"New Democrats? Stupid Democrats"

mcjoan on Kos, from The Hill via Josh:

President Bush has invited leaders of the conservative Blue Dog and New Democrat coalitions to the White House Friday to discuss areas of "mutual cooperation" in the words of one Democratic Congressional aide....

Reps. Alan Boyd (Fla.), Dennis Moore (Kan.) and Mike Ross (Ark.) will represent the Blue Dogs, a coalition of usually southern, conservative-leaning Democrats and Reps. Joe Crowley (N.Y.), Artur Davis (Ala.), Ron Kind (Wis.), Adam Smith (Wash.) and Ellen Tauscher (Calif.) are set to represent the New Democrats, a group of business-friendly centrists, at the meeting, which the president is expected to attend.

They must be reading Broder. There really is no other explanation for such incredible stupidity. They've decided to hitch their wagon to Mr. 30 Percent Approval? Really? See guys, that's not demonstrating your independence and capacity for "bipartisanship." That's just plain old treachery, and idiotic treachery to boot. Steny needs to learn how to work that whip.

Update: Let me clarify what I'm saying. I'm not saying that the Democratic leadership should not be meeting with Bush. That's part of their job. If he'd agree to meet with them every day it would be fantastic. But the leadership has to be able to lead, and this move by Bush is an end-run around the leadership. It's an effort by the administration to peel away a block of Democrats that have, to the party's detriment, shown their willingness to buck party leadership. It's about respecting party leadership, staying unified within the caucus, and maintaining the strength that will be necessary to get good legislation passed. A unified caucus will be able to accomplish more. This move fractures the caucus.