I don't know the answer to these questions, but nor, with all due respect, does Glenn Greenwald. The case for a backward-looking campaign to punish Democrats generally or specifically for their sins in the Bush era makes little sense five months before it mercifully ends. Let's win big in November, keep the Big Tent up, see what the blessed new year brings, and remember that no one in particular can authoritatively speak for "base" or "swing" voters other than, well, voters.

Uh, really? I would think the answers to "these sorts of questions" would be fairly obvious. The case for accountability is hardly the sort of vague, hard-to-pin-down, everything-is-subjective non-issue that Kilgore seems to think.

Let's just keep the focus on a few of those "How Are You a Democrat At All?" moments for the time being. Like...FISA.

If you keep FISA in mind, suddenly "defining the targets" isn't so tough. Personally, it sounds more like Kilgore just feels squeamish--the thought of ousting a Dem for abandoning the ideals of the loyal opposition makes him feel all funny inside. The real problem then becomes that Obama is one of the defectors, someone who supported a filibuster previously but jumped ship at an opportune moment.

So the whining about how Dems really vote together the vast majority of the time really makes no sense when you also notice how quickly they roll over when the Republicans need them to. Or are those votes where Republicans march in lockstep--but Dems lose 10-12 votes to the other side--some kind of error that we must live with forever, because such is the nature of the Democratic party?

And most of these counterpoints are pretty damn weak. So Dems are more popular than Republicans in Congress? Jeeze, talk about finding a silver lining. Let's not brag about that huge single-digit percentage difference, shall we? Because it's actually goddamn pathetic.

Historically, moderates of both parties acted as a braking mechanism to the more extreme elements of both the Democratic and Republican parties. Regrettably, a "moderate wing" no longer exists in the Republican party.

Really? Can you name an example of when moderates in either party have acted as a "brake" to prevent some kind of egregious railroading? I personally can't think of a single instance, but I'm asking honestly, not sarcastically.

Actually, I remarked on this on the first page of the letters: Obama voted for the expansion of FISA, and that's making quite a few Democrats squeamish, and of course certain GOP trolls such as yourself giddy as a schoolgirl.