Bloodless Coup

All they have to do is make sure this picture gets plenty of play. Nothing like getting a picture taken putting a medal on Muammar.

you mean like donald rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam?

unfortunately, the resume has nothing to do with it. if resume's mattered to these arms-touting bible-thumping idealogues, then it would matter that virtually none of them have served their country in the line of fire (while their peers were doing so), and all their divorces, affairs, abortions, gay children (to be clear, i don't care who their children have sex with, but you shouldn't be able to play like you adore your children while you're giving them the shaft in every way politically possible (and in this sense, Keyes is the only honest one in the lot -- he disowned his daughter, the only option his ridiculous rhetoric permitted him)), would come home to roost . . .

these things don't matter because it's all spin. they've figured out how to rev up a sizable plurality of the populace with smoke and mirrors. a few medals and a tour of duty, sadly, aren't going to be enough. they help, but they won't be enough in themselves if the left continues to lack a clear, unified narrative.

Wow - That picture REALLY ought to get a lot of play.

And while I totally get what you are saying Moon, and it's largely on target, I think if you saw 5 or 6 of these "Fightin' Dems" win I think resumes might well matter - the media would label it a trend and it would get a lot of coverage and possibly start to get people thinking - particularly as Iraq stays a quagmire (or whatever one's word of choice for enduring mess might be).

But Moon, Rummy isn't running for anything.

you're right, binky. he's just running things. {shiver}

armand, i can only hope you're right, and i read the same Atlantic piece you did on this topic (vets running as dems) -- or was that somewhere else. anyway, i'm of two minds in response: 1) to the extent i'm high minded and don't want to slide to the least common denominator vapid schtick of the GOP's public persona, i'd rather not surrogate an equally hollow surface story to convince people to vote for candidates whose real positions and convictions they don't even know; but 2) to the extent my cynical side wins out, i wonder if there's any way to win without creating some patina of appeal largely couched in hollow apothegms and pseudo-"values," and to the extent their isn't, i'll take an ridiculous narrative the press chooses to bestow, so long as it leads to the return of dems to the majority.

today, i'm in a 2) sort of mood. screw idealism. the party's been drowing in its own plural idealism for over a decade now, its head heald below water by the crafty pragmatic opportunism of the current party in power.

Sestak announced on Monday that he has raised $420,000 in his first 2 months as a candidate.

[Sound of Armand's eyes bugging out and his jaw crashing to the floor]

A first time candidate raising that kind of cash against a veteran guy like Weldon is astonishing. This is going to be a big race. And I am very, very excited.

OMG! Congressman Weldon's comments are appalling - he thinks that Admiral Sestak needs to bring his young daughter (who has a brain tumor) to a hospital in Pennsylvania?!? In what amoral, self-interested barn was this guy raised where he thinks it's appropriate to make the very sick 5-year-old child of his opponent a political pawn? That's so appalling I can't believe it was said.

Go Sestak! Beat this pathetic excuse for a human being (much less a congressman).

http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Campaign/040506_sestak.html