I started blogging back in 2005. The site was hosted on an apple Mobile Me page, which (I checked just now) has disappeared into the internet ether, which means I can’t link to one of the first, if not the first, things I posted: a rant against “wuss Democrats”. I believe that from time to time I have repeated my complaints about such Democrats. In fact, I know I have.
So, it is somewhat gratifying to read about the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee fighting the good fight against Kavanaugh. It may be quixotic, but over time the windmills will come down. Maybe not this time, but at some point in the future. It is not lost on me that some of those making the most noise have presidential ambitions.
I would humbly submit that one of the reasons, if not the main reason, that the Democrats, or at least some of them, have started to grow spines is that they have become aware that their sinecures and/or aspirations for higher office are endangered by the restiveness of the base they have taken for granted for so long. Not only has corporate Democrat, and Speaker in waiting, Joe Crowley, been pushed aside, but Ayanna Pressley took out Michael Capuano in Massachusetts. The latter case is possibly the most interesting. On a policy level, there was not much to separate the two, but Pressley made the case that Capuano was simply not an aggressive enough advocate. It’s all well and good if a legislator votes the right way, but more is required these days. It wasn’t good behavior that led to the current Republican lock on all three branches of government.
Our own congressman here in the Second might learn a lesson from all this. Joe’s a great guy, but he’s in the Capuano mold. I get his tweets. I know he doesn’t actually send them, but they speak to his priorities and his perception of how he should function in his job. What I see is a stream of announcements about jobs being created here or job training there. All well and good, but the Republic is in mortal danger, and it would behoove him to get out in front of his base. We need more rock throwers, and those rocks should be thrown in many directions, including at the media. We should be accusing them of bias born of both siderism. As things stand now, we are defending the press while it continues to blame “both sides” for our current troubles.
Anyway, it’s good to see the first faint stirrings of fighting spirit among the Democrats. If we want more of that, and assuming we win the House and or the Senate, we have to think long and hard about replacing the geriatrics currently at the helm with new people oriented toward open warfare against the Republicans. It may be our only hope.
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