Billmon: The Way of the Whigs

Howard Fineman is an asshole, but if a blind pig can find an acorn every once in a while I guess an asshole can pass a chestnut from time to time:

Can Democrats blow it even now? Sure. They don’t have the money and the machinery Republicans do.

More important, the Democrats’ message is murky. In the Senate, they decry the Mexican fence, then more than half of them vote for it. They label the Iraq war as a mistake, then vote $70 billion more for it. They object to Bush’s torture bill, yet flinch at a chance to block it in the Senate.

It was that kind of profound indecision on a moral issue (slavery) that led to the demise of the Whigs before the Civil War. The Foley Scandal means that Democrats might be able to succeed with a campaign slogan that says, simply, “Had Enough?” But if they take control of Congress, they’ll still have to do what the Whigs could not, which is explain what they are for, not just what we all are against.

The comparison with the Whigs is spot on, in fact I've made it myself.