Back when I read the Halpin/Teixeira piece describing how Democrats are perceived as not standing for anything, I was waiting for an article like this one by Kevin Freking to come along as an example of what their analysis misses. Democrats are trying to prevent penalties in the woefully designed Medicare bill from hitting senior citizens. Now a small group of Republicans are joining the effort, and they're getting all the media love. Only one Democrat is quoted in the piece, beneath two Republicans. In total, five Republicans are named as trying to block the penalties, while only Charlie Rangel represents the Democrats. The fact that the entire Democratic Party is trying to stop the penalties is only hinted at. I remember a similar dynamic playing out with the wage cuts for Katrina rebuilding workers, which united Democrats and a few Republicans blocked.
Democrats can stand for whatever they want. But if they want to actually stop bad things from happening, they need to bring some Republicans along to make a majority. The media focuses on the Republicans, and nobody pays attention to the fact that the Democratic Party stood for something and actually won. Sucks to be in the minority.
