The DNC Dollars At Work

Their new TV spot. Money well spent.

Viewer Mail

Brad sends along a moral dilemma...

I was just looking at Brian Deese's report on Americanprogress.org about how consumer spending growth has slowed significantly and it got me wondering if other people are doing what I have found myself doing.

I need a new stove, refrigerator and washing machine. None of these purchases are urgent, but the stuff is breaking down and needs to be replaced. However, when my wife suggests that we actually go and shop for one or more of these items I reply, 'Not until after the election.' She agrees, in principle, but thinks I'm being stupid.

I wouldn't ask the question directly in a public forum because it would provide too much fodder for those that think that we "hate Amur'ca" and want to hurt it, but I wonder if any amount of the falloff in consumer spending is a result of other people putting off discretionary purchases until after Nov 2. I don't want to hurt the economy, but I just can't bring myself to allow the stuff I buy with my hard-earned money to become something that the current administration can crow about.

Wow. This is kind of a far-reaching question that goes beyond whether to buy it at Sam's Club or Costco (Answer: COSTCO). You set the bar on principles higher than I would have ever thought to do. But this is a glaring testament to how much we're aware that almost everything we do is turned into partisan spin.

Let's make one thing clear: We love America. All of us. We just don't like what's being done to it and what it's doing to our reputation overseas. And we're so intent on making change that we can't bring ourselves to do ANYTHING that will look good to the White House propaganda machine...even if it means buying canned goods, using a hotplate and going to the laundromat.

That said, I'd like our readers to chime in here. Is Brad here overthinking this, or is he right in waiting?

"A Gross Overreaction...Irresponsible"

Former counter-terrorism director Larry Johnson on NPR, comparing The U.S.'s reaction to the terrorism intel to playing Texas Hold'Em poker and showing your opponent your hand. Audio file.

Mmm...The Taste of Freedom in Iraq

So when do we get the flowers and candy for this?

Water Offers Deadly Relief in a Blistering Iraqi Slum
Typhoid and hepatitis E run rampant because sewage has tainted nearly the entire supply.

BAGHDAD - The price of bicycle pumps has more than quadrupled in Sadr City, for reasons that have nothing to do with cycling. Residents of Baghdad's worst slum use them to coax water from the district's battered supply lines. It's either that or use their mouths as though they're siphoning gas.

But there's a problem - the water is making them sick.

Typhoid and hepatitis E are running rampant through Sadr City this summer, as residents rely heavily on a sewage-tainted water supply to endure temperatures of 115 degrees and up. The outbreak has strained local healthcare facilities and left Health Ministry officials able to only guess at the scope of the problem.

The increase in typhoid (known as "tee-pho" here) is a regular summer occurrence in Iraq because of increased water consumption, but officials say this year's infection rates are much higher than usual. Hepatitis E, although present in the country for decades, is more rare.

Sadr City's aging water system was crumbling before last year's U.S.-led invasion to oust Saddam Hussein. But the postwar looting of a sewage treatment plant brought the crisis to a new level. Broken water lines allow raw sewage to seep into the regular water supply. Frequent electrical shortages stop the municipal water pumps, and innovative means of pumping water from the dry pipes end up bringing in extra sewage.

Blame the Damn Democrats!

Vice President Dickless Cheney - speaking in Arkansas before a heavily-screened group of Bush Pledge Signers who passed background checks - forgot momentarily that the Democrats don't represent any majority in the House or the Senate.

Cheney Blames Democrats for Nation's Pain at the Gas Pump

Vice President Dick Cheney said Tuesday that rising consumption and decreasing domestic oil production have led to high gasoline prices but also blamed his Democratic opponents and their opposition to the Bush administration's energy policies.

He accused Senate Democrats of blocking a Bush energy plan that would increase petroleum drilling and energy conservation and provide new tax breaks and other incentives to spur exploration and production.

"John Kerry and John Edwards voted no," Cheney said. "It's another area where I think there is a significant difference."

Cheney advocated increasing domestic oil production in wildlife areas in Alaska and other regions that are now off-limits to development.

C'mon - Think About It

When it was revealed that the al Qaeda intel Homeland Security received was four years old, don't you just know in the depths of your heart that Tom Ridge mumbled, "Oh, shit"? C'mon, you know he did.

AP: U.S. Struggles to Grasp Scope of Threat

WASHINGTON - The government is no closer to understanding some important details about possible terror plots against American financial institutions, intelligence and law enforcement officials acknowledge.

