DEMS AREN'T CONSULTANTS TO BUSHCO

I am so sick and tired of the "Democrats have [no][bad] ideas" (take your pick) meme, when it is the Republicans -- who control the White House, Senate, House of Representatives, and even the judiciary -- that have gotten us into this mess, that I could [climb the walls] [scream my head off] [tear out my hair] (again, take your pick).

Anyway, I don't believe the public is buying that argument. I haven't heard a single human being not on television, radio, or in print, echo that sentiment, Republican, Independent, or Democrat. Only the press and talking heads are willing to sound like the fools such a contention makes them. Even the right-wingers I talk to would be embarrassed to say such a thing. It's so patently obvious that we have no obligation to dig Bush out of the hole he's dug before he passes from power.

As Joe Biden said on Don Imus this morning, the president and his people haven't listened to a single suggestion we've made thus far, even the most hawkish among us. In big business I've often seen CEOs call in high-priced consultants to analyze and advise. We spend tens of millions of dollars on their services. To make the investment worthwhile, we have to open the books to them, be completely candid in all our dealings. But the consultants have no power to affect change. Unless we TAKE their advice and adopt their recommendations, they're eunuchs.

Dubya and Dick aren't going to "open the books" for Democrats. And they're not going to take our advice. So we DON'T have to and SHOULDN'T offer a detailed brief of how we'd clean up the mess in Iraq. Democratic leaders simply aren't privy to the information necessary to do so. We have absolutely no reason to trust that the Bush administration is, or will, candidly share such data, and every reason NOT to trust them to be truthful about it.

Our most winning response to the charge of "no ideas," I believe, is "we can't fix it until we're in charge."

Tags: Iraq mess, Democrats, Bush