On the Democratic side, however, you can be sure that a few votes will always peel off and land with the Republicans. When the Senate was confirming Ashcroft, eight Democrats joined 50 Republicans. When the Senate voted to overturn Clinton's ergonomic regulations, six Democrats joined 50 Republicans. Don't look for Dick Cheney to be breaking a lot of ties in this Senate. In a sense, Democrats' inability to stand together is a good sign.
Conservatism is simplicity , after all.
Supporting the causes that Dems have traditionally supported takes a kind of thoughtfulness that doesn't lend itself to mindless voting. Thoughtfulness, however, is not necessarily a political strength, and Republicans' ability to regurgitate talking points and vote in step with their leadership has led them to political victory time and time again. There's still a lot of emphasis on bipartisanship in Washington, but it's doing little good for the party. Democrats should provide a real opposition to the right-wing policies of the Bush administration instead of rolling over and giving into its every wish. They should ignore the calls of New and Blue Dog Democrats to shift to the right.