Election Season: Where are the Dems?

It's red-state planting season, folks. Republicans are again preparing for their November harvest of red-hot chili peppers to lure their conservative base to the ballot box: bash-the-media, protect-the-flag and damn-the-gays. [And] there is nothing like a new war in the Mideast to take our minds off the old one and create a climate of crisis to avoid change in a midterm election. President Bush and his Republican allies in Congress do have something to gain by the sudden shift of world media attention to Israel and Lebanon. The diversion is welcome relief for a White House just beginning to take more shots from GOP lawmakers growing fearful of losing Congress over the President's Iraq war policy.

– Craig Crawford for huffingtonpost.com


Despite the howls of voters for more aggressive and cohesive policy initiatives, for more muscular critiques of the administration and the Republican-controlled congress, one is hard pressed to find a pulse in the Democratic Party, which apparently has not yet addressed its addiction to focus groups, play-it-safe political consultants, and apologize-and-retreat campaign strategies. As in election years past, they are relaxing on the 9th hole, or at the beach, certain that voters will choose Democrats simply because they aren't Republicans…

I'm tired of blaming Republicans for everything. We have a two-party system. When is the other party going to suit up? …

This [Democratic] party has learned nothing. Their failure to stand on principle - for anything - has not only damaged their credibility but had had horrific, long-lasting consequences for the world. How many people are dead - in Afghanistan and Iraq, in Israel and Lebanon, in India, Spain, London, and New York - how many millions of people at tremendous risk from North Korea and Iran, all thanks to Bush's failures and lack of meaningful opposition? How much damage has been done to America's reputation, because no one has held the President responsible? The fact of the matter is, Bush, Cheney, DeLay, Rumsfeld et. al. couldn't have gotten away with half of the crimes they've committed if the Democrats - who after all control 45% of congress - had not abdicated their responsibilities as policymakers and statesmen, if they hadn't passed up countless opportunities to present an opposition. And the irony is, they've been so docile for fear of losing elections….

So while Republicans are spending the summer trying to get their mojo back, reminding Americans what they stand for – discrimination against homosexuals, bribery, theft, criminal war, the repealing of the Bill of Rights, whistling while terrorists acquire nuclear weapons, etc. – Democrats are looking at wallpaper samples for the new offices they think they're going to win…

– Andrew Foster Altschul for huffingtonpost.com