"Dear Rahm Emanuel and Howard Dean: Don't Take The Bait" (UPDATED)

"So here comes Adam Nagourney in the New York Times today goading national Democrats' failure to do better together and somehow come up with a winning "national message" like the Republicans did in 1994. To which I say - Roger Rabbit style -- pu-LEEEZE don't take this bait. We'd do better to let Democrats win locally in their own voices rather than try and come up with a bumper sticker slogan that doesn't fit all sizes and shapes.

Ignore the whiny voices of press insiders who want a simple answer to "what Democrats stand for" and remember the reality that in 1994 voters threw out the Democrats as a message to Clinton -- not because they read the Contract with America and saw Newt and his crew standing on the steps of the Capitol in suits. Democrats in Congress doing their own contract with America will be the Dukakis tank shot of 2006, I am sorry to say.

Rahm and Howard, you are doing a great job working on grassroots organizing and candidate recruitment - hats off to that. Help our candidates realize their dreams and be smart about how we can win and get back subpoena power. And then old Adam at the Gray Lady will have something real to write about."-excerpted from Dan Carol's commentary on The Huffington Post.

I don't know about anything else, but I do know this: don't take any advice from Nagourney.

UPDATE: As if produced by the same cut and paste machine, the Washington Post has a story with the same message today, "Democrats struggle to seize opportunity." Same message, same advice from Howie: consider the source.

UPDATE: Ron Chusid on Dem Bloggers says, "Democrats' Division Is Their Hidden Strength." Talking points review:

The Washington Post’s story on “Democrats Struggle To Seize Opportunity” is being discussed in much of the blogosphere. As it is a rehash of the same Republican talking points we’ve been hearing for a while, we wound up addressing this even before the article was published.

While true that Republicans have a more unified message, it is the wrong message. Americans do not want a government which is more intrusive in their lives. Americans do not want to cut taxes more for the ultra-wealthy while watching the deficit grow. Americans do not want a perpetual state of warfare which reduces rather than increases our vulnerability to terrorist attacks. Americans do not want to continue to pay double digit increases in health care insurance annually, and do not see putting money into Health Savings Accounts as a solution. Americans do not want to jeopardize the long term survival of Social Security by partially privatizing the system.

The Iraq war is cited as the Democrats’ greatest dilemma, but this is in fact a Republican dilemma. Republican false claims about the threat from WMD and nonexistent ties between Saddam and al Qaeda got us into this quagmire. Republican lack of planning has made success unlikely. When the Republicans are digging us into a hole, the Democrats only need one message–stop digging holes. They can then afford to have different views as to what to do next. Rather than echoing Republican talking points which falsely claim that Kerry supported the war, Democratic bloggers would better serve our purpose by quoting John Kerry’s accurate pre-war predictions of the outcome as he urged, “Mr. President, do not rush to war.”

Democrats may have multiple messages as there are many ways to move forward, while Republicans have a unified argument to defend the status quo. This may be a strength for the Democrats which the media is ignoring. After five years of seeing the Bush Worshippers blindly follow wherever they were led, events such as in Iraq and New Orleans revealed for all that those leaders are the ones who are truly lost. Americans are losing confidence in those who arrogantly claim their way is the only way."