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Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Looking for a Problem

posted by on November 21 at 1:13 AM

The Seattle Times ran a political cartoon on Monday (by Jack Ohman of The Oregonian) which shows a grumpy Nancy Pelosi at one end of the breakfast table and an icy Stenny Hoyer at the other end. There are two squabbling children (Dem Liberals and Dem Moderates) sitting between them. An observer standing in the kitchen doorway remarks to another (I guess they’re supposed to be social workers) : “I hope the children stay together for the sake of the parents.”

Cute. But wrong. For starters, the assumption that the Democrats are facing some sort of crisis right now, just comes out of nowhere. The fact is: the Dems aren’t in trouble. They just won the elections in a landslide. They’re in control—232 to 198. And I’m not sure what issues the critics actually think the Dems are seriously divided over. (The war? Well, okay, but the GOP doesn’t seem in lockstep on that one either.) I mean, the Murtha/Hoyer split was over the war, but otherwise, both guys were moderate to conservative Dems. So, for starters, before glomming onto a pseudo piece of analysis, critics need to actually explain what the hefty divisions in the D House are about. Of the 27 D pick ups, just five are anti-choice.

More important, the grating conventional wisdom that (thanks to conservative and liberal factions) the Dems are in some kind of trouble right now, misses the whole point of what just happened.While conventional wisdom casts the Democrat’s breadth as a weakness—that breadth is actually its strength: The Democrats represent the majority of Americans, while the diminished GOP, in glorious lockstep, represents its circle-the-wagons, Southern Evangelical base.

(Even the minor majority on the Senate side is a big deal. If each senator represents half of his or her state’s population, then the Democratic Senate, with Joseph Lieberman and Bernie Sanders, represents about 58 percent of Americans.)

The Democratic Party was split in the 1950s (over civil rights), in the late 1960s (over the war) and in the 1970s (over social issues), and guess what: They dominated the agenda throughout that lengthy period of history. The GOP was irrelevant. Yes, Eisenhower and Nixon were in the WH for part of that time, but the Democrats, with Senate leaders like LBJ in the 50s, were dominant. And with Kennedy, Johnson, and Carter, they controlled the WH for a bulk of the time. They set the agenda, and in fact, ran Nixon’s ass out of office.

The fact that the Democrats are slightly divvied up now, simply highlights that they are the relevant, lively party. For example, moderate Joseph Lieberman wants to be there. And lefty lefty Bernie Sanders wants to be there. That’s a broad sweep of America. And it leaves the monotone GOP out of the equation.

RSS icon Comments

1

Right, the MSM seems to be pining for a monolithic majority party. Like having internal debates and reaching a consensus is somehow a bad thing. Sure there are disagreements and not everyone accepts 100% of the party line, but like someone else said recently, it's a coalition. A single-party coalition that's come together because that's the only way to get anything done.

Posted by david | November 20, 2006 7:45 PM
2

Several good points. Both Pelosi and McConnell were unanimously elected to their respective party leadership positions. Contrary to all of the breathless media analysis, Trent Lott's one-vote victory as Senate Minority Whip suggests there is much less unanimity within the GOP than there is within the Democratic Party - especially considering Steny Hoyer's decisive 63 vote victory over John Murtha, for the number two House position.

Posted by Laurence Ballard | November 20, 2006 8:06 PM
3

I never hesitate to bash Josh when I think it's called for, but this is all spot on.

Posted by ivan | November 20, 2006 9:47 PM
4

And their editorial today too? Pelosi is weak because she picked the wrong horse? NO! The Times wants to *pretend* they are D's but really they keep hoping we don't notice that they actually have a stake in portraying the Party as weak (re: their stake - Josh has done an excellent job pointing out examples of Times endorsements of R candidates in critical seats and positions more aligned with Rs and opposing some of the most critical D positions).

Yes absolutely, the D's "breadth is actually its strength" (Very nicely said!). Our leaders are smart to stop wimping out when we have, I'd like to believe, shown that we wish to choose our electeds according to whom will represent that breadth, and with sincerity, conviction - informed by, but NOT defined by, strategy and polling.

Pelosi did a good thing recently when she stated her own position on the draft, w/o needlessly marginalizing the position of Rangel. She recognized him as a leader in social justice and the value of a draft option to any policy debate about the class and race FAIRNESS of our war policy.

She recognized the value of a colleague who shared her values and goals making this proposal. Even when it she didn't support the proposal itself, she reinforced the goals.

This is a smart strategy because it embraces the goals as common D goals. Unites rather than divides. We just can't let these jerks portray her respectful disagreement with the fix as "out of touch," or "weak." We ought to talk about that what she's really saying - like Rangel - that it's important to make sure that our war policy strives to protect body and property of Americans equally, without regard to class or race.

It's definitely not doing that now...

When are we all really going to get down to business and really start thinking about whether we intend to continue to support the filling of the ranks of USA war casualties from the latest generation of young and not-so-young men and women for a war we all agree now is based on lies? Are we really going to be suckered into believing people like KISSENGER who are being dragged out to tell us that "all is lost" really means "more troops are necessary?" Up is down and black is white and love is hate and life is death?

HELLO? The resulting impact upon geopolitical politics of our military withdrawal from that country is NOT more important the goal of protecting body and property of Americans equally, without regard to class or race. I'm not just talking about who is fighting, but why and for whose interest. Sorry, I simply fucking won't buy that our mission there is so critical bs. FUCK - I wrote my 10th grade paper about the bs of the domino theory and gulf of tonkin incident. I was 15. Why the hell can they get away using that same old playbook?

Already, our hospitals, shelters, and streets all filled with war casualties from past wars that we've betrayed. We all see them every day. We know this.

Knowing this simple fact of the forgotten soldiers already all around us and recognizing the responsibility implicit in asking people to serve their country, then the question of whether planning a damn timetable will "make it worse in Iraq or in the world generally" (this is a bullshit claim I think, but I'll save it for another rant) should be a secondary concern. If Iraq and the importance to blah, blah, blah is NOT secondary to the goal of protecting body and property of Americans equally, without regard to class or race, then in my mind it is a war policy that is little more than a meat grinder fed people to fulfill some other purpose. How can it possibly be okay for any more of our troops to die, when we KNOW that they are making that sacrifice without any commitment from our government in return to the goals we have as a nation nor any commitment to them as soldiers making unfathomable sacrifices that will impact generations to come and continue to fill past brimming (can you "fill past brimming?") our hospitals, our shelters, and our streets?

Posted by LH | November 20, 2006 11:40 PM
5

As long as it ain't Devericks I'm happy.

Posted by DOUG. | November 21, 2006 9:52 AM
6

I think the MSM just can't handle that Dems are competent, fiscally disciplined, and care about the Middle Class.

We also have these things called elections and we get over them, unlike the losers in the Red House.

Face it, we're the Bigger Tent.

Posted by Will in Seattle | November 21, 2006 12:36 PM
7

oh, and good point in 4 about the VA filled to the brim - I see it every few weeks.

Posted by Will in Seattle | November 21, 2006 12:40 PM
8

Adults understand that it is possible for different people to see, and understand, the same data and reach DIFFERENT CONCLUSIONS. Only a childish mind thinks everyone must think as they do.

The mainstream media is obsessed with childish ideas. Dissension is BAD! Someone must be entirely right so that someone else can be entirely wrong! What an asinine concept - but it's much easier to encapsulate in the approximately 45 seconds they give each non-tabloid story than an actual discussion of complex ideas and multiple options.

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