I originally posted this on dailykos about five years ago. Watching the GOP struggle to define itself and to try like hell to position our Democratic brand again makes me think of this piece.

So... here:

Dammit, you're smarter than her, sitting there in your den with your diploma on the wall behind you, your mouse crowding the stacks of unpaid bills on your desk, your fat thighs making the office chair squeak when you shift your weight. Those unfortunate but real boobs and asymmetrical features... your lost youth... your bratty kids and inattentive spouse...

I've written much about the politics of fear that took hold shortly after the world changed on September 11, 2001. The pure, naked opportunism of the Bush administration was apparent within a few short weeks. Taking lemons and making lemonade is one thing. Taking several thousand dead Americans and greasing the gears of your ideological agenda with their blood is another thing entirely.

I was delighted when Dan Pacheco approached me about Printcasting, the Knight News Challenge grant-winning project he was heading up with additional backing by the Bakersfield Californian. It was late summer, and I’d just left my position at a Boulder-based Drupal shop where, coincidentally, the Knight News Challenge Garage was one of the last designs I created before departing.

Okay, Midas has really pissed me off. here's the short version: