THE DEMOCRATIC STRATEGY….Jonathan Alter provides a glimpse at Rahm Emanuel’s strategy for winning back control of the House for Democrats:
Just as Harry Truman ran against the “Do-Nothing Congress,” Democrats will run against the “Rubber-Stamp Congress,” which pimped for K Street, took a dive on its critical oversight duties (particularly on Iraq) and helped the president bankrupt the country by shoveling money toward the rich.
Emanuel won’t say yet which votes supporting Bush he plans to wrap around the necks of incumbents. But look for gut-punch ads that highlight the incumbents’ 90-plus percent backing for Bush on issues like cuts in college loans and veterans benefits, privatizing Social Security, selling out to Big Pharma on prescription drugs and halting stem-cell research. Republicans are now scurrying away from Bush, but it may be too late. They can’t take those roll-call votes back.
That all sounds good, but I still think we need a stronger focus on Iraq (i.e., withdrawal from) and national security (i.e., what we’d do if we’re not up for invading Iran). I hope we’re not planning to ignore that stuff again, like we did in our famously winning efforts of 2002 and 2004.
