Sun Tzu wrote in The Art Of War:

By discovering the enemy's dispositions and remaining invisible ourselves, we can keep our forces concentrated, while the enemy's must be divided.

We can form a single united body, while the enemy must split up into fractions.  Hence there will be a whole pitted against separate parts of a whole, which means that we shall be many to the enemy's few.

And if we are able thus to attack an inferior force with a superior one, our opponents will be in dire straits.

I read this quote on the Jeff Farias Show the other day, to point out that we are behaving just as our opponents would like us to behave -- undermining each other and engaging in a circular firing squad.  Instead of going after the Republicans who block legislation like restoring Habeas Corpus or withdrawing from Iraq or ensuring a modicum of stateside leave for our soldiers, we go after the Democrats who almost unanimously support such measures.  Instead of going after the Republicans who pulled the trigger, we label the Democrats as just as bad because they weren't brave or clever enough to stop the gunman. 

Now sure, I want my party put it on the line (although not if it means literally handing the Constitution over to the neocons to be burned in 2008), but I have to be smart in how I choose to purge my party of bad apples and under-performers.  Am I upset that 22 Democrats -- including Pat Leahy -- would vote to condemn juvenile language in political ads?  Yes, but the vote was to get that stupid measure out of their face and "MoveOn" to more important things, not to spend several days distracted by meaningless debate on an ad while we are putting the finishing touches on a imminent war with Iran.

So now we hear the call to arms Not one more dime!!! for Dems that don't vote in our interests, and we respond with equal outrage and concur.  Meanwhile the war criminal who invaded Iraq, who condoned torture, and rescinded basic constitutional freedoms sits back and chuckles.  He responded to the midterm election popular mandate to get out of Iraq with the surge, and he's getting away with it while we snipe at each other.  He stuck a finger in our eye, and we're blaming the Democrats without the numbers to stop him dead in his tracks.

Hey, I'm all for not giving one cent to DINOs like Joe Lieberman (actually no longer a DINO technically), but I have some other considerations too.  None of these politicians walk on water, and eventually one of them is going to disappoint me, but the big picture matters, and I'm sure Sun Tzu would agree.  If I only gave money to the Dennis Kuciniches, it is true that I will weed out the DLC and the Blue Dog Democrats from my party (and good riddance).  It is also true that in 2009 I will have 20 truly progressive Democrats in the Senate, and they will be the minority party, heard by none, once again.  We need to win those purple states, and whether we like it or not, we will have to hold our noses when choosing between the lunatic fringe right-wing Tom Colburn's and his only slightly left of center Democratic challengers.  If we decide to send voided checks to the Democrat, then in effect you have sent a certified check to the Republican incumbent.  Is that what you want?

Jeff Farias asked us to not send any more money to Democrats who fail to represent us, and instead send that money to MoveOn.org.  I agree completely with the last part.  And in races where I have a choice between a progressive Democrat and a spineless conservative Democrat, I will have no doubt that MoveOn.org will use my money to fund the progressive candidate.  I have reservations, however, about how much support Harry Reid will get from MoveOn when they distribute my MoveOn donation.  MoveOn's mission is to support liberal candidates, and Amen to that.  They are not necessarily in the business of winning elections, and we have to do both.  Send your money to MoveOn.org, and if you can, send it to the Democrats in races that we must win.  We can immaculately clean the Democratic house when we have the liberty to do so; but for now, it's more important to be open for business.