Once again, Chris Matthews, you are full of ****

[kat_chan]

Matthews opened the special midnight live "Hardball" by talking about how O'Donnell's win in Delaware over Rep. Mike Castle for the GOP Senate nomination was evidence of the extreme anger against the president. In the immortal words of John McLaughlin, "WRONG

Comments

[gregrichey]

Agreed!! About half of independents are centrists who should be turned off by candidates like O'Donnell. The other half tend to blow with the wind a bit (influenced by personality and current narratives). The lack of enthusiasm on the left is a huge and under-appreciated problem that the right doesn't have.

MoveOn did a survey recently to ask its members if they should focus on supporting progressive candidates only, or rallying behind all Democratic candidates. Apparently I voted with the majority in wanting to support all Democratic candidates in close races, because they just sent out an email asking me to contribute to my Rep, Zack Space, who voted against health care. I was struck by the lack on incentive given in the email to vote for him. Sure, I'll hold my nose and vote for him in the hopes of fending off a GOP victory, but it's hard to excite other voters to do that, let alone to pony up cash for someone who doesn't often vote my way. They need a better reason than lesser of two evils.

And here's the thing that Democratic leaders haven't figured out yet. The right will hate them no matter how centrist or bi-partisan they try to be. They're trying to extend Bush tax cuts for all but the very top earners, and the right is STILL attacking them for being tough on millionaires. Really?! We can't win against a party defending millionaires during a tough economy? They're handing us victory on a silver platter, and we continue to triangulate a centrist position, while the right controls the narrative. We're do better to show some energy and vision if we want people to follow us into the voting booth.

[gregrichey]

...Although, with the GOP lurching right, voting for the lesser of two evils might be an effective motivator this time, if liberals get scared enough by the thought of a Tea Party takeover of the Senate...