Beware the Rovian slime machine.

[democrank]

As I was reading various opinions about Jason Leopold`s scoop on Rove`s indictment, I started thinking about Dan Rather and the CBS/typewriter mess. In the end, it didn`t matter that Bush never completed his National Guard responsibilities. Instead, the messenger was the story. The only story. I don`t think I could ever be convinced that Rove wasn`t behind that disaste. How better to pre-empt the comparison of a decorated Vietnam War Vet and a babied, AWOL bad boy?

Some folks look at Bush`s recent poll numbers and assume Democrats are going to engineer a sweep come November. There were even a couple stories in the MSM last week about our Democratic leadership making transition plans. Not so fast, I say. Not so fast.

There is a lot at stake in `06, the control of Congress, which means control of investigations which could lead to impeachment. That`s a very big deal and Rove knows it. That makes him very, very treacherous. More treacherous than usual.

I`ve almost always been a hopeless optimist, even to a fault, so this certainly isn`t an opinion that Democrats can`t win. We can, but we must stay on guard and not substitute premature celebrations for determined activism. There is still about a third of the country that supports Bush. A little turning of the tide and we could be behind the eight ball again. I`m going to tune out stories about Tom Cruise and alligator attacks and concentrate on where I think I can be of the most help.