The Democrats: Running on empty

From Dana Milbank:

It would not be accurate to say that Democrats are worried about losing control of the House in November. It would be accurate to say that Democrats are in a screaming panic about losing control of the House in November. The panic threshold was crossed Sunday morning on “Meet the Press,” when White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said, “There’s no doubt there are enough seats in play that could cause Republicans to gain control.”

On Tuesday, as Democratic lawmakers limped back into town from a 10-day recess, a grim Steny Hoyer (Md.), the House majority leader, sat at the end of a long conference table in his office and was quizzed by reporters about the Gibbs-induced panic.

Hoyer’s…campaign theme was only slightly better: asking Americans “to focus on whether they want to go back to the failed policies of Bush and the Republican Congress. . . . Employment was the worst performance since Herbert Hoover, and unemployment was.”
Proposed bumper sticker: “Vote Democratic. Because Republicans are even worse than we are.”

He could also be heard providing the wisdom that “the budget enforcement resolution” made “the House statutory paygo rule compatible with the statutory paygo rule.” Proposed bumper sticker: “Vote Democratic. We made the House statutory paygo rule compatible with the statutory paygo rule.”

No wonder Gibbs is scared.