Trying To Play Someone Else's Tune

I can't find the quote at the moment, but I believe it was Ronald Reagan who actually said that, in politics, "you can't make music trying to play somebody else's tune," or something like that, but that explains the title of this post.

I was reminded of this quote because of the following; how many times, particularly over the last couple of years, did you see Republicans dominating news coverage with discussion of "values" issues at about the same time that people still believed the myth that democracy would one day flourish in Iraq (seems to be some progress in that direction in Lebanon, though the Israel-Hezbollah war definitely was a big step backward for that). All the while, you heard everywhere that the Democrats don't take the Now And Forever And Ever You Better Damn Believe It You Godless Commie Liberal War On Terror seriously and had a condescending, dismissive attitude towards "values voters" (with no substantiation whatsoever for the latter charge and very little at best for the former).

Well, as we know, the drip-drip-drip of news stories (primarily the failed Iraq war, and more recently the Mark Foley scandal, along with a plethora of other news stories exposing the Repugs for what they truly are) has accelerated the Repug decline which began in earnest with Hurricane Katrina and its disastrous aftermath (also, I would argue that a strong field of Democratic party candidates doing their best to keep the dialogue focused on the issues, including the dreadful Repug "governance," has aided the decline as well).

This brings us to the current moment, where Bucks County Courier Times columnist J.D. Mullane, as he wrote about today, tried desperately to corner Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean on the question of whether or not the party will try to Impeach Bush, even throwing out the unsubstantiated charge that the Democrats have held mock impeachment hearings (with Mullane dutifully ignoring everything else Dean has to say, of course, and badgering him on this single issue).

(By the way, regarding that, I should mention that all you have to do to know my position is read the diagonal banner that appears in the upper right hand corner. That being said, however, it is CRUCIAL that, assuming we see a great day in a few weeks with the Democrats taking over at least one house of Congress - and we still have much to do to make that happen - they MUST show that they can craft an agenda for the country that addresses the issues that truly matter, and I definitely believe Dean understands that, or else they'll just be turned out in a couple of years and marginalized all over again. Yes, impeachment should be on the table, but we have to be smart about it.)

Also noted in the paper today is Mikey's reaction to Patrick Murphy's national radio address yesterday in which Patrick criticized Dubya and the Repug congress on Iraq. Courier Times reporter Brian Scheid reported this jewel from Mikey (no link yet)...

Fitzpatrick, who has called a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq "dangerous," recently criticized Bush's "stay the course" policy on Iraq and said American troops should be taken out of Iraq when "the Iraqis are ready to defend themselves." Saturday, he said leaving Iraq too early would turn Iraq "into a terrorist haven."

I guess it really is pointless by now to refute these idiotic statements since they have no basis in reality any more.

I'll tell you what - let's just read the post from this link which, as Daily Kos diarist DarkSyde noted, describes anarchy at this point, and you can see whose strategy here is "dangerous" (and by the way, as I noted a couple of days ago, even the Iraq Study group has thrown in the towel also, this being the organization Mikey sought out for guidance on this mess...since they've advocated a strategy of pulling back forces something along the lines Patrick has said since last December, a position Mikey ridiculed, does this mean Mikey owes Patrick an apology? I think so).

The point of all of this, though, is that, by the force of events, Repug mismanagement and corruption and our strong field of candidates, we are taking over the narrative. The Repugs have to react to US now instead of the other way around. Another measure of the shift that has been taking place is the fact that, as the Courier Times also noted today, Patrick has outraised Mikey in the last three quarters, thought Fitzpatrick still holds a fundraising edge (a Repug always will in these parts).

As we work for change, the tune from the Dems sounds as elegant to me as a Tchaikovsky symphony - from the Repugs, though, it sounds like Yoko Ono caterwauling while an out-of-tune grunge band tries to "cut its chops" for the very first time.