Pay Now or Pay Later

Mike Lux takes on the insider Dems on the latters problems with the "Bush Dog Campaign" in a post on OpenLeft. I'd like to comment on one small part of it:

3. A little pushback now could solve bigger problems later. If this kind of cave-in routine keeps happening, and nothing bad ever happens to the more conservative members of your caucus who are going astray, the anger is going to keep building. The result could be ugly in the middle of an election year. Consider strategies like our Bush Dog campaign as shots across the bow. If it helps your caucus members stand up to Bush, and stops this crap from happening again, then the festering anger coming from your base in the summer of 2007 gets better resolved by the 2008 election season, and folks will be united and happy when it really counts. But, if we don't raise the warning flag here and now, and your Bush Dogs keep hurting the entire Democratic Party by making us look weak and incompetent, then all hell will break loose at exactly the wrong time.

Let's put this in simpler terms. Which would the DCCC prefer, a grassroots campaign to unseat Bush Dogs in the primaries or disaffected Democrats staying home on general election day, the latter action leading to the defeat of some Democrats by Republicans?

When the grassroots activists are frustrated they have two choices: they can turn that frustration into action that improves the party or they can choose not to get involved in the general election, thus hurting all Democratic prospects. What Mike Lux is talking about here is using the "Bush Dog Campaign" to direct voter frustration in a positive rather than a negative direction.

Works for me.