So Charlie Cook has written that Democrats are in jeopardy of losing at least 10 (and as many as 13) Senate Seats in 2014. It's great copy. Democrats in Disarray! And that old Beltway trope has caused many of our friends to surrender in despair months before the campaign really begins. It is to that irrational pessimism that I feel I must offer the sage wisdom of David Plouffe from his January 24, 2010 Op-Ed in the Washington Post:
No Bed-Wetting.(1) Now that that's out of the way, let's examine the argument of impending Democratic doom. A recent diary claims that progressives will unfairly be blamed for those losses. I cannot challenge that conclusion because above all, nothing has been lost yet. However, the diary in question is recent, and conveniently summarizes a number of arguments originating from our dissatisfied friends on the Left that date all the way back to when Barack Obama was first sworn in as the 44th President of The United States. The diary in question is well-written and well thought out. In my opinion, the author makes a number of sincere points, many of which are based in good faith on bad arguments from others. This diary is not a call-out, and not a specific retort to the diary in question. Rather, it is a scientific challenge to many of the fallacies that have unfortunately permeated the community and continue to find their way into arguments. The good news is, they are all wrong, and demonstrably so! The bad news is, 2014 is still going to be a difficult election cycle. So let's apply a little logic.↧