you'd hear outrage about this comment if Dems hadn't spent the last 6 - nay, 20 - years playing the role of weak losers admirably, almost eagerly, whenever Republicans bring back this tired talking point. Look at last week's 'filibuster' for the most recent example. It's starting to seem like Dems think that if they have both a brain and a spine they'll alienate their base.

Republicans can say whatever they want, and the Democrats can say whatever the Republicans want -- that's the media "consensus" that's tolerated. Nothing else is permissible speech.

Dems (and I am one) need to show more guts.

Republicans get in front of a crowd and start pounding the podium with their shoe -- screaming, ranting and hurling insults at their opponents.

John Kerry shrugs his shoulders, mumbles, and asks them to please stop saying such hurtful things.

Harry Reid shrugs, mumbles and looks uncomfortably at his shoes while promising not to impeach Bush so long as the Republicans promise to stop making Nancy Pelosi cry. “Bush can break whatever laws he wants….just please stop making fun of us!” mumbles a wimpy Reid barely holding back his tears.

Yes it’s great to turn the other cheek – but, my god! At some point you have to grab these guys by the throat and show them you’re a man!

Maybe it isn’t New Age and it’s not enlightened, but c’mon! Even I think the Dems are spineless wimps and I’m one of them!

So winners:

• Manipulate intelligence to start an illegal war
• Eavesdrop illegally
• Banish habeas corpus
• Torture
• Out a covert CIA agent
• Obstruct justice in investigating the outing
• Cage votes
• Inject blatant partisanship into the DOJ
• Fire US Attorneys for political reasons
• Attempt to coerce sickbed sign-offs on illegal activity
• Commit perjury to cover up illegal activity within DOJ

Makes me pretty happy to be a loser if that is what constitutes being a winner.

Let Rudy be Rudy.

As mayor of NYC, Rudy would rant and rave whenever there wasn't a crisis to keep him occupied. We would hope for a blizzard or some other problem just to calm him down.

If you disagreed with him you were either stupid or crazy.

Democrats are "losers" because they recognize that our military cannot "win" the war in Iraq. We need a political solution. If a Republican wins the presidency in 2008, he will have to negotiate a pullout of Iraq just as a Democrat will.

This was a stupid, completely unnecessary war from the start and we need to end it as quickly as possible. That's not losing, it's finally getting smart.

They got us into an totally unnecessary war, and proceeded to lose that war in every conceivable way, mostly through ignorance and sheer incompetence, and make the world far more dangerous thereby...real winners.

They've sold large parts of the Commons off to their business cronies. Real winners.

They've left us wide open to covert nuclear attack, by spending money on everything but securing our borders and focusing our intelligence services to prevent such an attack...real winners..

Shall I go on? In every, single way that counts, the Republicans are the losers. Such profound losers the word almost loses its meaning when used to describe them.

And, I think, at least some of them know it, in their secret hearts. And that is why they are so desperate to throw the label elsewhere.

If Americans woke up, finally, to what the GOP is now, and what it has wrought, the party would likely never hold power in this country again. You think its members don't know that? They do. That's why they consistently hide their real agenda, and do everything they can possibly do to distort news coverage of their perfidy..because if the average American truly understood what the GOP stands for now, and what it has done in service to its extremist agenda, no-one would vote for them.

I suspect even many right-wing nut-cases do not actually understand just how dangerous and destructive their own party has been. They can't afford to understand.

OK, so you post a link to an AP story published by USA Today where the writer states that Giuliani calls Democrats losers, but the entire statement is not reproduced? And then the following quote goes on to state only an obvious truth - that the Democratic leadership has declared the war in Iraq a loss? And then you go on to report that Giuliani called all Democratic voters losers? How is this anything other than lazy journalism and shoddy logic? How does this in any way equate to Howard Dean insulting American voters? It seems more and more that Salon is wasting precious space attempting to make Republicans look bad (remember that inane article about Bush making a little girl cry?). It seems like there are plenty of real issues you could concentrate on that would make Salon contributors look like thought-provoking liberal thinkers and not just sour-grapes Bush bashers. In general, Salon has really gotten away from serious, enlightened discussion in favor of "look what those evil Republicans did now!"

I'd like Dean to send out another insult right about now just so we can watch the media and Republicans go ballistic. There might even be an opportunity for Dean to ask one of his critics to explain why what Guliani said wasn't an issue.

Nahh, It's Ok If You're a Republican. IOKIYAR.

Reminds me of the episode where li'l Bush climbs up into the li'l democrats treehouse, and asks for their help. Li'l Al Gore asks, "why should we help you? You're always so mean to us."

Li'l Bush says, "because yer a bunch of wussy do-gooders that'll help anybody that wants a handout."

Then li'l Barack Obama looks around, and says, "he's right, let's help him."

So winners:

Manipulate intelligence to start an illegal war

Eavesdrop illegally

Banish habeas corpus

Torture

Out a covert CIA agent

Obstruct justice in investigating the outing

Cage votes

Inject blatant partisanship into the DOJ

Fire US Attorneys for political reasons

Attempt to coerce sickbed sign-offs on illegal activity

Commit perjury to cover up illegal activity within DOJ

Makes me pretty happy to be a loser if that is what constitutes being a winner.

Jim,

Thanks! I'm copying this list and putting in my wallet to pull out in bars, at my in-laws, etc, wherever I encounter the uninformed citizenry. Mayhaps I will laminate it, given the long slog ahead to recovery.