Laugh in haste, repent at leisure

Not all teabaggers are stupid. While the lefties are amusing themselves by mocking the deluded teabaggers and sipping on schadenfreude over the implosion of the Tea Party Convention in Nashville, there is a Tea Party faction out-organizing us. This is no joke.

These Tea Party people are playing it smart. Infiltrating the party organization at the local caucus level is exactly how you challenge the party machine from within. This is how we got Robert Reich on the ballot in Massachusetts in that long ago governor's race. The pundits said it couldn't be done. He threw his hat in late and he had no money. But what he did have was an enthusiastic base who stormed the local elections prior to the state convention. We got enough voting slots there to put him on the ticket. They barely beat us in the primary and that was only because there were so many candidates running. In a two man race or under IRV, we would have won.

So progressives can spend their time laughing and pointing at wingnuts and bitching on the sidelines about our president's failure to change things for us but victory will go to those who step up and actually fight on the field. The old maxims may be stale but they're still true. He who laughs last, laughs best. Progressives would do well to remember that or the joke will be on us in November.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]