Taylor Marsh – TaylorMarsh.com – News, Opinion and Weblog on Progressive Politics

Katrina Speaks

1. It doesn't really matter who gives the reply, since no one listens and it's an impossible task. 2. This is slightly less important than whether House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi chooses to wear blue or red to listen to the speech. 3. He's a Governor. —blah-blah-blah— 4. And, hell, Kaine is pretty liberal for a Virginian. —more of the same here— Liberal Bloggers – Tim Kaine Isn't the Problem

If you want to know why the filibuster fight ended up as a last
ditch effort, I offer Katrina Vanden Heuvel as exhibit A.

First, a disclosure, Ms. Vanden Heuvel is not one of my favorites.
She's just too earnest for me.

Katrina Vanden Heuvel is also the woman who accused Kerry of using
the \”l\” word in a debate, and she was talking about lesbian.
If you don't remember that little Katrina catastrophe it happened on that
MSNBC show whose name now escapes me. When I emailed her about it, an assistant
emailed back, \”I thought the 'l' word was lesbian.\” Indeed. But Katrina
chastising the liberal blogosphere? This is hilarious.

Mind you, there isn't a person in the liberal print intelligentsia
more liberal than Katrina's The Nation. Frankly, I find it impossible
to read, though there are some very fine writers with the magazine, needless
to say. But I don't have a subscription any longer because they seem so very
out of touch, just way too liberal for me. (UPDATE: I caved and re-upped my subscription, deciding to skip Katrina's infuriating musings, while partaking in some of the other writers who actually make sense. We'll see what this year brings…)

But all you have to do is read her main talking points on the
Kaine issue, now posted at HuffingtonPost.com,
to see how the Democratic Party got in this mess. She's one of the \”leaders\”
on the liberal side, but can't see the argument through the oh, what's the
use philosophy. Talk about a lack of imagination.

We shouldn't care whether it's Kaine or someone else because \”no
one listens and it's an impossible task\”?

Insert the situation with the Alito filibuster here, including
the oh, we won't ever get to the number we need so what's the use Democratic
Party leadership philosophy here. Matt
has some things to say on this issue that are worth your time.

And \”pretty liberal for a Virginian\”? Who cares?

Memo to Katrina and all the rest
of her ilk: the American people don't vote on liberal and conservative. People
vote on emotions and how a politician makes them feel.

Tim Kaine isn't going to make anyone
feel good about voting Democratic, unless you're a Virginian. Hey, but if you take it as a throw away that's exactly what you're going to get.

And just maybe, if we had someone of real star quality give the
SOTU response we'd interest the audience. By \”star quality\” I mean
someone who might actually light up the TV screen with his/her rhetorical talent, instead
of choosing to acquiesce to the presidency, as if the SOTU speech should be
declared National George W. Bush Day.

Imagine if Barack Obama gave the response, or on some miracle,
Al Gore showed up and let 'er rip? Or are we to just lay down and accept that
an opportunity like a response to the president's SOTU can't be turned into
a win, no matter the scale? Are we just to accept that political theatre is dead and there is no reason to even try to revive it, shake it up, surprise the party in power?

It is said that every battle is won before it is fought. When it comes to the Democratic Party that says it all.