Reading tea leaves
I have just finished watching several of the Sunday talking head shows debating who won last week, the Republicans or the Democrats.
After letting the dust settle for a few minutes, I'm beginning to think that not only did the Democrats win last week, they won it BIG. I don't think they planned it out, but they accidently discovered the cookie jar.
First and foremost, they forced the Republicans to tie themselves to George Bush and the war. This president and this war are not popular at this point, and they're not like to grow in popularity.
Second, they forced the Republicans to take a stand on staying the course, blaming all who proposed a phased withdrawal with "cutting and running." Today, the administration itself proposed a phased "cut and run." That's so self-evidently inconsistent, people have to be laughing at them.
Third, we now have a number of semi-prominent Democrats calling for a pre-emptive missle strike on the North Korean missle test site to take out the missle that might be able to reach US shores. The Republicans are against it. My guess on this is that the public will favor the strike. My further guess is that this goes a long way to countering the image of Democrats as weak and Republicans as strong on national defense.
Fourth, on the McLaughlin Report today, the conservatives (Tony Blankley and Pat Buchanan) were supporting the idea of granting amnesty to the Sunnis in exchange for them laying down their arms. Earlier, on Meet the Press, Rus Feingold had said he was deadset against amnesty.
The idiocy of having Republicans at one and the same time supporting amnesty for those who have killed Americans while raging against amnesty for those who have entered America illegally has got to be registering on more than a few people. Further, I'm sure if you took a poll on the question of granting amnesty to insurgents who have killed Americans, you would get an overwhelming reaction against the idea. Feingold is on the right political side of this issue (as, I think, are most other Democratic candidates).
It seems to me that things are panning out pretty well for the Democrats right now. Let's just hope they don't blow it.
After letting the dust settle for a few minutes, I'm beginning to think that not only did the Democrats win last week, they won it BIG. I don't think they planned it out, but they accidently discovered the cookie jar.
First and foremost, they forced the Republicans to tie themselves to George Bush and the war. This president and this war are not popular at this point, and they're not like to grow in popularity.
Second, they forced the Republicans to take a stand on staying the course, blaming all who proposed a phased withdrawal with "cutting and running." Today, the administration itself proposed a phased "cut and run." That's so self-evidently inconsistent, people have to be laughing at them.
Third, we now have a number of semi-prominent Democrats calling for a pre-emptive missle strike on the North Korean missle test site to take out the missle that might be able to reach US shores. The Republicans are against it. My guess on this is that the public will favor the strike. My further guess is that this goes a long way to countering the image of Democrats as weak and Republicans as strong on national defense.
Fourth, on the McLaughlin Report today, the conservatives (Tony Blankley and Pat Buchanan) were supporting the idea of granting amnesty to the Sunnis in exchange for them laying down their arms. Earlier, on Meet the Press, Rus Feingold had said he was deadset against amnesty.
The idiocy of having Republicans at one and the same time supporting amnesty for those who have killed Americans while raging against amnesty for those who have entered America illegally has got to be registering on more than a few people. Further, I'm sure if you took a poll on the question of granting amnesty to insurgents who have killed Americans, you would get an overwhelming reaction against the idea. Feingold is on the right political side of this issue (as, I think, are most other Democratic candidates).
It seems to me that things are panning out pretty well for the Democrats right now. Let's just hope they don't blow it.
posted by walldon | 11:51 AM
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