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Conservatives for Hillary?

I hate to say it, but I think Bruce is spot-on. We are dead in the water on so many issues. Iraq is only one. There's the question of ineptitude in the response to Katrina, which still dogs Louisiana (this year's gubernatorial election may highlight the equal ineptitude of Democrats in that state, but the nationwide image of a floundering administration was what first cost this administration the confidence of the people.

There are gasoline prices through the roof. The Republicans are, for better or worse, identified by most people as the party with ties to the oil industry (never mind that Occidental Petroleum has for decades been identified with leftist causes or that Citgo is owned by the socialist government of Venezuela). The average voter does not want to hear, and can't understand, sophisticated economic arguments showing that government intervention in prices is counterproductive. What the average voter wants to hear is a promise to "do something," a kind of promise at which Democrats excel.

There is a discrepancy between government reports on unemployment and what people are seeing. The government says that unemployment is down at its lowest levels since the late 60's. But the average voter sees that every time a job is advertised, it is either filled by the time he responds or there is a line of hundreds of people hoping to get that one job. He sees that employers are in a strong enough position that they can screen applicants out for any flaw in the background--a conviction twenty years ago or a three-month gap in employment. When the labor market is actually tight, employers will hire anyone who appears able to do the job. The sense of voters is that the government--hence the Republicans--is playing with the numbers, and therefore Republicans cannot be trusted.

The Democratic near-monopoly on mass media continues. Every Democratic mistake is minimized or even concealed; every Republican misttake is trumpeted. People have to get their information somewhere, and most of those "somewheres" are thoroughly in the pocket of the Democratic Party.

Charlie Schumer is dragging out the investigation of the fired US attorneys in such a way that, a couple of weeks before the election, he can produce what at least looks like a "smoking gun" to make the Republicans appear like crooks. Other Democrats will be doing the same with hearings on how we got into Iraq.

We're sunk next year unless the Democrats commit a major misstep, one so flagrant that the media can't hide it or explain it away, or there is a major break in the Iraq war. This will be worse than 1974.