There were days when I would pray for an outfit like Salon.com to get play on the MSM. For a lot of years, Salon was treated like a fringe left wing (and therefore nutbag) outfit which only progressives knew about. Now it gets notice for breaking major news stories in an election year. You can't buy that kind of publicity! And unlike NPR, which is by comparison, a little staid, Salon is actually cool the way FOX used to be when it just did "The X-Files" and sports. Then you have Editor at Large Joan Walsh who with her appearances makes it all look like there aren't just a bunch of whack-job liberals with chartreuse hair out here who think George Bush is an idiot and the country's being run off the rails by madmen. She looks like anybody else. Any concerned woman. Any concerned citizen who cares about the direction the country's headed in. In short, a patriot. Now having said this, I think Chris Matthews' opening shot about "are you a liberal magazine?" was cheap and pathetic. Joan handled it well. I also thought going all apoplectic about the fact that he didn't know about what a buffoon George Allen was seemed a little overblown. Joan did herself and Salon proud by not responding to the hysteria.

Clearly the so-called right wing "echo chamber" is not so powerful when an outlet like Salon Media can get on and have its voice (which is to say, our voice) heard.

This is an important shift in the conversation.

I was contemplating the irony of all this.

Think about it: the thing that hobbled the Clinton White House more than all these silly scandals was the one with Ms. Lewinsky. The SEX scandal. All that came before it were but tempests in tea cups. Until the SEX scandal.

Now, 8 years on, what may finally cost the smug, sanctimonius, and completely arrogant Republicans both chambers of Congress is the SEX scandal. For all the rhetoric about terrorism, staying the course in Iraq, defending torture, and "values voting", the GOP is a country club of Old Dirty Bastards. RICH Old Dirty Bastards.

In fact I bet the real Ol'Dirty Bastard is turning over in his grave right now.

There's a really nauseating irony to all this.

Surely it's not lost on me alone.

Maybe it might be helpful to look at this in the terms business understands.

Much has been made of Democrats 'closing the deal" with the American Public.

Well the question to ask is which segment of the Public are we talking about here?

The 40% (or thereabouts) who thrive on bellicose, belligerent and ultimately empty rhetoric? Or the nearly 60% who still think that calm sober judgement and reason still works? These are, if you will, market segments. The suggestion that the part of the market that responds to hysteria and overblown rhetoric will actually listen to a calm, reasonable explanation of what actually has to be done to keep the country safe is wrong headed at best. The hysterical, belligerent crowd is NOT OUR MARKET. However, the NPR-Salon-New York Times crowd IS OUR MARKET.

You don't waste your time selling something to people who are never going to buy. The huge difference, and I've said this before, between the two markets is this: one wants some kind of spectacular end to the war on terror. They want to see al-Qaida crushed on the battlefield. They want to see Osama bin Laden's head on a platter. They want to hear overheated rhetoric that says "stay the course." Anything that doen't have the requisite flash, the requisite visual effect is going to be perceived as "weak", or "soft". This triumph of style over substance is what has given the Bushies the perceived advantage. Now if anyone would take the time to actually listen to what Democrats who are running for office this term are saying, their strategy for actually winning the war on terror is getting through. Sen. Biden has come across with a few good ideas. Sen. Kerry has spoken at length about it. Jim Webb who's running for Senate in VA articulated a plan that made a lot of sense. Jon Tester who's running for Senate in MT made the point on C-SPAN just a couple of nights ago that good human intelligence will go much farther than any efforts on the battle field. But he also said we need to be focusing on Afghanistan which is where Osama bin Laden is. These aren't the voices of hysteria. These are voices of reason and common sense. We, as liberals and progressives do ourselves no favors when we insist that our leaders sound like Bush and his minions. Our leaders should be saying, and from what I'm gathering, are saying, "Their plan doesn't work". The GOP is all talk and no results. We know that. And there are more of us. I, for one don't want to hear anymore shouting. You want to close the deal with me, then TALK TO ME in real terms. Don't insult my intelligence, and don't waste my time. There's too much at stake to get this wrong, so cooler heads need to prevail here.