Defend? THEY are the ones who should be defending, but because we're all so "correct" all the time, they push back first.

I know, it's a problem, we actually READ things. We actually take the time to THINK when they toss their latest half-reasonable-sounding smear at us. Bull, I say. Speaking of, remember the Kevin Costner line from Bull Durham - "Don't think, just throw". Our instincts are right and our arguments are right and we need to just fire away and stop cowering all the time.

Here's Harry Reid, "Wah, wah, George told his buddies to say bad things about me! Mom!" Let me get this straight - we're worrying about attacks on someone like Reid, or Dean? This from a party whose President is, at the very least, a likely deserter, cocaine user and alcoholic, a man who wants to take money from our retirements and give it to Wall Street, a man who took us to war for reasons that, at the very least, turned out to be wrong if not outright lies, a man who we have THREE WHOLE BOOKS of stupid things he's said? And we're worried about what Reid or Dean said?

Here's a sample of the latest, from the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's contribution to the Right Wing Media Machine, the Washington Times:

"Critics say Mr. Dean hurt both his candidacy and party with some of his statements during the Democratic primary campaign. Mr. Dean said terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden should not be judged until he has had a jury trial, expressed doubt about whether Iraqis were better off with Saddam Hussein out of power, called Hamas terrorists "soldiers," and angered Jewish Democrats when he said that the United States should be "evenhanded" in its Middle East policy rather than always favoring Israel."

1. Gee, let's see. Hmm. Well, Dean was right, this is still the United States and, Ashcroft notwithstanding, we still do have that pesky "Innocent until proven guilty" stuff on the books. I mean, I know in my bones that Bin Laden is a mass murderer of Americans and should be extinguished as quickly and painfully as possible - but have YOU seen any of the actual evidence? Neither have I, and neither has any other jury in the US. All we have, you and I, is two years of important people saying, "Yup, he's our guy." I'm sure Senator Kerry's seen the stuff, and McCain and others, too, but it's never been inside any courtroom that I know of, and my relatives (starting with Valley Forge) fought for things like this kooky idea of trial by jury, so I'm sticking with it for now. Score, 1-0; Dean was right.

2. Next, well, let's see, I'm guessing that the families of the 15,000 or so civilians that have died since George decided we needed to blow them up for oil might agree with the former Governor of Vermont. Hussein was a murderous madman and I'm glad he's gone, but we needed to have SOME freakin' idea of What Comes Next before just taking him out. He was the lid on a garbage can, but he was in a box and the UN inspectors almost proved it conclusively before Bush stopped them. So now we get the Democratically Elected Shiite Islamic Republic of Iraq, or Iran II as some call it. Terrific idea, George, thanks a lot. Score 2-0, Dean was right, again.

3. I'm going to score the Hamas quote a tie; the man's stepping to the big stage at the time he said it and doesn't have an entire State Department around to decode things before he speaks - and the list of stupid things Bush has said in the area of foreign affairs would fill a bathtub if not the Fleet Center. So that's 2-0-1.

4. Gosh, the US should be evenhanded with Israel and the Palestinians? Anyone out there read "Imperial Hubris"? Certainly Israel is an upgrade from anything around it. By a couple of touchdowns. But the United States is at war with some murderous psychos who have great PR skills. We have to start making some hard choices about the Middle East if we're going to turn the region around, for our own safety, and one of them has to be trying harder to be an honest broker in the region. No thinking human is going to be attracted by the idea of "Come stand over here with my friend, shake hands and agree with him" approach we've had so far. So Dean had the temerity to suggest as much during a Presidential campaign? I call that leadership. Score 3-0-1, Dean was right again.

Plus what he said about the reasons for the war, plus civil unions (first in the nation), plus fair trade instead of just free trade, plus...get the idea? Oh, and Dean said that the Iowa caucuses were too much in the pocket of special interests? That one was right, too, and the only ones saying otherwise either live there or want to run for President themselves someday.

So let's tell those unnamed, allegedly-centrist Democrats that we want to WIN, not just capture the good sportsmanship award. Power is never given, it is taken - and the Republicans took it from us starting most recently with Gingrich. They think we're weak and BS like this from weenies who won't go on the record in the Washington Times backs it up.

But you know the #1 reason Dean is great for our party and is going to be a great Chair? Go back to C-span.org and listen to his speeches to the DNC that started it all, around the end of 2002. "What I want to know..." We need someone out there leading the charge - let someone else be the generals, the Senators and Governors who think they can be President. We need someone who can lead us over the barricades, someone not afraid to get passionate about things, someone who is...right. I can't stand some of the ridiculous insider crap that Carville's been shoveling for the past year, but his book, "We're Right and They're Wrong" is spot on target.

We need to hit back. We need to hit first. Screw what they might say, and screw those Dems who worry too much about it. I want to win. I want my country back. I want a Democrat to be back in the White House and in the Speaker's chair, where we belong. And we are not going to get there by wringing our hands and playing defense. Oh, and those red-state voters we're so worried about? They get it too, about us, so until we change how we fight, they're sticking with Walker Bush's team. Oh, and DON'T call him "Dubya", anymore by the way. It makes him sound so friendly. He ain't. He's folksy-sounding shill, a bought-and-sold tool of the rich. We're the ones who get all worked up about loving our neighbors as ourselves. Us, the Democratic Party.
Taking the fight to the other side starts Sunday. Count me in, Howard. I'm bringin' my bat.