Democrats embarrass themselves

Willie Brown gets this one right:

The Democratic state Senate leadership’s decision to have GOP Sen. Janet Nguyen dragged from the chambers for her attempt to criticize the late Tom Hayden was one of the dumbest moves I’ve seen in a long, long time.

The Democrats knew the day before Nguyen tried to give her speech Thursday that she was going to go after Hayden for his opposition to the Vietnam War, and that she would technically be out of order. So it’s not like they didn’t have time to figure out what to do about it, if anything.

The smart answer would have been to let her speak. That way they might have picked up a friend on the Republican side rather than a confirmed enemy, which is what they have now.

So, let’s review. What should have been a three-minute speech that attracted zero media attention has turned into a national story. In the process, the Democrats managed to elevate an all-but-unknown Orange County Republican into a household name in California and beyond, cementing her re-election and probably turning her into a candidate for statewide office.

Rob's comment:

This is an embarrassment for the Democratic Party, and I say that as a Democrat and a draft resister during the US attack on and invasion of Vietnam.