One Piece of Analysis That Is Just Wrong

I'll write more about the election and its implications (LOTS more) in the coming days, but let's say this right up front:

Democrats did not lose by being too liberal.

Here's the proof:

Going into the night there were 48 Blue Dog Democrats. These are "Conserva-Dems" -- Democrats who moved to the center (or even the right) in their votes and their rhetoric. Most of them came from right-leaning districts, and said they "had to vote this way" in order to keep their seats.

And they still lost.

All their compromising, all their waffling, all their attempts at "bipartisanship" (how can it be bipartisan when we're doing all the giving?) -- none of it mattered. In the end, OVER HALF lost their elections

When Dems run as Dems and act like Dems, they give the voters a real choice. And many times, we can win that choice, even in a red district. Trying to be Republican-Lite just doesn't get it. Or as Harry Truman famously said:

If you give a voter a choice between Republican and Republican, they'll vote Republican every time.