Investigators are poring over the trove of documents and photographs that led to this week's urgent warnings from the Homeland Security Department. But intelligence agencies have been unable to reach a consensus on whether the unusually detailed documents recovered in Pakistan reflect a defunct terror plot or one that might have been successfully interrupted.

USA Today: Officials don't see attack as imminent

WASHINGTON - The U.S. financial institutions identified in a recently disclosed al-Qaeda surveillance operation are not believed to be at imminent risk of attack, two federal law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation said Tuesday.

Now If We Can Just Get the SCLMedia to Report This

Man, why doesn't the Kerry-Edwards campaign put "Karl Rove" in their fax machine ID, dummy up a White House Fax Cover Sheet and send this to the newsrooms? That way, they'll at least LOOK at it...

George Bush loves to attack John Kerry's legislative record. But the fact is that 57 bills and resolutions Kerry sponsored passed the Senate and countless others have been improved because of his work, including the Clean Air Act, the Children's Health Insurance Program and the COPS program. In addition, Kerry has taken on the special interests and won. He fought against Newt Gingrich's anti-labor and anti-environmental regulatory reform, he has fought to raise the minimum wage, and he has worked to shut down wasteful corporate subsidies.

Here, for comparison is a summary of the legislation sponsored and passed by Vice President Cheney during his 11 year legislative career.

Cheney's Legislative Career by the numbers
96th Congress:	4 Sponsored; 0 became Law
97th Congress:	4 Sponsored: 0 became Law
98th Congress:	8 Sponsored: 0 became Law
99th Congress:	7 Sponsored: 1 became Law (H.R.1246 : A bill to establish a federally declared floodway for the Colorado River below Davis Dam.)
100th Congress:	7 Sponsored: 1 became Law (H.R.712 : A bill for the relief of Lawrence K. Lunt.)
101st Congress:	1 Sponsored:  0 became Law

Very distinguished record, Vice-President Dickless. No wonder you don't want any Democrats around you.

Zogby: Kerry Leads Battleground Poll

Fox News is proclaiming Bush the winner.

Senator Kerry Retains A Lead Through His Convention, New Zogby Interactive Presidential Battleground Poll Reveals
Kerry leads Bush 291-215

Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry remains solidly in the lead after a week in which his party and candidacy grabbed the political spotlight at their national convention in Boston, a new edition of Zogby Interactive polls in 16 battleground states shows.

After a string of good news for the Kerry campaign stretching back to the selection of North Carolina Sen. John Edwards as the vice presidential running mate a month ago, he leads in the Electoral College by a 291-215 margin, the individual state polls shows. Four of the 16 states in the poll collection - with a combined total of 32 electoral votes - were excluded from the calculation because the races there are too close to call.

Those states are Missouri (11 votes), Nevada (5 votes), Tennessee (11 votes), and New Mexico (5 votes). Mr. Bush won all but New Mexico four years ago.

Mr. Kerry picked up ground in Florida, while Mr. Bush made up ground in West Virginia, Tennessee, and Ohio.

So the Terror Alert Didn't Scare Ya?

BOO!

The DNC Hits the Streets

It was good to see young folks canvassing a corner of Beverly Hills today for the DNC. I stopped to chat with one of them, but I couldn't stop him from doing his pitch once he got going. Seems they're taking pledges of support, but only with a minimum of a $100 donation by credit card.

Now glad as I am to see the grassroots at work, I wonder about the wisdom of this. Getting signatures and e-mail addresses is a great idea, but for that price? And how many people want to give out their credit card number on a street corner? Actually, quite a few, if the names on his clipboard were any indication. But is this the right way to go about it?

'Course it WAS Beverly Hills. Tell me if I'm off base here, and what would be a better way to gain support. This way really didn't do it for me, especially since I told him I contribute to the DNC online via this site (which you can do by clicking the DNC logo there. Go on. Do it. Click. C'mon...).

By the way, I gave him the address here, so he'll be checking it out too. Suggestions?

What Do George Bush, the Free Republic and the Terror Threat Have in Common?

Four-year-old intelligence.

Boston Wrapup from Perlstein

The Official Village Voice Columnist And Occasional Op Ed Contributor To The Los Angeles Times of Hoffmania, The Chronicle of the American Condition - that'd be Rick Perlstein - files his report and reaction on the Democratic Convention today. (We give him that title to see if he can fit it on a business card.) Check it out.

