The Democrats are pathetic. Part 643

I want to commend and give a big "Hear, Hear!" to John Avarosis and his very popular Americablog for calling the Democratic "leadership" on the carpet and telling it like it is. The Alito "hearings" are just the latest in a long string a pathetic performances from the alleged opposition party. Has any democracy ever been subjected to an "opposition" that is so weak, stupid, and banal? The fact is that all politics is NOT local (forgive me, Tip) but frankly ALL POLITICS IS HARDBALL. The failure of the Iraqi "policy", the windmill tilting at Social Security, the debacle of Katrina, the national shame of torture, and the soon to be national scar of the NSA spying case, the contemptible treatment of Valerie Plame, the open wound called a deficit... The list of GOP negligence and arrogance and down right dangerous incompetence is endless and relentless.
And from the party that should know better: CSPAN press conferences watched by no one, cowardly gamesmanship from Senator Clinton, Gaseous seepage from Biden, parliamentary tricks from Reid - with no follow through. And a DLC that should be put in a stockade and pelted with tomatoes - rotten ones. The GOP is sucking the air out of this once great Republic and the party that could stop it is worried about saving their asses and their parking spots.
The road back will be hard, should there be a Democrat with the testicles to try, and the media is now in the hip pocket of the GOP/"Look! Aruba matters!" spin machine but the first step in simple: DEMAND AIR TIME. Two journalists debating 2 conservatives is how the game is played now - and how the outcome is always assured to go the Right's way. AIR TIME for REAL alternative views on every forum, on every show, on every night. This is the start. There is another vision for this country: fiscal sanity, energy independence, fair taxation, affordable healthcare for everyone, a foreign policy that is not myopic and stupid. America is HUNGRY for these things. But you would never know it watching CNN or MSNBC. There are articulate, polished spokesmen and spokeswomen to stand up and talk the loons and liars down. Katrina vanden Heuvel, John Conyers, Ms. Huffington, John Avarosis, Gov. Warner, the list is endless. And yet - on TV, where the conversation is shaped, we are served up John Frum, and the Buchanan siblings as if THEY represent the majority.
It is simple: pick up the phone and demand that the other side be heard. It's called P.R. It matters. Ask Karl Rove.
Smugness, fear, and press releases are a sorry and dangerous political plan.