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It's the bottom of the ninth. We're down by 3 to our arch-rivals the Republicans and we've got Lamont on Third, Ford on Second, and Casey on First. Howard Dean is up to bat and he's staring down Karl Rove. Rove glances over at Cheney in the dugout who grimaces and nods approvingly. Sitting next to him, a detached George W Bush casually picks his nose. Dean takes a step back, takes a practice swing and steps up to take the first pitch.
I can't help but feel a little like a spectator in the stands, yelling and screaming, "He's going to throw a low fastball!" For as everyone knows, Rove always aims low.
Let's face it, our opposition has nothing left to throw at us. Rove's pitched a full nine innings but he's looking spent. They don't have the fiscal responsiblity pitch (too much debt and unchecked spending). They don't have the moral values pitch (too many scandals and graft). They don't have the swagger pitch (cowboy diplomacy is dead). All they have is the low fastball, aka the fear pitch.
We've seen it a thousand times by now. 9/11. Osama. Saddam. WOT. 9/11. Iran. Syria. 9/11... We are the batter who knows exactly what the next pitch is. If we can't hit it out of the park we really have no one else to blame but ourselves. Or course, DU should support our team as much as we can, but ultimately it will be up to our candidates and campaign managers, the batters. Let's do what we can and consider ourselves lucky we traded Bob Shrum in the offseason.
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