The End of Republican Rule
Righteous populism holds the key to vanquishing Bush forever

...Niceness is nice. It makes a body feel good about himself. But it's no strategy with which to win a presidential election. Adlai Stevenson was nice; he lost two presidential elections for the Democrats. Michael Dukakis, Jimmy Carter: They were nice. And look what happened to them.

These days, talking about things like the growing gap between the rich and the rest of us is judged not very nice. Fixing it might require breaking some eggs. The pundits would call it "class warfare." So whenever a concession is demanded in the interests of unity, it will be demanded of the party's left wing, never of the corporate types.

Like the time, Tuesday night, one party liberal - this one - returned to find his seat occupied by one of those blue-suited thirtysomethings. I asked him to give it up. He refused. "We gave lots of money to the Democratic Party," he said, and demanded I sit in the aisle. "It would be shameful if I couldn't get a seat."

It was on behalf of all those poor single women who don't vote and who really hold the explosive power for beating George Bush on November 2, 2004, that I refused to give up my seat.

Why California Wants Wal-Mart Out

Wal-Mart's presence in California is actually killin' our economy. Fellow Californians, we'll repeat those three words: Costco, Costco, Costco. Thank you.

Study Cites Social Costs of Wal-Mart
Company workers draw $86 million a year in aid, researchers say. But the retailer says it gives jobs to people who otherwise would not be employed.

Inadequate wages and benefits force workers at Wal-Mart stores in California to seek $86 million a year in state aid, according to a report released Monday by the UC Berkeley Labor Center.

Moreover, if other retailers cut their wages and benefits to the levels offered by Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the cost to California's public-assistance programs would rise by $410 million annually, the study said.

In their report, Berkeley researchers Arindrajit Dube and Ken Jacobs contend that more than other retail workers, Wal-Mart employees rely on a variety of public-aid programs, including food stamps, Medicare and subsidized housing.

"In effect, Wal-Mart is shifting part of its labor costs onto the public," the researchers wrote. "Wal-Mart's long-term impact on compensation in the retail industry has the potential to place a significant strain on the state's already heavily burdened social safety net."

Ladies and Gentlemen - Our Future First Lady

"Three more months." This is why we love her.

[Teresa] Heinz Kerry was introducing her husband, John F. Kerry, at a huge outdoor rally [in Milwaukee] when a group of Bush supporters, armed with a megaphone, started chanting from a distance, "Four more years! Four more years!"

Without hesitating, Heinz Kerry responded, "They want four more years of hell."

The candidate threw back his head with a laugh, and the partisan, pro-Kerry crowd roared its approval, chanting, "Three more months, three more months," with Heinz Kerry joining in. When it was his turn to speak, Kerry said of his wife, "She speaks her mind, and she speaks the truth -- and she's pretty quick on her feet, too."

The woman's got more guts than the testically-challenged Dick "The Mad Screener" Cheney could ever dream of having. Karl Rove's little band of cretins here got a lesson on how a real campaign faces their opponents.

From the Pen of: Pat Oliphant

This'll Guarantee a Warm Welcome for Bush's Convention

Oh, brother, is this gonna be one pissed off city when it reads the morning paper...

Terror alert based on old intel
But authorities continue to think the U.S. is at risk
By DOUGLAS JEHL and DAVID JOHNSTON
New York Times

Much of the information that led authorities to raise the terror alert at several large financial institutions in the New York City and Washington areas was 3 or 4 years old, intelligence and law enforcement officials said Monday.

Authorities reported that they had not yet found concrete evidence that a terror plot or preparatory surveillance operations were still under way.

But the officials continued to regard the information as significant and troubling because the reconnaissance already conducted has provided al-Qaida with the knowledge necessary to carry out attacks against the sites in Manhattan, Washington and Newark, N.J.

"Gotta Boogie," Mike Malloy...

I heard little clips of this guy in the past and got an earful from his fans, so I looked forward to hearing Mike Malloy's debut tonight on Air America (10pm ET).

Well...taking the small technical difficulties and first-night syndrome under consideration, we still sure hope there's more to him than what we heard tonight.

The big problem I had was that he did his show as if he were continuing a work in progress. He geared it almost exclusively to whoever heard him until last March on the dismal I.E. Network. No, like most of you, I never heard any of their programming either. In fact, his opening line was, "Where was I when I was so rudely interrupted last March?" I don't know, Mike. Most of us didn't know. It would've behooved you to tell us who the hell you are.

