thinking they are.
As I said before
That's not brilliance. It's stunning incompetence.
And if we put the work in, we can make it fatal incompetence. And they're just not smart enough to stop it.