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I’m not a surrender monkey, because no matter how much some of you want it to be, this is not a war. Do times of national crisis (real or imagined) lead to regrettable excesses? Of course they do. But retroactive civil immunity for telecom companies who acted in good faith at the direction of the Executive is not the same as the interment of American Citizens because they are of Japanese decent.
What I have been suggesting from the beginning is that we need to establish – perhaps over an extended period of time – in the minds of Joe Average Voter that the Democratic Party is a party that can govern competently. This means addressing the issues that matter to them. This does not include the perceived ideological impurity of the Blue Dogs. This includes bread and butter economic and local issues. Not surprisingly, this polling data supports this, with Economic concerns at the top of every recent poll, followed by gas prices, and then the war in Iraq.
Before everyone goes baying for blood, we need to remember that this Administration’s abuse of the 4th Amendment is going to be an issue on which a miniscule percentage of the population go out and vote.