He then opened with reintroducing his wife to the audience, who I assume was his producer, and read two stories which were covered pretty substantially by Air America all day - the heavily-screened Cheney rallies in Arizona and New Mexico. (Malloy apologized if the subject was talked about on AAR already. It might have helped if he listened to his own network.) He then immediately launched into taking calls.

His first caller took swipes at Kerry and Bush, and he said he was voting for Nader. Malloy, rather tourettes-like, began hollering at the guy, saying he was sick of talking about Nader and if he's said it once, he's said it a million times, he never wants to talk about Nader on the show again.

Huh? Malloy was on for barely six minutes and he's sick of talking about the subject of his first caller? Okay, I'm guessing this was a meme with him 'way back when on the Obscure Network, but it was completely out of context for a first show on a new venue.

All the calls for the rest of the hour were from Mike Malloy fans - again leaving me hungering for a reason why they were fans.

Mike. Buddy. It's one thing if you were previously on a network with y'know, a following? But it's horribly egotistical to assume that every person tuning into you on Air America was hanging onto your every word back then. I wasn't, and I feel like I was left out of a very - VERY exclusive little club tonight.

Oh, and please stop ending every call with "gotta boogie." It's a very dated crutch.

Let's give Mike the benefit of the doubt, though, and give him a shot at starting over tomorrow night. However, if he still makes the show a continuation of the No One's Listening Radio Network program, I'm outta there.

By the way, Randi, Janeane and Sam sounded GREAT together earlier tonight. The crossovers between the two shows oughta be a blast.

The FBI Whistleblower Lets Loose on 9/11 Commission

Sibel Edmonds, the former FBI translator who has been gagged from speaking out, is speaking out. REALLY speaking out. Her blistering missive to the 9/11 commission, dated yesterday, has been picked up by the foreign press. (Did you really think you were going to read it in the American media?) You can see it here at the Scoop, based in New Zealand.

It's an enormous and extraordinarily detailed open letter, but here's a passage which stood out to us:

Only one month after the catastrophic events of September 11; while many agents were working around the clock to obtain leads and information, and to investigate those responsible for the attacks, those with possible connections to the attack, and those who might be planning possible future attacks; the bureaucratic administrators in the FBI's largest and most important translation unit were covering up their past failures, blocking important leads and information, and jeopardizing on going terrorist investigations. The supervisor involved in this incident, Mike Feghali, was in charge of certain important Middle Eastern languages within the FBI Washington Field Office, and had a record of previous misconducts. After this supervisor's several severe misconducts were reported to the FBI's higher-level management, after his conducts were reported to the Inspector General's Office, to the United States Congress, and to the 9/11 Commission, he was promoted to include the FBI's Arabic language unit under his supervision. Today this supervisor, Mike Feghali, remains in the FBI Washington Field Office and is in charge of a language unit receiving those chitchats that our color-coded threat system is based upon. Yet your report contains zero information regarding these systemic problems that led us to our failure in preventing the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In your report, there are no references to individuals responsible for hindering past and current investigations, or those who are willing to compromise our security and our lives for their career advancement and security. This issue, as with others, is systemic and departmental. Why does your report choose to exclude this information and these serious issues despite all the evidence and briefings you received? Why does your report adamantly refrain from assigning any accountability to any individuals responsible for our past and current failures? How can budget increases address and resolve these intentional acts committed by self-serving career civil servants? How can the addition of a new bureaucratic layer, "Intelligence Czar", in its cocoon removed from the action lines, address and resolve this problem?

New Air America Schedule

Wow. I was never a fan of Marty Kaplan's "So What Else Is News?" - the one-hour speedbump between Randi Rhodes and Janeane Garofalo/Sam Seder - but I almost felt sorry for him as Janeane and Randi celebrated the new back-to-back scheduling of their shows, saying that it's what they should have done from the beginning. Almost.

But they're right. Kaplan's show was a momentum killer at best. The network has some real daily forward motion now with Garofalo/Seder now immediately following Randi at 7pm ET, and Mike Malloy following them...whenever their show ends.

Y'see, while Air America's getting their on-air act together, their website is hideously out of sync with all this, so we don't know WHEN Malloy's show starts.

By the way, can Garofalo/Seder ditch that college-radio-produced show open and get something a little more y'know - professional? Man, they still have to untether themselves from the NPR production values.

Onward and upward.

Why I Need to Sell More BlogAds

The EquiMount is on my wishlist, and I think it'll enhance this website dramatically.

ABC News/WaPo Poll Numbers

They're out. Registered voters:
Kerry 50% (+4)
Bush 44% (-4)
Nader 2%

But the more telling part is that Bush now leads in one - and ONLY one - issue. Three guesses what that issue is. Yup - the one he's going to ride hard through the election. But check out Kerry's bounce on ALL the issues...

