Why Won't Whining Work?

by Mark Adams

One thing Democrats should keep in mind during election season is never take the opposition's "advice" too seriously.  More specifically to this election, Democrats cannot stop fighting on every single issue, every day.

The grievances are piled high and deserve attention.  Call it whining if you must, but the litany of mistakes and malfeasance committed by our current crop of Republican rulers can be used as a club to frame the debate on every single issue at stake this November.

Ara bullet-pointed the MyDD braintrust's six-part formula to get a Democratic win this fall.  While even Digby, whose insightful perspectives never fail to inspire, has a "gut" feeling that their "common sense" approach is "uncomplicated and obvious."  I think that their six points have five too many.

Everything they say makes perfect sense, and should be internalized.  However, the last piece of advice, to "pick a fight, any fight" is the sine qua non of the strategy, and they acknowledge that "a resolute willingness to not back off in the face of criticism is key."

Pick a fight, any fight. Voters need to be convinced that Democrats can credibly challenge Bush. Whether the fight is over [choose your battle in the list of administration failures and overreach] Democratic candidates must demonstrate strength through aggressive confrontation where the term "accountability" is more than just an abstraction . . .

Swopa boils it down to bumper-sticker size, getting a "second opinion."  The idea being that on any issue, one party rule has so botched things up that getting a second opinion: a bi-partisan legislative consensus, a judge issued warrant, a meaningful international coalition; is more than reasonable after years of WMDs, "mushroom cloud[s,]" "turning corner[s]," and "We never anticipated the levees would break."  We're not the al Qaeda party.  No one is running as a terrorist, there are no Iranian plants running for Congress or belongs to IFFY (the Islamic Fascists Fraternity of Yankees.)  All we want is a second opinion before George goes off on another attempt to make a sweeping transformation of the world we live in -- like destroying Social Security or Teheran.

I think I've reduced all this fine wonkery into something even a rattled, tired, distracted candidate can call on in the middle of a debate when s/he's put on the spot by remembering one word -- whine.  Any old hack can remember to whine as long as they're coached on how to do it without sounding like a baby.