More by Digby on the California recall:
I am very disheartened by the spectacle of Democratic politicians running around like a bunch of screaming teenage girls, spouting incoherant crap about being against the recall on principle, but wanting to have an “insurance policy” or a “fallback,” all the while stepping on each other in their excitement to get on the “Gray Davis is a ruthless loser” bandwagon.
It’s just more of that hair-splitting, “I’m for the war, with reservations,” chickenshit politics that translated into a loss in 2002.
Perhaps Davis should ask to borrow the hair shirt Lieberman and pals forced Clinton to wear to such great effect. We could throw around the words “reprehensible” and “deplorable” and dolefully express our great disappointment in his leadership. That’s always such a helpful “defense.”
We look like a bunch of complete losers. We have no party loyalty, no winning strategy, no overriding principles, no guts and no patience. We don’t want our politicians to play the same game of hardball that our opponents play but whine and wring our hands when they win using those tactics.
These forays into banana republicanism are one area where I think we should draw the line and come together as a party to reject them outright as a matter of principle. And, I say this as a political pragmatist. By tying ourselves in knots to find ways to “win” under the terms the Republicans have set, we look desperate and voters can smell our weakness.