Can't tell a wristwatch from a hanging chad

Are there enough intelligent Democrats left to be embarrassed at the stupidity of the remainder?

"[The Washington Post received] following letter from a woman in Yonkers, N.Y.: 'Dear editor: This debate made it clear: John Kerry is a leader we can trust to tell us the truth when it comes to our nation's security. George Bush has had his chance; I'm ready for a new direction.'

"Cogent, succinct, personal -- everything we look for in a letter. So why are we writing about it here, instead of publishing it in the columns to the right? Unfortunately, the letter, perfect in every other way, arrived in our electronic in-box Thursday afternoon, four hours and 14 minutes before debate moderator Jim Lehrer posed his first question. ...[my emphasis]

"Democratic National Committee Chairman Terence R. McAuliffe, for example, sent e-mails to supporters saying, 'Immediately after the debate, go online and write a letter to the editor of your local paper. If you feel John Kerry commanded the debate and had a clear plan for fixing the mess in Iraq, put it in your letter. If you feel George Bush dodged tough questions on Iraq and didn't level with voters, put it in your letter.' In 2000, 'Republicans stole the post-debate spin,' Mr. McAuliffe said, and an avalanche of letters would help prevent a recurrence."

I've been a political debate forum sysop since before the 2000 campaign, and I can testify that Dem dingbats like this Yonkers, NY woman are far from the exception. Indeed, since 2000 their idiocy seems to have "infected" their fellow donks, to where these days, the rarity in the Disloyal Opposition is a lib that can regularly muster both intelligence and civility.

And I say that quite without sneer or sardony, but rather a weary regret. I, for one, tired long ago of the sort of "politics as religious combat" that the Clinton detour ushered in. Back then libs were insufferably smug and arrogant; after they got their just desserts in 2000, they've been insufferably angry and crazed.

It's that paranoid, Michael-Mooreian fever swamp mentality that frankly frightens the bejesus out of me should it triumph in this election campaign. Finding out first-hand what such people with such an irresponsible, extremist, vengeful mindset would do with power over their opponents is not a prospect I have the remotest desire to experience. Somehow I doubt it would be anywhere near as magnanimous as Thomas Jefferson's, "...every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle...If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it."

The American left does not tolerate what it regards as "error of opinion," and they long ago abandoned "reason" in combatting it. Their attitude can best be summed up as, "!&#$ you, you %^&*ing pack 'o Nazis! We're gonna get you bastards!"

Resoundng defeat is the only thing that can save the Democrat party in the long run.

To say nothing of America in the here & now.