As if things weren’t tough enough for Democrats (and it’s all their own damn fault), it looks like both Byron Dorgan and Chris Dodd are retiring. This means Democrats will likely lose Dorgan’s North Dakota Senate seat, and have a good chance at losing Dodd’s Connecticut seat as well (after all, CT gave us the gift that keeps on giving – Joe Lieberman). You know, I got a “survey” (aka, a request for donations) yesterday from the Obama camp, asking what I’d be willing to do to further Obama’s commitment to “change,” and work to get “his kind” of candidates elected. Choices were things like host “house parties,” call people on the phone, work to register voters, and “other,” which allowed for free text entries. So I went for those.

Not that I expect anybody to look at what I wrote, but I basically told them that I’d be willing to work for true progressive candidates, have no intention of devoting any of my time or money to mainstream Democrats, thought that Obama and the Democrats’ abandonment of progressives issues was a bad mistake that would lead to Republican takeover of the Senate in 2012 and losses in the House, and that I was disappointed and disillusioned by both Obama and my own Congressional representative for what I consider to be major a failure in health care reform, failure to enact meaningful regulation of the financial industry, and the escalation of the US presence in Afghanistan (among other things).

Progressive issues are populist issues, and Obama and the Democrats were destined to fail as soon as they abandoned them. We’re the mainstream, not Rahm Emmanuel or Max Baucus or Joe Lieberman. Too bad those are the people that get to call the shots, because they’re sticking us with Republican control of everything, and as bad as Democrats are, Republicans are even worse, and (unlike Democrats) have no problem ramming through their agendas without 60 votes. Oh well, at least we have the end of the world in 2011 to look forward to.

So, I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to remove myself from all the various e-mail lists I’m on. I’d like to get down to under a hundred e-mails a day (not counting spam). I’m getting especially tired of Democrats coming at me with one hand out looking for contributions, while getting ready to stick a knife in my back with the other. And once you get on their “sucker” list, you start getting mail from all of them. Well, screw ’em. When I get these self-aggrandizing e-mails boasting of their “historic” legislative feats (and, oh by the way, can you send us a few bucks?), I just want to puke.

Speaking of puke, time to get ready for work. Bleh. Traffic is heavy today, so I guess I better hurry. I hear the snowmobile trails are at a standstill.