The Best Response To The Democrats’ SOTU Response

by tristero

When you’re asked to donate to the Democratic party, just remember that your dollars are paying the salaries of the idiots who decided that this man was the appropriate person to deliver the response to Bush’s 2006 State of the Union address.

Don’t get me wrong. There are some great Americans in the Democratic party – Dean, Kerry, Pelosi, Obama – make your own list. But something is seriously – major seriously – askew with the plumbing behind the scenes. And Dean, even as head of the party, won’t be able to fix it. In short, Daou’s an optimist.

What to do? I suggest donating to another organization that recognizes exactly how serious a danger Bushism represents an organization that’s shown they will fight tooth and nail against it. I’m suggesting that such an organization could then use its financial and electoral clout to demand the Democrats fire every last strategist, consultant, and adviser who was involved in the inexcusable losses of the 2002 and 2004 elections and hire new people who are prepared to implement a winning strategy.

What NOT to do? Don’t forgo political donations – give them to groups that you think matter. Don’t drop out and refuse to vote – every vote counts. Most importantly, don’t, for a moment, hold on to the delusion that the Democrats, as presently run, are a viable national second party. They’re not, and we’re going to have to work like hell to create a national party that can confront the Republicans and marginalize the extreme right.

One personal note. I truly hate having to blog about this issue. I’m no purist, I’m not a Naderite, a radical. I’m a moderate liberal. I recognize that a national strategy opposed to Bush can’t possibly address many of the issues I care about. I understand that I will inevitably disagree with positions taken to attract a more conservative voter than myself.

But what the Democratic advisers are doing isn’t wise strategy designed to appeal to the center. It’s sheer stupidity and incoherence. And if bloggers don’t speak out – loudly – then no one will. Although our influence is genuinely trivial, it is not zero. And so we must protest in the hopes that someone, somewhere, will read what we say and perhaps try in some small way to turn the Democrats around so that the US can once again become a two party democracy.