Right Side of the Rainbow

E.J. Dionne Jr. on Karl Rove:

Rove went on: “Republicans have a post-9/11 worldview, and many Democrats have a pre-9/11 worldview. That doesn’t make them unpatriotic — not at all. But it does make them wrong — deeply and profoundly and consistently wrong.”

Oh, no, those Dems aren’t unpatriotic, just security idiots. [Emphasis added.]

Correct.

And what does Mr. Dionne prescribe for fixing Democratic idiocy? More idiocy:

What Democrats should have learned is that they cannot evade the security debate. They must challenge the terms under which Rove and Bush would conduct it. Imagine, for example, directly taking on that line about Sept. 11. Does having a “post-9/11 worldview” mean allowing Bush to do absolutely anything he wants, any time he wants, without having to answer to the courts, Congress or the public? Most Americans — including a lot of libertarian-leaning Republicans — reject such an anti-constitutional view of presidential power. If Democrats aren’t willing to take on this issue, what’s the point of being an opposition party?

In other words, Mr. Dionne would have the Democrats engage the security debate with no affirmative vision of their own and only a straw caricature of the GOP’s views. Here’s how it might go:

Democrats: Does having a “post-9/11 worldview” mean allowing Bush to do absolutely anything he wants, any time he wants, without having to answer to the courts, Congress or the public?

Republicans: We are at war against foreign terrorists who want to kill you and your society and we’ll do what it takes to stop it and the Democrats won’t; we will cut your taxes and give you money and Democrats won’t.

Pause for elections.

Republicans: The House will be in order …