“There’s a point at which realism shades over into weakness, and progressives increasingly feel that the administration is on the wrong side of that line,” N.Y. Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote yesterday for a piece in today’s issue. “It seems as if there is nothing Republicans can do that will draw an administration rebuke: Senator Charles E. Grassley feeds the death panel smear, warning that reform will ‘pull the plug on grandma,’ and two days later the White House declares that it’s still committed to working with him.

“It’s hard to avoid the sense that President Obama has wasted months trying to appease people who can’t be appeased, and who take every concession as a sign that he can be rolled.

Indeed, no sooner were there reports that the administration might accept co-ops as an
alternative to the public option than G.O.P. leaders announced that co-ops, too, were
unacceptable.

“So progressives are now in revolt. Mr. Obama took their trust for granted, and in the process lost it. And now he needs to win it back.”

I am one of those lefties feeling punked and in a revolting mood. You can’t treat right-wing politicians like human beings unless…oh, you know, unless one of their wives has died or if they’ve been caught cheating or something. Otherwise you have to frown up and treat them like animals, like evil dogs. You have to push them into a corner and bark back at them and get out the stick and let them know you won’t take any of their shit or you’ll whack them even harder. You have to make their lives a living hell. Only then will they respect you and deal with you.

You think I’m kidding?