Thanks, but no thanks...

...but thanks, really!

Paul Waldman weighs on on the Carville/Greenberg call for a Democratic Social Security plan, and it's fine up to a point, but then he steps across a line I've set up, at least in my own mind.

And while we're at it, any Democrat who votes for that abomination of a bankruptcy bill - I'm looking at you, Biden - has no right to call himself a Democrat, I don't care how many credit card companies have greased your pocket. You don't get many opportunities to take such a clear stand - on one side, the American public, and on the other, a small group of rapacious corporations. Which side are you on? If Democrats don't stand against things like this, they really don't stand for anything.

Sorry, Paul. I mean, I'm glad you're interested and all, but so long as you refer to Democrats and the Democratic Party in the third person, you disqualify yourself from deciding who we are and what we stand for. I mean, which side are you on? I might agree with what you say, but your voice simply doesn't have standing in the arena of the Party.

The reason that the GOP noise machine works so well is that even in disagreement with their Party, many of the biggest noisemakers are openly partisan, while so many "progressive" voices duck identification with the Democratic Party when not issuing a litany of external complaint. I'm still interested in what they have to say about any number of subjects, but I'm only taking advice on the direction of the Party in the first person these days.

Still, you gotta agree with Waldman when he offers...

You convince people you stand for something by, oh I don't know, standing for something. Here's something: "We refuse to let President Bush and the Republicans destroy Social Security. We will fight this 'till the last dog dies."

Damn straight.