First - and quickly - the pissy rant part...
From this morning's, front page, Operation Democratic Rush Limbaugh diary...
Seriously, I want fighters, not pearl clutchers.
This site is made up of people who camp in the cold without toilets, protesting wall street. And underpaid social workers. And Aids activists. And teachers. And ACLU members. And gay and lesbian military officers. And child welfare workers, toiling on behalf of disadvantaged children.
It is many many thousands of UID that represent people who are LITERALLY FIGHTING, without resources, for the LEAST ADVANTAGED members of the American society.
So, in the future, I'd suggest losing... forever... the insulting "I want fighters, not pearl clutchers" as an argument around these parts.
And as for the tactical aspect...
...there is not one good reason to play this forward.
Not one.
The BIG FOUR reasons to walk away from this are...
1) The entire INSPIRATION is false. There is no need to falsely extend the Republican primary because there is NO SIGN that it's anywhere NEAR ending. Romney's not going anywhere. Santorum is not going anywhere. Same with Paul and Gingritch. So... why step in and insert the word DEMOCRAT into a firefight that doesn't need fuel?
And if I'm wrong about the above... someone... anyone... lay out a possible scenario where this doesn't go WELL PAST Super Tuesday, even if we spent all of our time... say... fundraising for... anything else.
2) On a day to day basis the Presidential election is being fought on terms that are PRO DEMOCRATIC PARTY. The tax debate. The contraceptive debate. The fairness debate. The improving economy. The resurgent auto industry.
Why in the name of whomever you believe in would anyone want to DIVERT from these obvious winners to "Democratic election tactics"?
Wait... did BOB SHRUM come up with this idea?
3) This VERY SAME argument was the "sure fire" tactic for the Republicans in 2008. The longer the Democrats fought like dogs, the worse off they will be in the general election. But, of course, the fight made us STRONGER. And while you could argue that the dynamics ARE different, the only thing that MIGHT unite the fundies and the money-hoarders... is injecting ourselves in the fight.
And...
4) MORE and BETTER DEMOCRATS. MORE and BETTER DEMOCRATS. There are HUNDREDS of congressional/senatorial races that could use our $2.50 and could use our smarts and energy MORE and BETTER than this clever by half idea and I fear (and, admittedly, fear is all I have to substantiate it) that this is MORE about relevance and site traffic... then it will ever be about making it easier to elect Barack Obama.
Look, I know well that the people who created and run this site ARE fighters and I know the instinct when you're a fighter is to just keep on punching, but... this is a dumb, barroom brawl that will distract from the MORE and BETTER battle that is our cause.
With love and respect...
