Redstate

I would have eased it off slowly, but then, I'm a bit of a sadist, no?

By Moe Lane Posted in All Your Base are Belong to Us | Congress | Great Netroot Betrayal | Why Do You Keep Giving Me These Gifts? — Comments (7) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Or at least a schradenfreudist, if that's even a word. Anyway, these two authors saw no reason to beat around the bush (Via Instapundit):

Liberals lose bigtime in budget battle
By: Martin Kady II and Ryan Grim

This much is clear: Democrats in Congress buckled under pressure from the White House to hold spending near the administration’s specified limit, and they’re poised to give the president more war money with no strings attached.

But the buckling didn’t stop there.

Democratic policy priorities that liberals hoped would be included in the omnibus spending legislation were also left on the cutting-room floor.

But don't feel completely bad about this! As the article notes, "Democrats will close the year touting a historic increase in fuel mileage standards, hikes in Pell grants, lobbying and ethics reform, and the first minimum wage increase in a decade"! After all, isn't that what the progressives really spent all that money and time on in 2006? Student loan availability?

Read on.

As you might have noticed, I love writing these kinds of posts, not least of which is because back in November 2006 I was glumly certain that the new Democratic Congress was going to go rampaging through our foreign policy. Fortunately, I had underestimated the willingness of GOP Congressmen to back the President's play on the War: slightly underestimated the President's stubbornness when it came to implementing policy on the War; and drastically underestimated the way that Democratic Congressmen would fold up like cheap seats at the first sign of opposition.

I claim the excuse of extreme worry clouding my judgment on the first and second items, but I still don't quite comprehend the third - at least, I don't see how it's consistent with their rhetoric. Congressional Democrats could have pushed harder on Iraq. In fact, I'm flattering them by implying that they pushed at all; an outside observer might have a different opinion. They didn't, which is... fascinating in its implications. They also could have placed themselves in a position where they could take credit for the change in tactics that we've dumbed down by calling "the Surge." They still could do that, in fact. Given that the change in tactics is apparently working, they are probably quietly eager to do that.

Except, of course, that they can't. The Establishment Democrats running the Party would find themselves instantly at war with the progressive faction of their base voters if they did. The Left 'sphere would be overjoyed to lead the charge; they may hate us as convenient devil figures, but they have plenty of fear and blind rage left over for the apostates and weak sisters that supposedly keep them from their due. So, the Democrats are in a bit of a pickle, there: they know that following the netroots' lead will lead them further away from the mainstream, just in time for an election year; and they can't reintegrate with the mainstream, because the netroots are standing athwart their way, blustering "Stop!"

I just can't see how the Establishment Democrats are going to get out of that one.