Persistance

One problem we democrats have in some of these fights is not being sufficiently persistent. We bring up a controversial issue or claim, watch the firestorm for a bit, and then drop it if we don't get immediate positive results. The Bush National Guard story, for example. It brought a lot of talk in January and February, but then we just let the issue settle. We need to be prepared to just present some of our claims as given and let our opponents fight them. And we need to continue to do so even in the face of controversy. Also, we need to just not accept defeat, or even a draw in the argument. I think this is important right now with the current Tom DeLay 2-step that is underway.

Tom DeLay is under investigation for criminal activity and faces indictment. Given this prospect the Republicans have revoked a rule that they pushed through to require congressional leaders to step down if indicted. This is ridiculous. We need to regularly describe the Republican party as griped with moral decay and corruption. The initial reaction will be harsh, but we need to continue and not back down. We will face anger and hostility for a long while at first, but if we refuse to back down, we will prevail. This has two advantages. First we will eventually win the argument over DeLay. But sticking with the claim will counter the belief that we don't fight.