you do it to yourself

I would really like the Democrats to take the words of Radiohead here to heart:

Everything about the election in Massachusetts last night is driving me crazy, from the results of the election itself to the scurrying of conservaDems to abandon ship and the general disarray that appears to be happening today as we watch what appears to be the chance for some (any) health care reform bill passage crumble before our eyes as Democrats flinch from a punch that has yet to be thrown. Or as Jon Stewart put it:

Say what you will about Republicans, one of the things that can be admired about them is that they stick to their (pun sort of intended) guns. Of course, that’s much easier to do when all you seem to be for is guns and you’re just basically against everything else. I know that’s a drastic oversimplification, but hey, sue me. Speaking of oversimplification, I thought this was damn funny:

“So both of our votes count the same, right?”
“Yeah, it’s a — it’s a great system.”

I know part of having a bigger tent is that it can become like herding cats, but, man, sometimes it’s tough to self-identify as a Democrat. I couldn’t agree with this bit from Ezra Klein more:

For now, it’s worth observing that a Democratic Party that would abandon their central initiative this quickly isn’t a Democratic Party that deserves to hold power. If they don’t believe in the importance of their policies, why should anyone who’s skeptical change their mind? If they’re not interested in actually passing their agenda, why should voters who agree with Democrats on the issues work to elect them? A commitment provisional on Ted Kennedy not dying and Martha Coakley not running a terrible campaign is not much of a commitment at all.

Oh, and this too.

I know I meander around on the far-left outskirts of the progressive wing of the party, but come on, people, health care is important. Everybody (maybe not insurers) agrees that the system is broken, and while I’m not the biggest fan of the proposed fix that’s on the table, I’m pragmatic to know that it’s probably a good first step and that if it doesn’t get passed now, then it’s going to be a loooong wait before it’s even attempted again, which would be devastating — not necessarily to me personally, no matter that my family’s healthcare situation is somewhat precarious but so far mostly manageable, Down syndrome and all — but to so many others who will get sick and even die because they can’t afford to see a doctor or fear the bill that will get mailed if they go to an emergency room, insurance or not. That’s got to change, and from here in the wild, that doesn’t seem like that crazy a proposition. So why are our elected representatives in such panic mode all of a sudden? They should really be afraid of what happens if they continue to do nothing; I (and many others smarter than me) have been trying to say for a while now that if they actually DO something that ends up doing GOOD THINGS for people, they’ll be rewarded with, you know, their jobs. But, man, if they mess this up, people really are going to sit on their hands even more than they did in MA.

This gets into far more detail about the need to take a few deep breaths.

On a related note, I saw my first PALIN 2012: Keep the Change bumper sticker last weekend. Good times.