Democrats Dilemma

[cal04]

Eleanor Clift: The Dems must satisfy their base without alienating the rest of the country. Russ Feingold’s censure bid isn’t the smartest way to do that.
Republicans finally had something to celebrate this week when Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold called for censuring George W. Bush. Democrats must have a death wish. Just when the momentum was going against the president, Feingold pops up to toss the GOP a life raft.

It’s brilliant strategy for him, a dark horse presidential candidate carving out a niche to the left of Hillary Clinton. The junior senator from New York is under attack for being too soft on Bush and the war, and most of the non-Hillarys are to her right. There is a vacuum in the heart of the party’s base that Feingold fills, but at what cost? His censure proposal looks like a stunt, “the equivalent of calling for a filibuster from Davos,” says Marshall Wittmann, a senior fellow with the centrist Democratic Leadership Council. To win in ’06, he says, “Democrats need to take the Hippocratic Oath: first, do no harm.”

Just as John Kerry’s belated effort to stop Judge Samuel Alito’s confirmation to the Supreme Court failed to rally his fellow Democrats, Feingold’s move toward censure has been received like a foul odor, sending Democrats scurrying for the exits. Only two of his colleagues, Iowa’s Tom Harkin and California’s Barbara Boxer, signed on as cosponsors. And for good reason. The broader public sees it as political extremism. Just when the Republicans looked like they were coming unhinged, the Democrats serve up a refresher course on why they can’t be trusted with the keys to the country. Nor could it have come at a better time for a Republican Party still battered by bad news in the polls

more
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11882921/site/newsweek/



here's some of what's being said on the blogs about this article
Beltway CW: Murtha, No, Filibuster, No, Feingold Spells Doom for Dems
http://www.dailykos.com/

Don't Make Trouble:by digby
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_03_01_digbysblog_archive.html#114274139097157868

Another neutered Democrat for Bush: Americablog
http://americablog.blogspot.com/

[yurbud]

1. Who IS listening to people like this? Who is her audience?

[bklyncowgirl]

2. That seems to me to be the Washington mindset

In both mainstream media and Washington Democratic circles.

In the end, she does call for the Democrats to propose a credible exit strategy from Iraq--something we all know is not going to happen because--frankly--despite the best efforts of Murtha, Dean, Kerry and otherst--the Democrats couldn't agree on lunch much less how to get out of Iraq.

[yurbud]

7. Upton Sinclair explained the real reason Democrats won't listen

He said, "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."

[bemildred]

8. Indeed. At least the post-Civil War period.

We could use Mr. Sinclair again.

[depakid]

6. Fools maybe

The woman has never struck me as either intelligent or intuitive (much less accurate).

In fact, if she's ever had an original thought in her life, I've never read or heard it.

Seriously.

And this goes way back.

[Smarmie Doofus]

3. Where does she get this from?

>>>>>t’s brilliant strategy for him, a dark horse presidential candidate carving out a niche to the left of Hillary Clinton. The junior senator from New York is under attack for being too soft on Bush and the war, and most of the non-Hillarys are to her right.>>>>>>

Who is the DEM ranks of serious contenders is to Clinton's "right" on the war? Certainly not Kerry, not Gore. Is the MSM media going to begin pretending again that Lieberman has significant support among the DEM electorate? Judging by his pitiful 2004 primary performance... that is beyond foolish. Then again, so is Clift's entire analysis.

God ... how they *love* this war.

[MrTriumph]

4. One of Clift's whoppers from a Friday radio show: Nobody warned about

the religious divisions being a potential problem in Iraq before the Bush invasion.

WRONG, ELLIE! Plenty of protesters against the war were saying just that. Only corporate owned pundits and beltway enablers couldn't foresee the problem.

IT IS TIME TO TELL THE CORPORATE MEDIA TO FIRE THEIR RIGHT WING FLUNKIES AND HIRE THE SMART PEOPLE WHO PROTESTED AGAINST THE INVASION.

[bemildred]

5. There is no dilemma. nt