Dem vulnerabilities during the August recess

As annoying as it may be, Ross Douthat touches on the significance of semantics and messaging:

But in state capital after state capital, the downturn has highlighted the weaknesses of liberal governance — the zeal for unsustainable social spending, the preference for regulation over job creation, the heavy reliance for tax revenue on the volatile incomes of the upper upper class.

And, inevitably, the tendency toward political corruption. The Republicans have their mistresses, but the Democrats are dealing with a more serious array of scandals: the Blagojevich-Burris embarrassment in Illinois, Senator Christopher Dodd’s dubious mortgage dealings in Connecticut, the expansive graft case in New Jersey, and a slew of corruption investigations featuring Democratic congressmen.

The first paragraph may be simplistic, but the second paragraph is spot on. The corruption of the party-in-power is the characteristic that makes the GOP and Democrats most alike. The sad, sick irony is that they are more than willing to throw stones from their own glass houses once they are in the minority.