Here's The Plan

Thomas Lindaman writes:

The Washington Post has reported that Democrats are digging deep for any dirt they can find on Republicans in close races. Although opposition research isn't unusual in today's political environment, there is an element of this year's opposition research that doesn't bode well for the Left.

"This is bad news... for Obama!"

Keep in mind that traditionally the party in the White House loses seats in Congress in midterm elections. It doesn't always happen (see 2002), but the trend is well-known. If this trend continues, the Democrats are looking at losing power in Congress; the question is how much. That puts the Left behind the eight ball from the outset.

Add to this the growing discontent with all politicians, not just the ones in power. Some have argued that the TEA Party movement wouldn't have emerged had it not been for President Obama's election, but I would argue that it would have emerged anyway because our elected officials have become embarrassingly out-of-touch and increasingly arrogant. The same TEA Party folks that have criticized Obama have criticized John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and other more moderate Republicans for the same reasons oftentimes.


But instead of trying to tap into the more independent voting bloc, the Democrats have gone back to the tried and true scandal well.

Democrat leaders just don't get it. We aren't going to fall for that sort of gamesmanship this time around. Just because a Republican got a special tax break doesn't negate the special breaks Christopher Dodd got thanks to Countrywide. A Republican who has unpaid state taxes doesn't make Charlie Rangel's federal tax evasion go away. All it does is show how Democrats are trying to change the subject in an attempt to avoid an electoral drubbing in November.

And that signals a very weak party.

Concern Troll is Concerned once again!

The Ethics Committee has a majority of Democratic reps on it. And yet somehow it collectively voted to bring charges against Rangel. It's almost as if the talking points that right-wingers are pushing have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with reality.

We don't fight to keep our bad apples, unlike you guys.

Good campaign fodder for the Dems:

- Steele calling Afghanistan Obama's war of choice

- Well, pretty much anything that comes out of Steele's pie hole

- Voting against shit then claiming credit for it passage

- Hatch's statement that under Bush they didn't really care about deficit spending

- Sharon Angle/Rand Paul/Teabaggers

- Resistance to any form of regulation, even in light of disasters highlighting its necessity

- Defense of the only industry or profession where you can operate with zero liability (big oil)

The Democrats have succeeded more now than in decades; sweeping health care reform, an $800 billion emergency spending bill, re-writing of banking laws. Changing the way student loans will be administered, passing new rules for credit card companies and more. And they did it without the Republicans (of course).

Right-wingers, on the other hand, accomplished NOTHING.

But yes, the GOP will gain seats. It's inevitable. And the GOP is a VERY good propaganda machine. Constant lying about Obama on Fox news, the Teabaggers, etc. And the fact that the majority of the right is generally an ignorant base that will believe anything, even when proven otherwise.