Updated below
John Scalzi "goes off" on the Democrats.
But if the GOP do take the House, it won’t be because Americans actually prefer the current Republican platform, which can be summed up as “let’s forget 2008 ever happened,” but because the Democrats have been so woefully incompetent on so many levels.[snip]
Where the Democrats have shown complete incompetence is in how they went about their legislative agenda (i.e., like unherdable brain-damaged stoats), and how they’ve allowed the GOP — and its crazy nephew from the attic, the Tea Party, as well as its bullhorn Fox News — to frame everything they’ve done as one step short of eviscerating live kittens and feeding noisily on their carcasses on live TV.
Read it in its glorious entirety. I have nothing I can add to it except perhaps this: When Steny Hoyer, the Democrats' House Majority Leader, says this when asked about forcing a vote on letting tax cuts expire for the rich while keeping them for the middle class:
"I'm always, as you know, prepared to discuss alternatives so that we can move forward,"he makes Scalzi's point even more salient. Making Republicans vote in a way that shows the only constituency they care about is the wealthiest 1% of the population is a slam-dunk. The Democrats can frame this election as "who'd you rather have in office, the party who cares about the little guy or the party that cares only about the rich?" Why on earth would you not want to do that, particularly in an election where your prospects look dim?
Update: Hoyer clarifies:
"I [am] willing to talk to others about their positions," Hoyer says in a statement. "Unfortunately, the reports of my answer implied a willingness to support an extension of Bush policies. That is incorrect. Neither the adverse effect on the deficit, nor the lack of positive economic benefit, justifies such actions. As a result, I said: 'that, [the willingness to talk] does not mean that you take actions which you don't believe are appropriate.'"Posted by Linkmeister at September 15, 2010 10:19 AM | TrackBack
Hoyer's clarification still doesn't indicate a willingness to force a vote in the House. The longer the House waits, the more likely the Senate will vote to extend the Bush tax cuts in total. I prefer Democratic governance by far, but they totally suck at politics.
Posted by: redactor at September 18, 2010 09:52 AMThey sure as hell don't have the killer instinct, which annoys me no end.
Posted by: Linkmeister at September 18, 2010 10:06 AMThe problem with arguing Demo's are "the party who cares about the little guy" is that a lot of those 'little guys' have been watching the last couple years.
They saw Obama bail out GM & Chrysler mostly to save union pay and pensions.
They saw Pelosi and Reid happily jam through a 'health care' bill that no one bothered to read, with all kinds of special exemptions, basically buying votes.
They noticed that Obama's Aghan surge looks a whole lot like Bush's Iraq surge, even to the same general in charge.
They noticed that Obama's reaction to the BP oil spill was to make a speech, or two, or three.
They're still waiting for Obama to close Guantanamo.
and so one, and so one...
The Demo's real problem is that announcing "the party who cares about the little guy" is not the same as actually BEING the party who cares about the little guy. (unless the little guy is George Soros, I guess)
Posted by: Kakarot at September 21, 2010 09:42 AM