Those who forget the past...

Harry Reid has set the strategy for Senate incumbents (H/T Carol Platt Liebau):

Senate Democrats have mapped a political battle plan for the March congressional recess that calls on lawmakers to stage press events with active duty military personnel, veterans and emergency responders to bash President Bush on virtually every one of his national security policies.

The game plan, devised by the office of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, is contained in a six-page memo distributed to Democratic senators on Thursday at a closed-door meeting at the Capitol and provided to The Washington Times by a congressional staffer.

Keeping up? It gets better:

Titled "Real Security," the political document calls for staged town hall events at military bases, weapons factories, National Guard units, fire stations and veterans posts.

"Ensure that you have the proper U.S. and state flags at the event, and consider finding someone to sing the national anthem and lead the group in the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of the event," the battle plan states.

OK - it's called "Real Security", but you have to stage photo ops with GIs to sell it? Cynicism, thy name is Democrat.

And it's pretty sad when you have to remind U.S. Senators about flags, anthems, etc. In other words, "Don't forget to act patriotic".

In almost every issue in the Reid memo, Democratic lawmakers are called upon to criticize the president for not spending enough federal dollars.

But haven't they been complaining that Bush is spending too much?

The article lists a variety of manufactured press opportunities for participating Senators - all designed to bash the administration. Jim Manley, Reid's spokesperson, sums up the Democrats' plan best:

"It's an effort to paint the White House and the Republican Congress as having a failed effort on national security issues..."

Not "prove", "demonstrate", "illustrate", or "show" - "paint" is the best they can do. Carol is spot on in her assessment on this cynical ploy:

"Notably absent is any policy, plan or vision for the future. The Democrats should be ashamed of themselves. Their only strategy is to try to make Americans feel worse about everything."

All of which reminds me of what happens when you use people, places, and things you have no regard for as a prop just to score cheap political points in an election year: