Liberal Talk Radio

The Democratic Party, and those who would attempt to re-invent it, should take note of Ed Kilgore’s roundup of the TNR 90th Anniversary issue:

Today there’s a strong sentiment, especially in the blogosphere, that we must closely emulate the conservative movement, and become as cynical, as fact-free, and as rigid as the opposition if we want to beat them. For a variety of reasons, including the superior appeal in the “reality-free community” of policies that offer free lunches domestically and a search-and-destroy missions internationally, I think that’s a losing proposition, and an unprincipled position, for Democrats. We need to raise our game and appeal to our best instincts, and the best instincts of the American people.

It may feel good to think that the Democrats can win by going all Gingrich on the Republicans, and, indeed, I’ve probably advocated this myself from time to time. But Ed’s right. The recent Republican ascendancy has less to do with their superior policies or politics than with a strategically-committed-yet-solution-challenged Democratic opposition. Consider me a member of the “Blame-the-Democrats-First Crowd.”

Bill Clinton played defense for 6 years so that he could hand off the ball to Gore to run for a touchdown. But Gore threw for an interception and the Dems have been back on defense ever since.

UPDATE: The Bull Moose takes note of Clinton’s lost momentum here, coming to much the same conclusion.