2060 A Democrat looks at the Alito Hearings

Dan Gerstein has some interesting thoughts on leftwing bloggers and Democratic leadership during the Alito hearings. You can almost see him shaking his head in disbelief that the fringe still thinks the old tactics will work.

"We think that if we simply call someone conservative, anti-choice and anti-civil rights, that's enough to scare people to our side. But that tired dogma won't hunt in today's electorate, which is far more independent-thinking and complex in its views on values than our side presumes."

I love that line "that tired dogma won't hunt" don't you?

". . . Republicans have won the presidency twice in a row because they're doing a better job of pulling moderates/independents their way--in particular married women and white Catholics who are uncomfortable with the Democrats on values issues. Judging from the dreadful tack our party took in the Alito process, it's clear that we haven't yet internalized these political realities--most likely because our anger at George Bush continues to blind us to them. Many Democrats just don't want to acknowledge that he's president and is going to pick conservative justices--let alone that the two we got, John Roberts and Samuel Alito, are about as good as we could hope for."

And to borrow a phrase, he says, Let's move on. He's also asking where is the leadership that will do that? And when I look ahead to 2008, I'm thinking the same thing about the other side.