Like Kevin, I was among a small group of bloggers who met with Wes Clark yesterday. Considering how disenchanted I’ve been with the Democrats, I was looking to be inspired. Going into the meeting, I was really hoping he would convince me that I was wrong about my concerns that the Democratic party has been completely cowed into silence by the GOP. Needless to say, I walked out of there even more disappointed than before.

To be fair, he almost had me. In response to a question about what the “Democratic message” on Iraq should be, Clark wisely turned the question around and insisted that it’s not the Democrats’ responsibility to come up with a plan. In fact, he argued, the Commander in Chief has access to so many more resources that it would make any Democratic plans pointless. Instead, Democrats should be pointing out the failures of the current administration. For some reason, this wasn’t a very popular answer among my fellow bloggers, but it made a lot of sense to me.

Unfortunately for me, Clark ended his time with us with an answer that not only contradicted his earlier statement but convinced me that the party is completely screwed. The final thought that he wanted to leave on was his grave concern over the bitter partisanship and angry “tone” in Washington. While I agree with this in broad terms, this is the self-defeating strawman that will permanently destroy the Democratic party if people don’t wake the hell up.

Point taken, General Clark, but how is the angry “tone” in Washington the Democrats’ fault? Where are these hate-filled blue-staters? From where I’m sitting, it seems like every time a Democrat makes a statement that’s fueled more by emotion that poll numbers, it’s quickly followed by an apology. The most blatant example of late is mob-buster Harry Reid begging the forgiveness of the GOP because he had the gall to point out the crimes they committed.

I don’t mean to get into self-help babble here, but the Democrats need to own their feelings and stop trying to please everybody. Take a look at Bush and Cheney. In 2000, Bush called a NYT reporter a “major-league asshole” on stage. Four years later, Dick Cheney told Sen. Leahy to fuck himself on the floor of the Senate, yet neither Bush nor Cheney issued press releases or dropped on their knees. As much as I can’t stand these guys, they were at least honest enough to admit that they were pissed and letting off a little steam. It’s also worth noting that neither incident hurt their standing with the easily-offended moral police.

Would that mean that the Democrats should add to the bitter division that’s ripping Washington apart? Of course not, but I have a very high bar for what’s considered inappropriate. Would pointing out the fact that the President was completely out of touch during the Katrina crisis be a personal attack? Is it unfair to call intentionally misleading statements by the Bush Administration “lies”? Is it “political hate-speech” to use the words “crimes” and “criminal” to describe Presidential actions that are clearly in violation of the law?

Of course, the answer to all of these questions is “no”. These aren’t criticisms about the character of the President and his allies, nor are they personal attacks that have no relevance to the current political climate. They’re all legitimate criticisms that have everything to do with George W. Bush’s ability to do the job he was once or twice (depending on how you count) elected to perform. Yet every one of these criticisms (which seem mild to me) are deemed to daring for the majority of beltway Democrats.

Which takes me back to this bitter partisan divide crap. Considering that the Democrats in D.C. are too timid to even defend themselves, it’s sad to see a great guy like Wes Clark beat up his fellow Dems for fighting too dirty in a battle they haven’t even joined. It’s like kid getting beat up by a bully decrying “the endless cycle of violence”. A good way to stop that cycle is to stop getting your ass kicked.

So this is where we seem stuck. The Democratic party is facing the most vulnerable Republican party in a generation, but they’re still afraid of “politicizing” corruption, contributing to the angry “tone” in D.C. by calling lies “lies”, and actually defending themselves against a GOP spin machine whose best defense against their criminal behavior is the lie that “Democrats do it too”. I’m not asking that they sink to the Republicans level, but start defending themselves with the same level of energy they use to defend their seats in Congress.

In the movie Defending Your Life, there’s a scene where Albert Brooks’ defender is trying to make a case that he has overcome his various fears by replaying an incident in which Brooks injured himself and crawled for help. In response, the prosecutor said “Nobody ever accused him of not having a survival instinct”. And that’s kinda where things seem to stand today. We’ve already figured out that Democrats are too frigid to stand up for themselves or us, but won’t their instincts kick in at some point? Or are they, as one blogger at the meeting said, like the frog in a pot of water slowly heating up to a boil who won’t realize how hot it is until it’s too late?