A WEEKEND OF BAD NEWS FOR DEMOCRATIC POLLYANNAS

I hope those who wrote in disagreeing with the pessimism of  DIRELAND's earlier long post, "Democrats in Denial, Gays on the Ropes," were watching the TV political chat shows this morning.  You would have seen the party's top Congressional leaders scampering to capitulate to the Bush victory.

On Fox News, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi told Chris Wallace she had proposed to the White House a bipartisan negotiation on Social Security in which "everything would be on the table"--and that includes, of course, a means test, a rise in the retirement age, and steps to privatize old age pensions. If the Dems can't stand up unambiguously in defense of Social Security--one of the most mobilizing issues the party has--and offers to negotiate it away bit by bit, it's not only a sell-out, it's rather stupid electoral politics.

On "Meet the Press," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid reaffirmed, under questioning from Tim Russert, that he thinks it's imperative for the Democrats to "go to the middle"--exactly the same counsel Reid proffered after the Gingrich-led "Republican revolution" of '94. And Reid was quick to disavow the "war room" label the press had affixed to his new communications center for Senate Dems, pooh-poohing the notion that he wanted to "go to war" with the Republicans, and affirming that this new operation was designed only to do p.r. for Senators when they make speeches on the Senate floor. Reid, an abortion foe, also refused to defend the Supremes' decision in "Roe v. Wade," praised the "brilliance" of Antonin Scalia as a potential Chief Justice, and failed to offer any sort of pro-active Democratic agenda.

As if that weren't enough, this week a so-called "progressive" Democratic governor, Michigan's Jennifer Granholm, rushed to throw gay couples overboard in the wake of the state's passage of a broad anti-gay marriage amendment. Granholm unilaterally pulled the plug on Michigan's recently-won domestic partner benefits--without benefit of any legal opinion saying this was made necessary by the amendment. As Detroit News columnist Laura Berman noted today, "Nobody seems to know what that fancy new constitutional amendment the state's voters approved last month actually means," adding that "nobody at the AG's office has researched the issue. But that's because not a single legislator or state official has asked [Attorney General] Mike Cox for a legal opinion on what the amendment means." Berman went on to say that "What's clear, though, is that civil rights language that's standard across the country is now being scrutinized in state government as if it was weird. Now in doubt are benefits - including tuition discounts, medical and life insurance - that have been in place for Wayne State University employees, for example, for a decade...By icing her new same-sex benefits package -- at least for now -- Granholm is opening the freezer door and letting a frosty new era begin."

And you can bet that Granholm's action is, just as I predicted, the harbinger of more Democratic sellouts of gays to come.

READING ROOM:

Jason Vest has a sharp-eyed piece on the politicization of the CIA in this week's Boston Phoenix--another issue on which the Dems have been silent since Porter Goss's confirmation...

Tom Engelhardt has a first-rate piece on TomDispatch on the indiscriminate U.S. air war in Iraq. Tom reports that, "if the Old City of Najaf (evidently still largely unreconstructed) and the whole city of Falluja are now memorials to American fire power and an American willingness to call down retribution from the skies, air power has been used far more widely across much of heavily populated urban Iraq without any press comment whatsoever, on or off editorial pages." And he provides details and context. Don't miss this one....

Texan blogger Mike Buffington's Democrat Voice has some news on GOP skullduggery in the Lone Star State that hasn't yet gotten national attention:

"As you read this, Texas Republicans are trying to deny the people of Texas the representation they voted for on November 2. We need your help to keep them from succeeding!

"On Election Day, Democrats Mark Strama, Hubert Vo and Yvonne Gonzalez-Toureilles emerged the winners over Republican state reps Jack Stick, Talmadge Heflin and Eric Opiela, respectively. Heflin, the powerful budget chair, and Opiela, a personal favorite of Gov. Rick Perry's, each demanded recounts -- and lost those, too. Stick didn't even bother with that. But now all three have filed House challenges, which means that GOP Speaker Tom Craddick gets to appoint the judge and jury who will decide whether to allow rightful Democratic winners to do the jobs voters elected them to do -- or force taxpayers to foot the bill for new elections. Some observers think that Craddick might even simply have his hand-picked committee seat the losing Republican candidates. No matter what, something fishy is going on.

"The nastiest of these challenges is coming from Talmadge Heflin. He was the architect of the state budget that stripped more than 150,000 eligible kids of their Children¹s Health Insurance Program benefits. Heflin is represented by Andy Taylor, the same $400-an-hour lawyer who defended the Texas Association of Business against charges of felony money laundering. Taylor also argued the case in East Texas that people from other states who may never even have been to Texas -- the so-called Escapees -- should vote in our local elections. Taylor's law firm should be named Hypocrisy, Hubris & Hype.

"His latest move follows Tom DeLay's playbook and is apparently designed to further disenfranchise Texas voters. The corrupt Republican regime is engaged in a political sleight-of-hand scheme to steal three elections from the people of Texas, claiming without evidence that voters in minority precincts committed fraud.

"The GOP just can't seem to dust themselves off after a loss like grown-ups. Instead, they are whining like pre-schoolers and trying to take what isn't theirs."

DAVID DREIER UPDATE:

If you followed my L.A. Weekly report on the outing of powerful conservative Congressman David Dreier--which got a lot of attention--you might want to take a gander at the forthcoming article on Dreier from the February '05 issue of Hustler about his secret gay life, which has just been posted on Larry Flynt's website. The story was co-authored by Mark Cromer, who was a longtime reporter for a chain of dailies in Dreier's congressional district--which continue their blackout on the outing of their congressman. Raw Story, the liberal newsblog which played a major role in outing Dreier, reports that Dreier was offered a chance to replace Jack Valenti as head of the Motion Picture Association of America--on the condition that he come out of the closet and end his hypocrisy--but that Dreier declined to do so.

The outing campaign continues. Raw Story recently outed Republican National Committee Field Director and deputy political director Dan Gurley, who solicited unsafe sex and multiple sex partners on a gay website. And Mike Rogers' blogactive.com continues its campaign to out the new Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman. There have been so many Republican "family values" hypocrites, spearcarriers all for the anti-gay agenda, who've been outed that today The New York Times' Frank Rich found it worthy of mention--the first real recognition of the extent of all this by one of the national dailies.