What pressure? In 2010, the mandarins of the Democratic Party raised millions of dollars in the Arkansas Senate primary on behalf of the execrable–and very nonelectable–Blanche Lincoln in order to beat back a challenge by what remained of the progressive wing of the party. The message was clear: we’ll spend whatever it takes to put you in your place.

I got that message loud and clear, and walked away. There is no hope of reforming this rotting hulk of a party from within.

I used to think that was true. Then came Obama, who ratified most of the worst policies of his predecessor, who was one of the worst presidents in American history.

To each his own. I’ve been lied to, condescended to, and betrayed by the Democrats enough times to realize that the party has negative value and is unworthy of my further support. Why someone of your intelligence continues to defend this decrepit excuse for a political party defies my imagination.

Reid doesn’t want to do it. Nor do the mandarins of the Democratic Party want to do it. The filibuster and gerrymandering are going to be catch-all excuses for the party’s failure to do anything constructive* for the next ten years.

* The most constructive thing this failed party could do is disband, clearing the way for a true progressive party.

Reid is a symptom. The cowardice and complicity of Senate Democrats is the disease. If Harry Reid were abducted by aliens tonight, his Senate lodge brothers would replace him with Chuck Schumer, who would provide the exact same low quality of leadership but with a NYC accent.

“Less emotional bullying”? Just about everything the right wing has done since 9/11–the Patriot Act, the Iraq War, torture, Guantanamo, telecom immunity–has been emotional bullying.

Rule #1 of Right Wing Debate: Accuse the other side of what you habitually do.

Exactly. The mandarins of the Democratic Party have figured out that they can do absolutely nothing constructive for the next ten years and blame gerrymandering and the filibuster rather than their own complicity and incompetence.

The sooner this party bites the dust, the better.

Go to the head of the class. You fully understand the Wingnut Rules of Procedure.

Did Fournier sleep through the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta?

It won’t matter even if the Republicans become less popular than prostate exams, Amway presentations, tax audits, and the shingles. The Democrats continue to slight rightward in an effort to “reach out,” “find common ground,” and “move past partisanship.”

If Mitch McConnell proposed doing away with the Bill of Rights, Democratic strategists would craft a compromise under which only the odd-numbered amendments would be abolished.

It is for good reason that I call this crapburger of a law the Rube Goldberg Health Insurance “Reform” Act of 2010.

I agree with Charlie Pierce: the law is filled with provisions that will make its ultimately implementation almost impossible. And to think, Barack Obama broke the all-time record for most political capital squandered in the shortest time trying to get Congress to cough up this hairball of a bill.

For the umpty-ninth time, I feel compelled to ask why President Obama is so hell-bent on reaching “common ground” with Capitol Hill Republicans.

How much more does Barry have to expose himself as the naked emperor until its not his attempt at compromise or bipartisanship, its what he truly is, that’s realized?

An awful lot, I’m afraid. The mandarins of the Democratic Party will play an entire five-deck shoe of Lesser Evil cards between now and the 2014 elections. You know what they’ll say: “the perfect is the enemy of the good,” an argument that deserves to be retired until the end of time.

But…but…he has a D after his name, so we have to support him.

I believe he went to Rice undergrad. Not too many dunderheads get accepted there.

In the 21st century, the most important decision an American will make is who his or her parents are. Those who choose poorly deserve every misfortune that falls their way.

One of my biggest concerns about this country’s future is the influence of money on politics, a problem that has recently gotten much worse thanks to the Supreme Court equating money to speech.

We seem to be going in the direction of the late Roman Republic, where politics was dominated by wealthy, prominent families; was incredibly corrupt; and was practiced with ever-increasing ruthlessness.