Coming Late to the Smart Party

(Cross-posted at Ezra's.)

Damn but its frustrating to be right all the time. The left has been right on all the major questions of the last, oh, century or so. Most recently, we've been right about Iraq, climate change, Guantanamo, and now the IEA - no bunch of granola-crunchers - have come out with a report saying yes, it is possible to reduce our energy use, reduce pollution, and grow our economy at the same time.

Of course, if this report is covered the way Bush's cut-and-run strategy in Iraq is covered, I expect to be told that the environmental movement has always been against reducing our energy use. This is truly frightening - as Atrios and Greg Sargent have been covering all day, the media seems to be completely ignoring the fact that, until about 4:30 Friday afternoon, the GOP was characterizing any kind of withdrawal as a defeat, surrender, betraying the troops, etc. By Sunday morning, a phased withdrawal was suddenly The Plan, and the question now becomes how the Democrats will differentiate themselves from Bush?

I suppose it would be a bit much to expect the media to portray this honestly: That the GOP slandered Dems for political purposes, but is more than happy to embrace our ideas because, frankly, they're the only ones that work. More succinctly: The GOP steals our ideas, hold the competence. At least Eric Boehlert will have plenty of work.