BART WILL NOT TEAR DOWN: My pal Bart (his real first name is Craig, actually -- Bart's jut a nickname) likes to think and write. And he seems to do both pretty well. As regular readers know, Craig/Bart supported Kerry in the election.

Turns out his younger brother also supported Kerry and, after learning of the Bush victory, sent Bart a downtrodden note. Bart forwarded his response to me, and I reprint it here with his permission. See what you think:

Take a day to mourn if you need it but the message was pretty clear last night -the Democratic party needs work.. Now we can sit and bitch that the electorate is a bunch of jingoistic morons, that the Bush/Cheney campaign willfully distorted the Kerry/Edwards position, we can say whatever we want, but the fact of the matter is this: everything broke our way. Record turnout, a continuing disaster in Iraq, jobs numbers that would embarrass anyone, and we still lost. Why is that?

Because the Democratic organization ran a crappy race.

Period.

Poll after poll demonstrates that the majority of Americans agree with center-left policies yet we consistently lose and this year not just national elections but we gave up gains in the house and senate too. What does this say? How did a country that believes so overwhelmingly in things that are important to us repudiate those same ideas when put to the vote? Because we have not organized a consistent, powerful message. We defined ourselves by what we weren't as opposed to what we were. What was the cry heard again and again? "All Kerry does is criticize Iraq - what would he do differently?" It's a stupid question and the Left answered it that way "Why the hell should he have to come up with a plan to fix this disaster when the situation is changing so rapidly - he didn't break it, damnit, so let's not give the job to the guy who did!" It's a perfectly reasonable answer and it's also completely wrong. Whether we want to admit it or not, a presidential campaign (actually any campaign) is a sales job. And what's the number one rule in sales? Give the customer what they want. The customer might be an idiot but they have what we need - in this case a vote. So it's time to start building a platform that talks about who we are and what we care about, not why we should boot out the other guy.

I'm not just writing this to blow off steam. I'm making a commitment today to dedicate my time,effort, and money to building a Democratic party that focuses on these issues. Trading e-mails with like minded folk and fervently hoping that the rest of the country comes around to my point of view isn't enough. From this date forward I'm working to make a change so that we won't have to live through this nightmare again.

Today I accept that George W Bush is my President. I will support the war in Iraq because while I think that it was a misguided decision from the start, it is a war that must now be won and won convincingly. I will work my ass off to prevent further such follies from occurring. I will, of course, support all efforts to root out and destroy Jihadist terror and I will hope with every part of me that Bush recognizes that questioning his methods is not akin to questioning the necessity of this war. I will work to bring some type of fiscal sanity to this administration and do all that I can to prevent a further erosion of individual liberty under an administration that seems to believe that they know what's best for me and my family.

My country made a decision yesterday, one with which I do not agree, but now is not the time for bitterness and hatred. George Bush has done what he can to divide this country but in the end this is a country too strong to be torn apart. I will work to promote those ideals that I believe in and most importantly remember that this country has withstood divisions far greater than those we face today and has emerged triumphant. Today I will not tear down but instead begin to build so that four years from now we will be celebrating as citizens across the country stand and endorse those beliefs which truly define America.