Residual Forces

Democrats who have been praising their side’s progress this year against the GOP might want to sit down before reading this one. Glass house in shards

Can’t be, I thought this year was going so well for Reid, Pelosi, and the Dean?

The economy shows increasing strength and staying power. The latest evidence is the best nonauto retail sales data in six years. Congress is reauthorizing the antiterrorism Patriot Act over the objections of Senate Democrats, and is now working to make some of the Bush tax cuts permanent. And in a year when most political prognosticators say Republicans will suffer losses in the Senate, Democratic seats in New Jersey, Minnesota and Maryland have become surprisingly vulnerable.
Abroad, movement toward a permanently democratic Iraq is heading inexorably toward higher ground. There are near-weekly reports of military successes by Iraqi security forces against al Qaeda terrorists. The likelihood of some drawdown of U.S. troops later this year is improving.

That’s gonna leave a mark.

At home, one prominent Democratic campaign issue — that Republicans are responsible for a “culture of corruption” — has been undermined by one of their own leaders.
It turns out Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who has been running around the country preaching the “culture of corruption” message, is up to his eyeballs in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.
For several weeks, Mr. Reid has been leading a fierce offensive on this issue, while insisting no Democrat received any money in return for legislative favors in the widening scandal under Justice Department investigation.
But new details reported last week by the Associated Press reveal Mr. Reid’s fervent, repeated denials of any connection with Abramoff or his lobbying firm were not entirely true.

And that may be the straw that breaks the Donkey’s back.