In a dark corner of a Washington, D.C., establishment where beverages are served…€
“You saw the numbers?”
“Of course I saw the numbers.”
“Those are some awful numbers.”
“Awful numbers.”
“We’re down 10 on the generic ballot.”
“I saw the numbers.”
“We’ve never been down 10 on the generic ballot before.”
“I saw the numbers! Didn’t I just tell you I saw the numbers?”
“Hey, you don’t have to get snippy about it. I was only — “
“Sorry. I’m a little tense right now.”
“We’re all a little tense right now. More than a little.”
“Sorry.”
“No problem.”
“OK.”
“OK.”
“So are we talking bloodbath here?”
“Bloodbath?”
“Bloodbath. Bad. ‘Speaker Boehner’ bad. Fifty seats bad.”
“It’s still early, so — “
“It’s not that early! It’s September!”
“Yeah, but there’s still enough time to — “
“Unbelievable!”
“What’s unbelievable!”
“This whole thing’s unbelievable! They’ve got nothing! They’ve got no program, they’ve got no ideas, they’ve — “
“You don’t consider ‘No’ an idea?”
“No.”
“How about ‘Hell, No!’?”
“Not funny.”
“It’s working for them, though. Our enthusiasm numbers are even worse than our generic numbers!”
“It’s nuts! It’s absolutely, totally nuts!”
“Absolutely.”
“And some of those wackos they’ve got running — it’s like they recruited them straight off Planet of the Weird!”
“Absolutely.”
“They’ve got nothing to offer!”
“You said it.”
“Nothing!”
“You said it.”
“And meanwhile we’ve had two of the most productive years since FDR up here.”
“No question. Health care, credit cards, student loans, no depression — “
“We’re going down, aren’t we?”
“It’s still — “
“We’re going down.”
“Probably. Any Democrat is vulnerable this time. Every Democrat.”
“Even though — job performance, they still rate the Republicans much lower.”
“Right.”
“And they still say the economy is more Bush’s fault than Obama’s.”
“Right.”
“But they’re gonna vote for them anyway.”
“Did I mention it’s nuts?”
“What if I took ‘Democrat’ off all my ads?”
“Excuse me?”
“You know, run against Obama. And Pelosi and Reid. ‘Time for a Change,’ ‘New Approaches.’ That kind of thing.”
“And you think they won’t notice?”
“I — “
“You think the wave will just pass you by somehow? If you pretend you didn’t vote for what you voted for, and you don’t believe in what you believe in, then they’ll suddenly like you?”
“I don’t know what to think! I figure there’s ducking it, or apologizing for it, or — “
“Being proud of it?”
“Say again?”
“Being proud of it. Your record — what you did, and why you did it. And how it’s helping people, even if it’s not all happening quickly enough to satisfy everyone.”
“Being proud of what we did.”
“Sure.”
“Instead of curling up in a whimpering little ball on the floor.”
“Sure.”
“Nah.”
“I didn’t think so.”
“No way.”
“Just a thought.”
Rick Horowitz is a nationally syndicated columnist. His e-mail address is rickhoro@execpc.com.
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