Lie Down With Dogs . . .

In fact, the Occupy gang could well turn out to be the Republicans' best friends.  Not only do they show the envious, resentful, entitled face of far-left politics, they are forcing a difficult choice on Democrats about how to handle them.

First Democrats hoped to coopt Occupy's energy, eliciting the ridiculous sight of people like Nancy Pelosi -- who IS the establishment -- attempting to identify herself with their anti-establishment grievance.  But it turns out that the Occupy folks may be crazy, but were principled enough not to be bought off by self-interested liberal politicians.

The leaderless, agenda-less movement has aligned itself against both parties.  And now, Democrats need to figure out how to placate them (as their ranks include lots of voters Obama needs) without being held hostage by the fringe elements -- and without turning off independents, who are likely to be unenthused at the sight of one of our major parties pandering to this motley crew.

Alienate 'em, lose votes from the left.  Embrace 'em, lose votes from the middle.

Hey, that's the price of Democrats -- and their allies in the press -- having cynically hyped Occupy at its inception, when they thought it could be transformed into Organize for America Redux.

Live and learn.  And wonder whether Occupy intends to show up at the Dem Convention in Charlotte . . .