Samuel-

Sarcastic wit?

And by the way, once you have purchased and read all of P.J. O’Rourke’s books, your journey will have reached its’ conclusion.

Regarding Bush Derangement Syndrome-

At this point, much for it seems to be a completely ritualistic response to utter helplessness, intellectual and personal. This obsessive need to display certainly isn’t something designed to impress undecideds/nonpartisans, and it is clear when you listen to a Susan Estrich, Al Franken or Michael Moore that converting the noncoverted is the last thing on their minds. Five minutes of the acts of any of the three and one can reasonably assume that they are about half a step away from hiring witch doctors and reading the entrails of sacrificial goats to figure out how to appease the angry politics gods. Introspective is not what you think of first when you describe these three

Thus, what you do not see from them, or from dimwits like Kevin Drum or Josh Marshall or Frank Rich, is any attempt to understand why they cannot find a candidate who can clearly articulate the policy positions they support…or why the policy positions they support simply do not resonate with the majority of voters at this time. If Andrew Sullivan really thinks we should set aside the War on Terror to deal with the critical issue of his wanting to marry his boyfriend, that’s fine. But in doing so he should hold no illusions as to just how that is going to play on Nov. 2. I have no problem with Sullivan having such an opinion, my problem with the fact that he ascribes Republican Evil as the reason most voters disagree with him.

Sullivan’s fundamental problem, which is shared by people like Estrich, is that they have those exact illusions…anything that does not confirm their reality much be ascribed to evil forces. Having found that they cannot convince that Iraq was wrong and that the War on Terror need not be a war, they have simply retreated to a space where every defeat, every reverse is due to the machinations of a vile enemy. The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy is indeed Vast when everyone who doesn’t tow the line is viewed as a confirmed opponent rather than a potential convert. And it certainly becomes a Conspiracy when you cannot or will not look at the reactions of the electorate dispassionately and rationally.

I go back to Zell Miller’s speech…Yes, it was devestating, but it was also rebuttable. At some point some Democrat within 50 miles of the Kerry campaign has to point out that if Democrats are serious about winning this election, they have to grow up, get serious and start rebutting the Republicans on the issues being raised by people like Zell Miller.

Josh Marshall, Kevin Drum and Frank Rich are journalists (to a degree, I guess). They are not political professionals and never will be. Susan Estrich is a political professional of proven incompetence. The Democratic Party has to realize, at some point, they have to stop sounding like Josh Marshall, Kevin Drum, Frank Rich and Susan Estrich and start sounding like…(gasp) serious adults.