"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast"
-Oscar Wilde		 Brilliant at Breakfast title banner "The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth, shall be watered also himself."
-- Proverbs 11:25
"...you have a choice: be a fighting liberal or sit quietly. I know what I am, what are you?" -- Steve Gilliard, 1964 - 2007

"For straight up monster-stomping goodness, nothing makes smoke shoot out my ears like Brilliant@Breakfast" -- Tata

"...the best bleacher bum since Pete Axthelm" -- Randy K.

"I came here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum." -- "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (1954-2015), They Live
Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Rolling Stone: "exactly the kind of tepid politics that will relegate the Democrats to permanent minority status"
Posted by Jill | 2:03 PM

Tim Dickinson, yesterday:

But this is exactly the kind of tepid politics that will relegate the Democrats to permanent minority status in Congress. The party has in Hackett the Barack Obama of 2006 -- an infinitely marketable rising star. And Hackett's biggest upside is that his unimpeachable patriotism helps inoculate the entire party against charges of being pussies on national security issues, and his leadership might even help the party craft a coherent stance on the Iraq war.

The Democrats have an opportunity to hold Hackett up on a national stage as the new, red-state-friendly, populist face of the party. But the powers that be are trying to shunt him back to a local race that will be nothing more than a side-show come November.

Imagine if the party establishment were a producer evaluating the talent of George Clooney back in his ER days. Instead of recognizing his breakout potential and giving him a shot at the silver screen, they're encouraging him to re-up for reruns as the best little pediatrician on television.

The real issue, it seems to me, is that Hackett is a loose canon. He swears. He says impolitic, un-poll-tested things. He criticizes the party leadership for steering the Democrats into an electoral ditch.

Sherrod Brown? He is nothing if not a "safe choice."

Committing to a candidate like Hackett means committing to changing business as usual -- and despite their mounting losses, the Democratic establishment seems to have an unholy commitment to the status quo.


And that is why, on the day after Election Day 2006, the Usual Suspects are going to be wondering what they did wrong. And they won't even ask us to tell them.
0 comments
Bookmark and Share