Markos was in town last night, on a book tour. I went down to hear him talk, but I was a bit late and had to stand at the back. At one point, he mentioned a local city council race where a challenger had beat the incumbent. That’s Ron! Drinking Liberally organized a get together at Leopold’s afterwards (man oh man, their gin is the best thing ever), and it was great to see lots of new faces at DL and get to talk to Markos as well.

The main thrust of what Markos was trying to get across was that campaigning on issues doesn’t work. Telling a story, creating a narrative - and then setting the issues within that narrative framework - is what works. But the Democrats suck at it. And they proved it over and over last night - hijacking conversation after conversation to talk about their pet issues. One guy was going on and on about the importance of the history of the industrialization to the politics of Michigan. He’s not wrong, but get real! Do you really think that’s going to resonate with anyone in this state besides a tiny sliver of intellectual elitists? The sheer volume of hubris it takes to insist that this obscure pet subject should be the centerpiece of local political discussions is staggering.

So here’s my narrative: I’m tired of letting bullies tell me what to do. Bullies get you to do something you know isn’t right because you’re afraid. You know it isn’t right to give your lunch money to the bully, but he made you afraid, so you did. You know it isn’t right to let the bully cheat off your homework answers, but you were afraid, so you did. You know it isn’t right to give up the civil liberties your forefathers fought and died for, but the bully George Bush made you afraid, so you did. You know it isn’t right to torture other human beings, but the bully George Bush made sure you were too scared to say no.

After September 11, Americans were ready to stand up to the bully Osama bin Laden. But George Bush took our strength of character and our best intentions and used them against us. He told us we were going to stand up to the bully, but he was lying. He didn’t stand up to the bully, he started a completely unrelated war on false pretenses. Americans were ready to face the bully, but George Bush wasn’t. He failed us.

I’m tired of it. I’m tired of cowering. America is too good and too strong to let bullies push us around. We know what’s right and we’re not going to continue to let fear make us do something we know is wrong. The number of people willing to stand up to bullies like George Bush may be small right now, but it’s growing. American isn’t a country that cowers, it’s a country that stands up for what’s right and protects those who are too weak to protect themselves. The Republicans have completely capitulated to the bully George Bush, crouching behind him, pretending he’s a leader. He has them completely whipped - they’re too scared to do anything but what he tells them to do. They’re too scared of the bully to do what’s right. So it’s up to the Democrats to stop this nonsense. We can’t let it continue; we have to face the bully George Bush and tell him we’re not afraid anymore.

Debbie Stabenow no longer fits in my narrative. She doesn’t stand up for what’s right, she lets the bullies tell her what to do. George Bush wants her to be scared and she is - she just voted to allow the bully to torture people. She can’t manage to stand by the values of common human decency - how can we expect her to protect us? Buh-bye, Debbie. I’ll be supporting whoever your next primary challenger is. But Carl Levin and Ned Lamont and Harry Reid and Russ Feingold and all the others willing to stand up to bullies have my full support.

Issues divide, values unite. I will stand with the people who refuse to be scared by bullies. And when someone asks what I think of abortion, I’ll tell them I don’t want the government bullying its way into my private decisions. And when they ask what I think of the economy, I’ll tell them I don’t think corporations should be allowed to bully the public into accepting unsafe products and unfair wages. And when they ask what I think of the war in Iraq, I’ll tell them that being a bully is not a good way to help people start a stable democracy. America didn’t let Hitler bully us, nor did we let Russia bully us. And we sure as hell don’t need to let our own President bully us into doing things we know aren’t right.