History Repeats Itself

I like Arianna Huffington don't you?

She's making the correct argument for why Democrats need to stop buying pundicrap doom and gloom pronouncements about our political future by making this (obvious) comparison to Republicans:

Take this Bill Bennett quote from November 1992 placing the blame for the Republican drubbing on "the lack of a clear, coherent, compelling core message." Doesn't it sound like any number of Democrats complaining about 2004?

Or how about this 1992 analysis from John Ashcroft, then governor of Missouri, writing in the Washington Post: "The Republican Party needs to shake itself loose from top-down management, undergo a grassroots renewal and adopt a vigorous, positive agenda that flows from the priorities, views and values of citizens who involve themselves in that process. ... Our party needs to frame its priorities more in terms of what we're for rather than what we are against."

And she's restating the obvious on HOW (will someone please understand that why is not a problem-solving question?) to get the job done:

They also need to take a number of practical steps: For starters, they need to make sure that there is never another election held with electronic voting machines that don't leave a paper trail, or voter suppression caused by long lines and not enough polling places in poor neighborhoods. Next, they should – to paraphrase Shakespeare – kill all the consultants (and, while they're at it, do away with the bullheaded pollsters, too). The Party needs to find and develop campaign teams that can run winning races in the 21st century, not keep rehiring the same professional losers election after election. Shouldn't there be an "eight strikes and you're out" rule?

Just read it: AlterNet: Election 2004: History Repeats Itself