Tiresias

Tiresias, in case your Greek mythology has gotten rusty was a seer who was blinded and also had his sex changed by the gods -- prophecy is not a no-risk business.

One thing I've been struck by, both in the run-up to the election and since, is the number of people who have been willing to tell the Democrats how to avoid disaster. Of course, before the election it was mainly the right-wing stalwarts, whose message basically boiled down to "be Republicans." Since, it's been a heady mix of the rightards and a few quasi-democrats, like Evan Bayh.

White House hopeful Sen. Evan Bayh (news, bio, voting record) warned on Monday that Democrats could lose their newfound grip on Congress if the party pursues an ideological course. . . .

Bayh said Democrats must seek practical answers to the daily challenges facing Americans. If not, the party's control of Congress could be brief.

"Otherwise, the country will not be well-served and our position in power may not be very long," said Bayh, who also met privately with Iowa activists and spent time fundraising.

OK -- let's belabor the obvious. It's the "partisan" thing that gets me. Bayh and those like him have made "partisan" a dirty word, taking their cue from the Rove machine,, and it's just stupid, especially since it's been the Gingrich faction of the right that has made rabid partisanship the mode of discourse. The Democrats have no choice but to be partisan, but it's the tone and quality of that partisanship that's important. We're graced with such "bipartisan" White House flacks as Joe Lieberman, Joe Biden, and John McCain. Please. Spare me. The truth of the matter is, they're the sugar-coated partisans of the right -- stealth candidates, if you will.

I much prefer the kind of partisanship displayed by Al Gore these days: he's become a partisan for the issues.

Footnore: My radical leftist credentials.

I spent some time this morning exploring Daily Kos. I don't read it, usually. In fact, I haven't for . . . well, I think I must have looked at it once or twice, sometime.