About one million years ago I saw Bette Davis on a talk show. I can't recall which one. The conversation turned to lascivious producers and Davis was asked to counsel young actresses asked to lay on the notorious casting couch. "Go for it," Davis said. "You need to decide if you want to be a virgin, or an actress."

Too many democrats want to be virgins. They sing loudly of their own moral purity as they stand above the fray. Out of office, but above the fray. Politically impotent, but morally pure. It seems they expect their reward in heaven, instead of at the ballot box.

Unfortunately, the rest of us are playing for keeps--in this world. Democrats started loosing elections when they forgot how to throw a sucker punch. The Kennedy's knew how to rumble. So did LBJ. Politics in this country has never been a gentlemen's sport. The Baby Boom Merlot set who think they're too pretty to get bruised, that their Shakras will get marred, that they're too pure to get a little blood on their hands, need to get out of politics and go back to volunteering at soup kitchens.

.... Mr. Kristof. Everyone who's ever seen a horror film knows you don't wound the ghoul and walk away. When it's down, you kick it, stomp it, slit its throat. You do whatever you have to do to see that it doesn't get up again. That's the way the Republicans play. That's why they win.