Posted 8:24 AM by steve

Bush got all kinds of flak for 'playing the fear card' by claiming the country would be less safe if he didn't get the support he said he needed to carry out the fight against terrorism.

Obama employs the very same tactic in warning "of dire consequences without stimulus"... with nary a peep of criticism from either the right or the left.

The Secret Service dictates that all bridges from Virginia into Washington will be closed to private traffic... with nary a peep of criticism from those who previously criticized Bush's power grabs, or from those who screamed every time the Secret Service closed traffic so Bush or Cheney or some other Bush Administration figure traveled around Washington.

Nancy Pelosi announces plans to toss aside rules limiting the power of the majority party... with nary a peep of criticism from those who jumped at every chance to criticize the GOP for what they described as naked power grabs.

Harry Reid announces his intent to ignore the law by refusing to allow Burris to take Obama's now vacant Senate seat... with nary a peep of criticism from those who decried (what they viewed as) the Bush Administration's ignoring of the law.

And Norm Coleman is urged to concede and not contest the election by the very same people who had no problem in 2000 when Gore used every legal trick at his disposal.

Yeah, there's a double standard at play here, a Democrats routinely do what they have long criticized Republicans for doing.

But so what?

Complaining about it won't help the GOP win any elections. Those who are truly upset by such antics are already solidly in the GOP ranks and voters who make up the prized muddled middle that determines who wins just doesn't care about inside-the-Beltway antics.

The GOP (comprising of the 'official' GOP, as well as the bloggers and conservative pundits and writers that make up the 'unofficial' GOP) needs to realize that they have only so much air time in which to make their pitch to the American people... and it is silly to spend any of that time complaining about a double standard.

The GOP needs to put forth consistent and coherent arguments for why its policies would be better for the country than what the Democrats are offering. Contrary to what the Democrats might like to believe, the country isn't sold on what they're offering... and every time a GOP figure shows up on TV to complain about some relatively petty squabble, they're missing an opportunity to convince a skeptical American public that the Democrat's ideas are wrong.

Of course, if the GOP doesn't anything of substance to offer, I guess it's better to complain about how mean the Democrats are rather than sitting and doing nothing... but it ain't as good as actually having and touting the merits of a honest-go-god plan for getting things better.