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Congressional Democrats released their version of the “Contract for America” this morning on Capitol Hill. Three points from a Dana Bash/Ted Barrett piece up at CNN.com:
1. Thank goodness they dropped the previous slogan: “Together, America Can do Better” and replaced it with “A New Direction for America.” They’re equally bland and thoughtless, but that awkwardly placed comma in the former really was a sticking point for me. Find me a successful slogan with a comma. “Nike: Just, Do it.” Doesn’t work.
2. I love the GOP response:
Brian Nick, spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Campaign, said Democrats are “flailing in their desperate attempt to demonstrate that they have a plan and are unified.”
“Their plan is really to raise taxes, increase spending and weaken important tools that protect Americans in the war against terror,” he said.
First of all, Brian, you’ve got two first names. Secondly, you forgot babykilling.
3. The Kabuki nature of DC politics really shines here. Bash and Barrett quote Reid suggesting the plan is probably irrelevant in the first paragraph of the piece:
“The ‘Contract with America’ didn’t accomplish anything,” said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada. “(It) didn’t change the election at all.”
Great time to put that out there, Harry. And if you don’t believe him, listen to Chuck Schumer:
“We don’t see anything down the road that is really in our way in terms of doing well,” Schumer said. “The wind is at our back.”
Translation: I really don’t see how we can f*#k this up.* Which is probably true, based strictly on historical trends, though I wouldn’t put anything past these guys.
Neither do Bash and Barrett apparently, who not-so-subtly use the last line in the piece to remind us that if anyone can blow a gimme election, it’s the Democratic Party:
At a meeting with reporters at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee headquarters, Democratic leaders unveiled a Web video with clips of the president saying “stay the course” interspersed with graphics such as “gas prices at an all time high.”
They played the video on a small laptop in the front of the room full of reporters because, they said, they couldn’t find a screen projector.
That last line is more editorial than news, I’d say, but either way, it’s effing hilarious.
*I can think of one way: release a 6 point plan telling voters what you actually think.
