Some Snips from Pundits We Need to Read: Clift/Alter & Digby's Reply

[KoKo]

(So, we have Jonathan Alter calling Rahm Emmanuel the great Democratic Disciplinarian, Eleanor Clift carrying on about Feingold's Censure Motion as if it means Dems threw away their chance of winning in '06 and Digby with his usual cool insight throws it back at them!)


The Democrats' Disciplinarian
Jonathan Alter.....Newsweek Online

Seven months is forever in politics. By fall, the Dubai ports flap will be old news and Karl Rove's "tougher than thou" strategy could be back in the groove. Emanuel knows that if Democrats turn the election into a referendum on how to punish Bush (censure, impeachment) instead of on the Bush record, they'll get clobbered. But election experts are reassessing their earlier predictions, as districts in upstate New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania once thought out of reach for Democrats move into play. Controlling at least one chamber of Congress will give the Democrats the subpoena power necessary to offer some basic accountability. If Rahm Emanuel can pick the lock, he'll help open the door to a long-overdue housecleaning.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11903423/site/newsweek/


DEMOCRATS DILEMNA
Eleanor Clift Newsweek Online

The Democrats’ dilemma is how to satisfy a restive and angry base without losing the rest of the country. “If someone proposed stringing up Bush like they did Mussolini, that would have a lot of support in the base of the party, too,” says a Democratic strategist. “But it’s not smart.” Democrats want the November election to be a plebiscite on Bush’s job performance, not a personal vendetta. “Republicans will rally round him if they think it’s a personal attack just like we did with Clinton,” warns the strategist.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11882921/site/newsweek/page/2/


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DON'T MAKE TROUBLE
Digby Blogspot
Grover Norquist really understands Washington. When asked what he thought would create more social comity between the parties he wasn't just being cute:


Rock-ribbed Republican Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, proffered a solution, tell us that Democrats must accept the finality of their powerlessness. "Once the minority of House and Senate are comfortable in their minority status, they will have no problem socializing with the Republicans. Any farmer will tell you that certain animals run around and are unpleasant, but when they've been fixed, then they are happy and sedate. They are contented and cheerful. They don't go around peeing on the furniture and such."

He was showing a deep understanding of how today's political establishment works. The DC pundit-strategist class have "accepted the finality of Democratic powerlessness." People like Marshall Wittman and Eleanor Clift are telling the rest of us to do it too. Remember the GOP is the "daddy party" and you all know what he's like when he get's mad. Don't make trouble.

Clift wrote:

"there is a vacuum in the heart of the party's base that Feingold fills, but at what cost?"

Cost?

If the Democrats lose in November, I'm sure she'll find plenty of reasons to blame Democrats, but it won't occur to her that the reason people didn't vote for the D's was because the party listened to people like her and campaigned like a herd of neutered animals instead of listening to their hearts, their minds, their constituents and their leaders who were prepared to take a stand for what we believe in. No, they'll blame the "extremists" who want a safety net and a sane terrorism policy --- and leaders who defend the constitution. It couldn't possibly be that their tired, stale reflexive passivity is to blame when half the base fails to turn out because they just. have. no. hope.


http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/