The Calculation

Readers have seen me rage against the Dem's cowardice about confronting Bush, especially on the war and abuses of power. This, apparently, is due to the reluctance of swing State Dems to get off the fence for fear of being tarred with the anti-patriot brush. The calculation they seem to be making is that we, the anti-Bush party base, have nowhere else to go, so they can afford to ignore us.

Republicans don't make that particular choice. For them, the base is all - please the base no matter how nuts you have to be, and damn the torpedos. They fear their base with a holy fear born of painful experience. Democrats, it seems, don't.

Maybe it's time to get a bit scarier. Weak and cowardly Dems need to be punished, maybe even at the risk of the Republicans doing better than expected. Maybe targetting a few egregious cowards in the primaries is the secret. Give the rest a whiff of grape-shot.

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