David Sirota says the anonymous Democratic “strategists” quoted in Ron Brownstein’s L.A. Times piece are full of shit, and why:

It is quite possible that reporters, politicians and “strategists” who spend most of their time in the cushy confines of Washington simply have no concept of what people out in the heartland really think. Democratic “strategists” probably can’t believe, for instance, that a state like Montana strongly opposes the Patriot Act, to the point where its legislature near-unanimously passed resolutions against it. They can’t believe that because all they see is the state’s redness in terms of Presidential elections - they somehow label themselves political “strategists” yet are so politically tone deaf as to not realize how these civil liberties issues play in the very red states they are going to need to win to take back power. And let’s be honest - even if they could understand it, they probably don’t care, because places outside the Beltway are looked upon with disdain by the Establishment, as if the American heartland is merely a nuisance to the elites who are running the show.

But on this score, the Establishment is going to be sorely mistaken. Americans across the political spectrum value their personal freedoms and liberties, even if the elitists in Washington don’t. And if Republicans are “eager” for a fight over these issues, then Democrats should be even more eager - because I can tell you from out here in the real world, people don’t like Big Government barging into their private lives. The public doesn’t like the idea of a bunch of thugs in Washington figuratively kicking down our door with absolutely no checks and balances. And the public does not like the idea of a president so arrogant and out of touch as to strut around breaking laws as if he were a king. Whether the Beltway “strategists” can appreciate that or not right now is no matter - they will learn it soon enough come election day.