Trust Candidate on These Areas:
Trust to Handle	Now	Pre-convention	Net Change
Health care	Kerry +19	Kerry +3	Kerry +16
Terrorism	Bush +3	Bush +18	Kerry +15
Iraq	Kerry +2	Bush +12	Kerry +14
Taxes	Kerry +6	Bush +6	Kerry +12
Education	Kerry +13	Kerry +1	Kerry +12
Economy	Kerry +11	Bush +1	Kerry +12
Health care	Kerry +19	Kerry +3	Kerry +16
Int'l relations	Kerry +9	NA	NA
Intelligence	Kerry +5	NA	NA

So again, the bounce off the concrete trampoline had Kerry up and Bush down. But on the issues, Bush is the big, big loser.

Grand Rapids, Michigan - Hello

These people - 20,000 of 'em - didn't have to sign a pledge of allegiance to Kerry.

You Want the Truth?

Bob Herbert says America can't handle the truth. The Dems knew going into their convention that they had to take the high positive road. Herbert says that's because they'd get lambasted to being honest about Bush's failures.

Not long ago American officials were claiming a decisive victory and the Bush administration was trumpeting the liberation of Afghan women from the clutches of the Taliban. But the proclamations of success were premature. Osama bin Laden and the Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar are nowhere to be found. Warlords and insurgents are in control of much of the country and the growth industry is the opium trade. The extraordinarily courageous group Doctors Without Borders is packing its bags and withdrawing from Afghanistan after 24 years because five of its staff members were murdered and the government will not bring the killers to justice. On Friday the U.S. government warned American citizens against traveling to Afghanistan because of the danger of being kidnapped or killed.

Some victory. [...]

So there was President Bush in a hard-hit industrial region of Ohio over the weekend telling voters, "The economy is strong and it's getting stronger." And the Kerry-Edwards team is assuring one and all that "help is on the way."

The voters may deserve better, but there's a real question about whether they want better. It may well be that candidates can't tell voters the truth and still win. If that's so, then democracy American-style may be a lot more dysfunctional than even the last four years has indicated.

Truer Words About This Administration Have Never Been Spoken

"We are a nation in danger."

- President Bush in the Rose Garden today

Business As Usual in NYC

Scanning the Fenderhead News Networks, it's pretty interesting to see the interviews with the folks who work at the NYSE and Citi. When they're asked about how they felt about going to work under the terrorist threat, they all kinda say the same thing - we were there for 9/11, so this is just sort of normal for us...we have to work. Bravo.

The funniest one I saw was a reporter asking why there were a lot of empty desks. The reply was, "Well...it's summer and they're on vacation." Oh yeah. That summer thing.

A Reminder

...of the shining happy optimistic faces running this joint.



Thanks for your time. Register and vote for Kerry.

Boost or Bump? And Should I Buy a Hat?

Item four in ABCNews.com's "The Note" this morning:

With all due respect to Newsweek and Gallup, hold onto your hat and hair for tonight's ABC News/ Washington Post poll. And please say "boost" or "bump," and not "bounce."

Out of the Panic of Cable News...

...comes a little sensibility. Being one of the 99.6% of America that doesn't watch MSNBC on a regular basis (combined with the fact that I immediately cruised the channels without my glasses on when I woke up on to see if I should get out of bed), I can't tell you who their terrorism expert is. But what he said made a whole pantload of sense.

Basically, "plans" don't mean "capability." "Desire" doesn't mean "ability." And he didn't hear anything in the intel that said they were going to carry this out in the near future, if at all.

He went on to say that we got this information from Pakistan's efforts of capturing and killing al Qaeda operatives. The lesson there is that we should concentrate on putting pressure on them instead of scaring the crap out of our own people.

Amen to that...but ya see, we had to drain our resources in that important little ongoing (and deteriorating) Iraq adventure...oh, you know the story.

HoffMath

Bush is about to be outed as AWOL during his military stint.
+ Rumsfeld is about to be blamed for the Iraq prison scandals.
+ The peace vision in Iraq is going to hell.
+ The Newsweek Poll has Kerry overtaking Bush on the issues.
_________________________________________________________



UPDATE: I don't mean to be so cynical that I'm saying I don't believe it entirely...it's a pressure release more than anything else. If they're honest about this, then the precautions are proper. But man, cynicism is an understandable gut reaction with the wringer these guys have put us through. We'll see how it plays out.

