The Democratic Rapid Response Team
Digby gives a rundown of all the reasons the Democrats are pissed at Feingold for taking on the President when his approval ratings are at an all-time low. Predictably they are all lame. I would almost have sympathy for their anger over lack of consultation, but as Digby says:
It's apparently true that Feingold didn't consult with the party. But considering the response I can sort of see his point. They are so unimaginative and so sluggish that he didn't see the use in playing the party game. If party coodination means being forced to wait for them to hold plodding press conferences about x-raying cargo boxes, then it's hard to see why anyone who wants to take the fight to the Republicans would bother.Feingold's timing was superb and call me wacky but if the best "group think" the Democrats can muster produces a slogan like "Together We Can Do Better" I really don't hold out a lot of hope for a quick, coordinated plan of attack. Feingold probably had no choice but to ambush them. They are all waddling around now saying that they'll withhold judgment until the Intelligence Committee finishes its investigation. Do they not realize that the Republicans effectively killed that investigation on March 7? Hello, McFly!
I can see why they are angry about it. They were caught short. But they need to move more quickly on this stuff. Planning is great, but you can't always control events. How you deal with things coming from left field is important --- they failed on this one, making it worse for themselves by ducking the press and dithering about their response. I think Democrats have lost touch with their political instincts. This is one of those things that a smart old fashioned pol would have been able to either finesse or respond to properly off the cuff. (They should have called Bill Clinton --- he was good at that sort of thing.)
We see people every day, all over the blogosphere crying out for some leadership on the illegal NSA wiretaps. They're dying for it. Nobody even seemed to realize there was a void to be filled, and not because we didn't mention it. Feingold had to do something drastic to shake them up.
Sorry if he disturbed anyone's peaceful slumber, but we have a serious problem here.
posted by Jane Hamsher @ 3/15/2006 06:00:00 PM
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