My Koufax Award pick, Digby, on the "Vichy Democrat" issue:

The Democratic party did everything it could to alleviate the culture war and the partisanship in the 90's by electing southern moderates to the White House and helping the Republicans pass a lot of legislation born of major compromise of Democratic principles. Nothing was good enough. The culture war raged, not on the basis of policy --- there was much in Bill Clinton's policies for a Republican to love. It was based purely on the tribal instincts of the culture warriors who insisted that liberals not only be marginalized (fair enough in politics) but that they be annihilated. They gave no quarter unless public opinion absolutely forced them to.

The grassroots believe that after all that, after moving to the right, after offering to compromise, after allowing our "red state Democrats" to run with the other side who then treated them with nothing but bad faith, now is the time for politicans to make a choice. Submit to them or stand with the resistence.

More to the point, since 1994 "moderates" and "New Democrats" don't have a good track record winning downticket races in Red States. I'll be damned if I'm going to compromise what I believe in to support Lieberman or Cantwell or Akaka or Casey or anyone of those other weasels when they seek high office in a Blue State. We have too many other good candidates to choose from without having to pick an appeasor.