This cartoon pretty much sums it up, I think, on the whole "everyone does it" argument Republicans are trying to peddle these days. As the "New Donkey" blog writes, regarding what it calls the "False Moral Equivalency" defense used by the GOP as part of its "damage control" strategy in the Abramoff scandal:
Democrats have to pound away on the unusual, unprecedented (at least since the Gilded Age) and systemic nature of Republican corruption to overcome this argument. (Tom Toles' cartoon today is a simple and useful example of the picture we must paint). And countering this false equivalency is another powerful reason for offering a strong and comprehensive reform agenda and a new set of rules that Democrats openly ask voters to hold themselves accountable to.
That's right, Democrats need to be the party of reform. Not "minimal reforms," as New Donkey disparagingly calls them, but deep reforms "that Republicans cannot afford to co-opt, such as making it a federal crime to offer lobbyists access to the legislative process in exchange for partisan affiliation or campaign contributions." If Democrats do this, then they can translate their 13-point lead over Republicans into massive victories this coming November. If not, they could easily squander an historic opportunity to retake Congress and save our country from the far right wing.
Recently, political analyst Charlie Cook said that only 28 House seats are truly competitive. In contrast, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) head Rahm Emanuel estimates that 42 House seats are up for grabs. I say screw that, let's compete everywhere! Yeah, yeah, I know what people will say to comments like this: how naive, don't you understand how things work, we don't have the MONEY to run competitive races in every district, most of these are "safe seats," blah blah blah. Well, you know what, as much as I understand it intellectually, my gut tells me it's a loser attitude, and it makes me want to puke (now let me tell you how I REALLY feel! LOL).
Right here in Virginia, for instance, we've got potentially competitive races in at least 2 or 3 Congressional Districts, but Charlie Cook lists none of them as such. Same thing with the George Allen Senate seat, which many Democrats have probably written off, but which true "fighting Democrats" believe can be won by a compelling candidate like James Webb.
So stop thinking like losers, and stop always "thinking of an elephant." Instead, I say it's time for Democrats to seize the day, carpe diem, grab the bull by the horns, and every other way you want to say it. Message to Democrats: BE the reform party! BE the progressive party! BE the populist party of the working classes, the Scots-Irish, the African Americans, the Hispanics, the small farmers and businessmen, the people struggling to get by in today's America! Make it clear that there's only ONE PARTY - as John Edwards might say - on the side of 90 percent of Americans, and ONE PARTY on the side of the other 10 percent. And, more than anything, do not let the Republcians sell their cynical "meme" that "everybody does it." As New Donkey writes:
...the GOP three-pronged defense can and must be countered in ways that constantly connect corruption to the ideology and money-driven political strategy of the entire Republican Party from top to bottom. It may be the only way to batten on the powerful anti-Washington sentiment out there, while assuaging cynics that Democrats actually offer an alternative approach to governing.
I couldn't agree more.