http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-lux-and-erica-payne/defining-insanity_b_99560.htmlDefining Insanity
Mike Lux and Erica Payne
Posted May 1, 2008 | 08:13 AM (EST)
If, as they say, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result, it may be time to sign us Democrats up for the funny farm.
Which of our candidates can beat McCain? Both of them. Which one will beat McCain? Possibly neither of them -- unless we trade in our straightjackets for some straight talk of our own.
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So here we are in 2008 -- the same thing is happening as we saw happen to McCain and Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004. All of this noise -- about flag-pins, patriotism, Hamas, Ayers, Wright (for him) and cold, bitchy, lying (for her) -- is just another coordinated effort by the conservative movement to define our candidate. If you don't think its working, check out the latest polls.
In chess, if your opponent puts one of your pieces in jeopardy, you can either protect it or challenge a piece of theirs of equal or greater value. Well, our king and queen are both in jeopardy and we're taking a bathroom break.
The worst part is that it's completely unnecessary. Over the last couple of years, progressives have built a robust communications infrastructure -- the beginning of our own echo chamber -- to challenge the right wing dominance of the media. We have research groups, media outlets, media monitors, government watchdogs, communications organizations, internet fueled organizing groups, and bloggers, bloggers and more bloggers.
But we need the paid media (and the funders who support it) to step up now before it's too late. If we think the Democratic Party is divided now, wait until we lose a general election with 81% wrong track number and just watch the recriminations fly.
Fighting for your primary candidate is understandable. Failing to define McCain now while we still can? Now that's just crazy.