The Right Way to Do It

Just one thing I noted in passing with regard to Francine Busby's press release on McCain's decision to cancel a campaign event with Bilbray. The following is from the press release (emphasis mine):

Perhaps Senator McCain cancelled his appearance after learning that Lobbyist Brian Bilbray has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attacking the McCain immigration reform plan that Francine supports, said Busby Communications Director Brennan Bilberry. Lobbyist Bilbray is intentionally avoiding a serious conversation about immigration reform because he has no solutions, only more of the same rhetoric we have heard from Washington.

Note the consistent use, without comment or discussion of lobyist Bilbray. No apologies, just make it a plain, declarative statement of fact. Let the opponent prove her wrong. This is the kind of straightforward, decisive thing Democrats need to get in the habit of doing.

Sanity?

As we all know, there exists a fairly major divide in this nation regarding politics (although with Bush's poll numbers at their current dismal lows, the one faction is getting rather small). Passionate Republicans and passionate Democrats just do not seem to understand each other. I had a thought that might help some folks understand this divide. Republicans have been arguing lately that the President has absolute authority to declassify any national secrets at any time, essentially at his pleasure. Furthermore, no one has any business reviewing or approving these decisions. Republicans have also made clear in the recent past that they believe that a deep threat exists to the safety of the Republic, a threat that must be countered with the strongest possible measures, if the President should, solely on his own authority alter the staffing of the White House Travel Office. We Democrats are generally of the opinion that no group of people who hold both these views can be considered sane. I mean, it is not just that together they are wrong or ridiculous. These two beliefs together are, in fact, insane.

Containment

So after three years of warfare, 2500 hundred casualties, half a trillion dollars and plunging Iraq into a civil war we are finally adopting the strategy that any sensible people would have adopted from the beginning. Sigh.

Baltimore Bloggers

There is going to be a meetup of local Baltimore Bloggers down at Fell's Point on Saturday, May 27. Follow the link to daily Kos for the details.

Get the Right Attitude

The post linked to over at TAPPED is the kind of thing that drives me nuts. In response to the changing electoral prospects for the Democrats, Ezra writes "The likeliest outcomes are moderate gains, improvements that looked impossible mere months ago, but will now be seen as yet another lackluster performance by a party unable to take advantage of its good luck." Which is the outlook that brings us so much electoral failure. This news should provoke two responses among Democrats.

First, Democrats have not been predicting a takeover of the House, we are indeed realistic and recognize that what with redistricting and gerrymandering, a takeover will be a tough fight. We know, given the abject failure that has characterized the Republican Party these past several years that we will make gains, but takeover will be difficult. If the Republicans are now saying, however, that their standard of victory is simply to maintain control then that is excellent new. It means that they admit that the expectation should be a Democratic takeover and they are admitting to the complete failure that has been their governance.

Secondly we should be making clear in every district that the Republicans are making clear that they will consider it a victory, and therefore continue with their ruinous policies, dragging the country in the wrong direction, if they keep even a one seat majority. No one can count on the Republicans changing their failed policies by even the smallest amount even if they receive significant losses. You can not count that Republican losses in other districts will redirect the party in a better direction. Rather, you must do everything you can to insure that your district does not send a Republican to the House.

29%

Bush approval rating in the latest Harris interactive poll has reached 29%. I'm of the opinion that it will certainly hit as low as 25%. I think it is fairly likely that it will get below 20%. For a long time people have given the President the benefit of the doubt and have been inclined, as problems have arisen, to accept whatever explanation the administration has given. But once people start taking seriously the possibility that George Bush might not be very good at this job, it is nearly impossible to conclude that he is anything short of terrible. Trust in the administration is gone so their efforts to spin are less and less effective. The press corps still takes the administration seriously, but few others do. I do believe that there is really no limit to how low Bush's approval can go.

Excellent Read

I found the document by Dean Baker linked to here over on TAPPED. It is a very important read. I've only just started the book but it hits some of the most important themes that, in my opinion, we Democrats need to be aware of to reach the majority of Americans. In short the book talks about the way in which we have allowed conservatives to claim the role of pro-business champions of the market while we are for big government. The fact is that conservatives are very much in favor of government hand-outs and the nanny state, conservatives just feel that the benefits should only go to the wealthiest Americans. Read the book.