"We Would All be Safer Without Bush"

The Observer's Leader section says it all.

...the risks of another Bush term are far greater. Kerry immeasurably improves our chances of defeating terrorism and making the world safer. In a bitter fight in a divided America, reassurance that Kerry has the support of the rest of the world could be a decisive factor in key swing states. We must offer that signal.

But There's A Bright Side!

CNN reports Tom Ridge sees the silver lining...

Citing "new and unusually specific information about where al Qaeda would like to attack," Director of Homeland Security Tom Ridge today raised the threat level to code orange (high) for the financial services sector of New York City, northern New Jersey and Washington. "While we have raised the threat level ... the rest of the nation remains at an elevated, or yellow, risk of attack," Ridge said.

Oh...that's just...great?

Hey, and where is President Bush? In church and on his bike.

Washington, DC, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush tended to body and soul during a layover in Washington Sunday before resuming his multi-state campaign tour.

Bush, along with first Lady Laura Bush, started the day with customary worship at St. John's (Episcopal) Church, across Lafayette Park from the White House. During the service congregants listened to readings and Scripture dealing with man's relationship with material possessions and the need for responsibility to others and gratitude to God.

Then it was off to the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., where the president spent two-hours vigorously riding his mountain bike. Bush, once an avid jogger, has turned to bike riding as a result of knee pain.

The Dems Weave Their Economic Magic Again!

Do we know how to handle money or what?

Democrats' Security Comes in Under Budget

BOSTON - Law enforcement agencies spent less than $40 million of the $50 million appropriated by Congress for security at the Democratic National Convention, officials said Friday.

"We expect that the cost will be significantly less than the $50 million," Boston Police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole said at a news conference flanked by officials from the state police, Secret Service, Boston Fire Department, EMS and other agencies.

The latest estimate for the security costs is between $35 million and $40 million, O'Toole said, although the final amount has not been tallied.

How It Works

All last week, Fox News was bracing its viewers for an 16-18 point bounce for Kerry coming off the convention. Knowing the bounce is happening on what many call a "concrete trampoline" - the hardline decidedness of most of the voters - Fox can proclaim the Dems' convention a failure if the polls come in any lower than that.

Let's see what they predict for Bush's bounce. My guess is that they'll try to pull the "honesty" card and admit they shot too high for Kerry, so they'll keep the expectations low - like 4-6 points. That way, a 7-point jump will "shatter all expectations."

(Damn phone's ringing) Hang on...Rupert's calling to offer me a job...

Gooood Mornin'!

Two major bomb blasts in Baghdad and New York is hunkering down under a new terror scare.

It's morning in Bush's America!

Rick Perlstein, Mensch

Last weekend, I took Rick Perlstein to the woodshed for an op-ed piece in the LA Times titled, "Leave It To Cleaver." Okay, I did more than that. I threw him out of the Democratic Party.

Now we all know I don't have that kind of power - especially Rick. Turns out, tonight he alerted me that he left a comment for all of us at that post (which you can read here). Unfortunately, my verbosity made the post scroll off days ago, so I'll give you Rick's response the space it deserves.

Thanks for responding to my rant, Rick. And okay, I'll let you back into the party. That's the cool thing about Democrats. We disagree, we argue, then we all have pie.

Guys, nowhere in my article do I say that Democrats didn't RESPOND to the Whoopi ridiculousness. They did: they played defense. My question is: when are we going to play OFFENSE?

Ron Reagan played offense at the convention today: CHOP!--he sought to wedge off from their coaltion all Republicans who think it's insane to treat a blastocist that has the power to cure Parkinson's like it's a living, breathing person.

That kind of thinking is what my piece is about. Of course it took someone from outside the Democratic establishment to do it.

I would love to hear what you folks have to say about the main point of the essay: my questions about how the Democrats can take advantages of the structural weaknesses of the Republican to help build a long-term Democratic majority, which I think is the natural and desirable condition of American politics.

I probably won't check back on this comments thread too often, so discussion welcome at rperlstein@villagevoice.com.

As for the charge that what I'm advocating is an untoward aping of Republican incivility, I would ask: what's wrong with helping sane Republicans realize that the rest of their party is insane? Is pointing out that Republican free-trade purism is not in the interests of family-owned manufacturers hitting below the belt?

Regards, and dialogue welcome always,
Rick Perlstein

By the way, you can leave comments here - they'll be easier to find here than wallowing through the archives.