Sitting at the end of the subway car this afternoon, heading downtown, I overheard two men in suits talking above the din about Hillary Clinton and how she is funding some pro-life candidates when I realized that one of two was Howard Dean. I, first, observed my subway rule (to take at least one picture in every subway car I ride) and then stood up to ask Gov. Dean a question. After introducing myself to Dean as a former New York Times staffperson, I posed the question, "Given all the Republican scandals and failures, and the war in Iraq, why isn't President Bush on the ropes?" He quickly replied, "I think he IS on the ropes, (emphasis Dean's) and I think we're going to take back the Congress in the fall." I wanted to believe him but I wasn't so sure. With such incompetent people (Reid, Pelosi, Kerry) with barely a gram of political courage amoung them trying to lead the Democrats in Congress, I wouldn't bet on it. I think he believed it, but that's another story. That Kerry (looking more like Lurch from the Addams Family every day) and Reid didn't come out in favor of supporting a filibuster of Judge Alito until just a few days before the vote and after Alito's confirmation was a fait accompli, I wouldn't bet five cents on the Democrats at this point. Wasn't it Reid, and not the Republican leadership, who was on the floor of the Senate last week apologizing for remarks related to the Abramoff scandal? Losers, every one of them.
Which brings me back to my point: It's Bush who is "on the ropes," according to Dean, yet it's the Democrats who are taking the beating. Just, where have they been the past two weeks while Bush has been out on the road making the case for the legality of the NSA's warrantless wiretaps? Sitting back, as usual, waiting to see how it all plays out - supporting some lite version of the Patriot Act... putting up the mamby-pamby Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia to rebut Bush's State-of-the-Union instead of someone who might makes waves like Jack Murtha... doing everything in their feckless little hearts to avoid the always-reliable accusation of the Republicans that they're weak of defense, when they are just plain weak. They look weak, they sound weak and they act weak. And they can do little more than hope to win by default in this year's mid-term. Like a lost remake of "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers," the party that use to show real courage has been replaced by a sterile and neutered group of imposters and is now just keeping its fingers crossed, hoping all the Republicans get arrested on their way to the station. They take no delight in kicking their opponents' asses, a fundamental difference between parties and the one thing that I have in common with the Republicans. Even if the people do support the Democrats in the Congress in the fall, it won't be love. The Republicans could very easily come roaring back in two years for the Presidential race, after the people annul their marriages of convenience brought on the disgust that should follow the Abramoff scandal, and go back to the party that they don't necessarily like, but the party, playing to their fears, who makes them feel 'safe.' If only the Democrats would expose these blood-sucking creatures. Or maybe Al Gore will be our Kevin McCarthy and come to the rescue and save us from a complete takeover. That'll be the day.

photo©Edward Keating 2005: 110th St. and Broadway