“Even the liberal” New York Times gives us this compendium of plain old American folks who voted for President Bush a year ago who are beginning to re-think (perhaps) the wisdom of that decision, as the multiple realizations kick in that there is no end in sight to the Iraq war, that the federal government’s anemic reaction to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina means in fact that they really are utterly defenseless in the event of a major natural disaster (because their federal government simply couldn’t give a s***, or doesn’t have the money, or doesn’t have a clue, or all of the above…), because of the Treason-gate scandals, because of the mishandling of the Harriet Miers nomination… who knows why? With the Presidential approval ratings in the mid-30’s, or 4 or 5 points below “absolute zero” for a Republican, let’s just say these are not heady times in Rove-ville (that, and the potentially pending indictment, of course).

Here’s the thing. Are we listening? Are we going to go back to simple bulls*** Shrum-isms {”I willlll fight for youuuuu!!!”) or Bill Clinton’s advice to others that he himself would never take (”just talk about health care…”)… or will the national party writ large stop and simply listen carefully to what voters in play have to say? Because we remain around 20 seats from taking back the House, and 6 or 7 seats from taking back the Senate in less than a year’s time.

Look and listen carefully: this is NOT about Tom DeLay… general GOP corruption will be read as just part of the cacophonous background. This is about going off track.
People want to know that there is an alternative of competent, sensible programs, if only they will select it. A program of an improved minimum wage, a fair tax system, intelligent social investment in physical and intellectual infrastructure, improved health care access (if not outright universal health care, at least improvements in the current very troublesome structure…), and of course, realistic approaches to national security, recognizing the actual dangers the nation faces, while also recognizing that the public does not want cynical “me-tooing” of Administration policies (Hillary, this means you) nor does it want its concerns cynically dismissed into a partisan shouting match about who decided to cut and run first (why, in the end, Rep. Murtha’s remarks and their aftermath aren’t helping much, except possibly helping us win one House seat in Ohio.)

Moral of the story (and we do go back to Sen. Clinton for this one): listen. Listen to everyone… listen to the internet, including the likes of us keyboarders as sources of actual ideas instead of just another cynical sources of cash.

Listen to what the voters are saying, instead of what high-priced and low-value consultants are interpreting from focus groups.

I don’t think our national party writ large will do so, of course. Much as I wish it would. It never does.