Response to the State of the Union

At Eschaton a few days ago, Atrios noted the probably media responses to the State of the Union, pointing out that whatever happens with the Alito confirmation the media story line will be bad for Democrats. This is no doubt true, but I think that there is a far more important issue, namely what will be the response of the Democratic base.

After all, the fact that the Republicans will portray the Democrats as unreasonable is only to be expected. It is rather like the prosecution at a trial portraying the defendant as guilty, it's just what they do.

The fact that the media will portray the Democrats as unreasonable is a problem to the large extent that the public sees the media as neutral or , god knows, liberal already.

Both of these can be overcome, I believe, However, will the Democratic base portray the Democrats as

A) strong minded opponents taking a firm stand against Alito's policies of corporatism and dictatorship whether the Democrats filibuster or not, and whether they win or not,

or will the message from us be

B) the Democrats are spineless wusses and craven failures.

See I think that message B, especially coming from us, will do a poor job of winning over moderates. I urge the Democratic base to work on providing message A, no matter what the outcome.