I can't count the number of times I've seen this kind of reaction to one of our countless undignified, unnecessary losses in recent years. And this is just the latest example.

Did it ever occur to any of you braggarts that history teaches us that there is always a point of no return? Usually it is not a catastrophic collapse, but, like T. S. Eliot said, "This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper." And you idiots will be celebrating a big win right after the last whimper of the Constitution.

As a member of several progressive advocacy organizations, I have to add my two cents here.

It kills me when I hear feminists, or civil rights advocates, or anyone on the progressive wing threaten to withhold support of Democratic politicians who won't "play ball" on abortion rights, or affirmative action, or whatever. This is exactly what conservative advocates do NOT do. They vote lockstep Republican, all the time. If a Republican candidate is more moderate than they would like, conservatives turn the pressure up once the candidate is elected. But they don't sit out elections, and they don't tear Republican candidates up in public.

Look, this is a political system with certain realities. If you don't win consistently on the national level, you don't set the agenda. Democrats haven't had control of both houses of Congress since the 1980's. Since 1964, we've elected TWO Democratic Presidents, and one was voted out after a single term.

I don't agree that Democrats lack an agenda or a vision. The Democratic Party's domestic platform hasn't changed substantially since FDR (civil rights and economic justice). That agenda is much more in line with mainstream American beliefs than the current Republican one. But unless Democratic candidates can count on unwavering support from people who should be voting Democratic IN EVERY ELECTION, we'll never get leadership with backbone, men and women who can stay on message and turn up the political rhetoric against Republicans (which would galvanize fundraising, get voters excited, capture the media's attention, and begin a new cycle of success for the Democratic Party).

It bears repeating: first you get the guy or gal elected. THEN you put the pressure on.

Smeal's spin on having lost a crucial battle would be funny if it weren't so sad. When the conservatives lost vote and vote in the 70s they managed to learn and gain strength from those defeats. They were newcomers, and perhaps naive. The Democrats are not exactly the new boys/girls on the block, and what does saying we have to learn say about all those veteran Dems? They forgot how?

I'm sick to death of all the spinning that tries to make every defeat look like a... victory? Ultimately it only matters whether you win or lose, and I've heard 'next time' one too many times. Opposition is lived day-to-day not only on rainy days. The Republicans know that, the Dems have never figured it out. They're always saving their ammunition for the 'big one'. Well, hello. This was a big one, and how long have you had to prepare for it? Decades you say? Oh, so what happened? Oh, you hung your cleats and jock strap on the wall, and now you're too fat and lazy to put them on again. Ah, now I understand.

The Democratic establishment (not the voters) is so ossified and comfortable it couldn't organize a badminton tournament in the backyard, let alone a winning national campaign defining a different vision of the future. You can't fight something with nothing, and the Republicans have something. The Dems offer nothing but whining criticism, and hollow promises to do...what?

I agree with the writer here who says that his/her money this year is going only to progressives who primary sorry establishment pols like Lieberman and Biden. This sorry performance was the last straw for me.

58-42? 2/3rds of those polled want Roe upheld? How can there be such a disparity between the Senate and the average American? Here's something that the GOP understand about that disparity. A HUGE chunk of that 2/3rds that "support" Roe don't "support" it with the intense single minded fervor that a Pro-Life activist "supports" overturning Roe. I've encountered enough Pro-Life members to say with a fair degree of certainty that eradicating a woman's right to choose is a fanatical obsession. So fanatical indeed, that they ARE WILLING TO GO TO THE VOTING BOOTH ON THAT ISSUE ALONE! The Republicans have been milking this ignorant species of one-issue voters for all it's been worth ever since Roe's been on the books and I think the Democrats missed a chance to take that free lunch away from them by not taking a hard line and showing that there was something they would go to the mat for. They might have been able to put a handful of these "moderate" Republicans in the corner with the light shining on them to help reveal the real truth to thier constituents that they aren't and never were moderate when it mattered. Alito getting into the end zone is one thing, but letting him score on 1st down untouched only re-enforces the stereotype that many who do and don't vote already have of the Democrats - They are weak on defense!

For those who have said they won't vote again... that is EXACTLY what the Kroven GOP wants you to say. You are playing right into their hands, and, ultimately, saving them in resources that they won't have to spend in quashing the Democratic vote next time. Is that really how you want to go down?

As I've written before, here on Salon and elsewhere, all the talk of policy, values, etc., really doesn't mean much to Krove and Co. Such talk is mere smoke screen... distractions from what's really important. They have more tried and true methods of "winning" elections.

Instead of criticizing the Democratic Party for not winning every battle against the administration (especially when they've put up a pretty good opposition to Bush this year), remember instead, that Gore actually did win more than enough votes in 2000 (granted he stopped fighting in Florida too soon), and if the REAL results of 2004 were known in Ohio, and the GOP intimidation tactics had not been used in Florida, it's likely that Kerry also won in 2004.

Conventional wisdom says that the Democratic Party, even though it does not speak or walk in a GOP-like lock-step, actually is more in synch with the majority of Americans on most issues. Not all, but most. Forget about the so-called conventional wisdom that the Democratic Party is weak, that it has no message, and doesn't stand for anything. You are merely repeating the Kroven GOP's talking points. (Read Digby's post about "The Gentlemen's Agreement.") Remember, instead, that Democrats are allowed to make up their own minds about issues, or, as one reader wrote, to "consider complexity." Aren't we tired of simple, black & white, Bushian declarations that are parroted by every GOP pol or pundit who is trotted around to the media, regardless of evidence to the contrary, despite the facts on the ground?

But, there is one issue which every Democratic politician and voter should stand for. Democrats must start standing up for the one fundamental, small-d, democratic value: Everyone gets to vote; every vote gets counted. Without that, nothing else really matters. Policy, strategy, tactics, fund-raising, message, etc. None of it. Unless everyone gets to vote and every vote gets counted.

Instead of picking on your Democratic candidates for not having enough power to overcome the overwhelming force of an administration that controls all three ( yes, all three) branches of government (not to mention a good bit of Media), ask them instead to help you by making sure that your vote counts fully and is not diluted by voting irregularities elsewhere.

First, thank them for their efforts in opposing Bush on Social Security, for holding Bush accountable to the degree they have been able, given the media's tendency to give him a free-pass. But, then tell them that for the past six years, your vote has been compromised by the GOP strong-arm tactics that kept other like-minded voters away, as well as by technology that, unaccountably, is under the control of only a few GOP-leaning partisans. No paper trail. Easily hackable. Unbelievable. And, in most countries, unacceptable. And remind them of the extreme anomalies that deducted votes only from Kerry's column, and added them only to Bush's, and are completely incomprehensible to professional statisticians in explaining 2004's results. [The problem was not with the exit polls.]

Remind them that they have only to make sure that everyone's votes are counted. And that the American people really can be trusted to make good choices. Recent history shows we already have. But our choices were set aside. Our votes were lost. Or not counted. Or disallowed. Unless the Democratic Party and registered Democratic voters all across the country deal with this issue, the rest is futile.

Remind yourselves, and your Democatic candidates, that the current administration cares more about the (appearance of) accuracy in the voting process in Iraq, and in Palestine, and in Egypt, and in Iran, etc., etc., than they do here. That is the Kroven GOP-hypocrisy that everyone of us should be focused on.